FABER

WOVEN SECRETS: FRAGMENTATIONS & TRANSFORMATIONS IN TIMIȘOARA’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Since Romania’s accession to the European Union, the textile industry has experienced significant changes. Historically, large state-owned factories were central to Timișoara’s economy and community life, shaping entire neighbourhoods and livelihoods. However, with increased EU-wide competition, mass production has declined. Today, while the industry is less visible, it is far from obsolete. Smaller, more flexible manufacturing systems have emerged, deeply interconnected with sectors such as automotive, chemicals, and agriculture. Textiles are no longer limited to traditional apparel or home categories but are now integral to more complex products and export chains.

Design Signals—Woven Secrets traces the fragmentations and transformations of Timișoara’s textile industry, revealing the overlooked design behind the city’s economic and social evolution. Part of FABER’s ongoing Design Signals research programme, which investigates the design ecosystem of Timișoara, the exhibition commissioned the research report ‘Shifts in Global Textile Markets: Romania’s Role in the Global Value Chain from 1962 to 2022’. It showcases Romanian designers—partly selected through an open call—who have collaborated with local experts, producers, and manufacturers to develop work that presents prompts for reimagining the future production in the city. 

The projects in Design Signals—Woven Secrets go beyond observation, actively engaging with and restructuring the industrial and cultural landscape. Designers work with waste materials, explore new production methods, and form unexpected collaborations that challenge traditional profit-driven supply chains. Some projects function as design laboratories, demonstrating how design can bridge scales and connect disparate manufacturing systems, archives and communities. The works also emphasise the deep expertise of Romanian workers, and the significance of textile in Romanian culture. Incidental design is revealed in labour, relations, and landscape, in as much as it is obvious in products, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Design Signals—Woven Secrets reframes the textile industry as a complex, interconnected sector reflecting broader economic trends in Romania, Europe, and global production systems. The exhibition underscores design’s power to disrupt conventional production models and presents bold, visionary approaches to making, producing, and collaborating.

FABER Timișoara
3rd of October–24th of November
Tue–Fri, 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun, 11:00–19:00
Curator: Martina Muzi
Designers: Dinu Bodiciu, Alesia Cîdă, Lavinia Ghimbășan, Andreea Pleșa, Mihaela Vișovan, Maria Gabriela Rada, Maria Dombrov, Amalia Săftoiu, Alex Todirică

Lavinia Ghimbășan
Back to Our Sheep

“Back to Our Sheep” explores Romania’s pastoral heritage by reexamining the wool industry, which has drastically declined over the past 30 years. Once a valuable resource, wool is now often discarded, leading to ”wool cemeteries” where the material is buried due to the absence of a functional integration system. This project explores wool as more than just a material, viewing it as a complex, interconnected system. Through dialogues with actors in the wool sector across Transylvania and Banat, Lavinia Ghimbășan delves into traditional practices such as farming, shearing, dyeing, spinning, and weaving. By using design as a mediation tool, the project prototypes new collaborations that breathe life into local wool, transforming it into contemporary forms that harness its renewable, biodegradable, thermal and acoustic potential. “Back to Our Sheep” blends the forgotten with the contemporary, and its ambitious aim is to spark the regeneration of Romania’s wool industry and craft traditions.

Lavinia Ghimbășan is a multidisciplinary designer and crafter with a passion for regenerative practices. In 2022, she co-founded Nalba, a bioregional design studio focused on reviving traditional craft techniques through contemporary design and research in Romania.

Alesia Cîdă
Caution! Rotating Blades

“Caution! Rotating Blades” sheds light on the complex process of textile recycling, a growing concern as Romania prepares for new EU regulations mandating separate textile waste collection by 2025. Romania ranks 7th in Europe for textile manufacturing, yet the industry struggles with the intensive processes of sorting, shredding, and repurposing discarded textiles. To demonstrate these industrial challenges, a children’s playground has been modelled on the workings of a textile shredder. The playground offers a tangible journey through the lifecycle of unwanted garments. Emerging from field research and collaborations with two textile recycling factories in Timisoara—Eco Cinix and IMP Romania—the work is built primarily from leftover materials donated by the factories. The installation not only highlights the labour-intensive and wasteful nature of textile recycling but also encourages rethinking consumption habits and taking greater responsibility in the face of waste.

Alesia Cîdă works across sculpting, painting, collage, and fashion design, drawing from her special collection of “junk” amassed over years. She graduated from the London College of Fashion.

Andreea Pleșa and Mihaela Vișovan
Unsolved Patterns

“Unsolved Patterns” explores the possibilities of textile waste, particularly the challenges of recycling blended fibre materials. At the Cottontex factory in Timișoara, the project investigated how standardised production processes lead to standardised waste and how this waste can be repurposed through innovative design. Merging digital and analogue pattern-making techniques, the project resulted in three unique cycling jerseys, each employing different methods to minimise waste. Additionally, a video demonstrates the potential of on-demand garment production, virtually assembling and reassembling designs to reduce the need for physical prototypes. A transparent polo shirt crafted from factory patterns symbolises social contrasts and highlights workers’ vulnerabilities. The project culminates in a video mapping the repetitive sewing movements of workers, urging viewers to reflect on the labour behind textile production and the ethics of consumption. “Unsolved Patterns” challenges traditional production lines by turning waste into an opportunity for creative practice.

Andreea Pleșa is a fashion designer with a keen focus on sustainable fashion and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timișoara. 

Mihaela Vișovan is currently completing her PhD at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timișoara, where she is exploring the emotional and experiential dimensions of fashion. 

Cătălin Botean is currently completing their PhD at the Faculty of Automation and Computer Science, at the Politehnica University of Timisoara, focusing on advancing domain generalisation techniques in computer vision.

Gabriela Rada and Maria Dombrov
What’s Next

“What’s Next” unravels the human side of the textile industry, focusing on the Uniunea Tehnologiilor Textile (UTT) spinning mill in Timisoara—one of Romania’s last remaining industrial knitting yarn producers. Through interviews with eight factory workers, the project traces the relationship between the workers and the threads they handle daily. Each narrative captures the workers’ personal experiences, knowledge, and perceptions, offering a broader understanding of the industry’s impact on their lives. By exploring the symbolic and cultural significance of thread, the project highlights how thread weaves together community and memory, challenging the notion that the textile industry’s value lies solely in economic efficiency. While the economic sustainability of the UTT spinning mill remains uncertain, “What’s Next” serves as a testament to the enduring legacy and cultural heritage of Timisoara’s textile sector.

Maria Dombrov is a fashion designer and cultural mediator. She studied and exhibited in Romania and France, and completed an internship at Uniunea Tehnologiilor Textile in Timisoara.

Gabriela Rada studied fashion design in Timisoara, Paris, and Shanghai before becoming a business developer for Uniunea Tehnologiilor Textile, where she was responsible for the European market.

Amalia Săftoiu
Knitting, Night & Day

“Knitting, Night & Day” is a manifesto piece for Ami Amalia, which blends technology with tradition and art with industrial production. Ami Amalia is a direct-to-consumer knitwear brand that opened its own knitting factory in Transylvania in 2019, redefining knitwear production by shifting from mass manufacturing to creating limited, custom pieces for private clients. The project focuses on the iconic Ami Amalia knitted cape, recognised for its blend of craftsmanship and technological innovation. In collaboration with artist Felicia Simion, “Knitting Night & Day” transforms two of Simion’s self-portraits into a double-sided cape. One side uses a jacquard technique to replicate the photograph closely, while the other reinterprets it through traditional knitwear structures. Crafted from premium natural yarns sourced in Europe, the cape is produced in Ami Amalia’s Oradea atelier, showcasing the harmony between contemporary art and timeless craftsmanship.

Amalia Săftoiu is the founder of Ami Amalia. She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from University of Oslo and an Executive Master in the Management of Energy from BI Oslo, ESCP and IFP Paris.

Dinu Bodiciu
Balkan Baroque

“Balkan Baroque” explores the rich cultural tapestry of Timișoara, a city shaped by both the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. The project brings together traditional, handcrafted macramé textiles—symbols of domestic craft and cultural heritage—with mass-produced, globalised garments in the form of sportswear. The items, which blend intricate, locally significant crafts with industrially produced fashion, are offered for sale, creating a juxtaposition that reflects the collision of two opposing worlds. Inspired by Timișoara’s Aurora thrift market, where these eras, crafts, and products meet on the same pavement, “Balkan Baroque” symbolises the devaluation of cultural artefacts in the face of rapid modernisation. By combining these contrasting elements, Dinu Bodiciu questions the impact of global capitalist identities on local traditions, urging viewers to reconsider the value and meaning of these cultural intersections in a rapidly changing world.

Dinu Bodiciu is a Romanian-born designer and educator, and the founder of the sustainable fashion label Made With Time. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of the Arts London.

Studio Interrobang, Norbert Petrovici, Victor Ionichi
Shifts in Global Textile Market

Romania’s textile sector has undergone significant transformation, mirroring global shifts in production and economic complexity. This series of infographics illustrates these changes, based on the research report “Shifts in Global Textile Markets: Romania’s Role in the Global Value Chain from 1962 to 2022”. In the late 20th century, Romania emerged as a key player, contributing significantly to global supply chains with both intermediate and high-complexity textile products. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the industry thrived by integrating into a complex global network, producing essential intermediate goods and high-value finished products. Romania leveraged its capacity for both cost-effective and technologically advanced production, establishing a strong presence in textile markets. However, the rise of major Asian textile exporters and economic changes following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis led to a restructuring of the global textile landscape. Romania’s market share declined as Asia’s dominance increased, reflecting a shift towards higher complexity in global production and heightened competition. Today, Romania remains a significant player in the textile sector, focusing on high-value consumer goods and intermediate products crucial for industries such as automotive and furniture. The country’s position underscores its adaptability and continued relevance in specialised textile markets, demonstrating its resilience and significance in the global textile industry.

Studio Interrobang is a design collective that transforms data into visual and multi-sensory narratives for socially driven communication campaigns. 

Norbert Petrovici is a specialist in urban sociology and social theory, with a focus on the political economy of the socialist city, currently affiliated with the Department of Sociology at Babeş-Bolyai University. 

Victor Ionichi is a motion designer who developed his animation and graphic design skills from a background in photography and film studies.

Photo essay by Alex Todirică
Mirroring the Ecosystem

Continuing the “Design Signals” approach of opening the doors of local factories, the “Mirroring the Ecosystem” photo essay visits six key factories. Together, they represent the current state of Timișoara’s textile industry: 1 Iunie has played an essential role in the economy and community and it will be soon demolished to make way for real estate development; EcoCinix is the first textile recycling factory established in Western Romania in 2022; IMP Romania started as a family business producing mattresses from textile waste in 1949 in Italy and in 1995 they also open a factory in Timisoara; Pasmatex is a traditional textile company that has produced trimmings and narrow fabrics since 1919; and Cottontex is a family-owned company from South Tyrol that produces custom sports textiles and Uniunea Tehnologiile Textile (part of Union Textile de Tourcoing from France)  represents one of the few functional spinning mills in Romania.

Alex Todirică is a self-taught photographer and visual designer from Timisoara that uses photography as a tool to investigate the relationship between people and the built environment in the post-communist context from Romania.

Neighbourhood Conversations

Factories like 1 Iunie, Industria Lânii SA (ILSA), Garofița, Banatul, Guban, Uzinele Textile Timișoara (UTT), Bumbacul, Confecții Bega (ModaTim), Arta Textilă and Pasmatex have played a central role in both Timișoara’s thriving textile industry, and the city’s identity. These factories produced clothing, shoes, and homeware that locals used with pride. People of Timisoara, mostly women, worked in these factories, forming strong communities centred around their workplaces. The deep personal connections forged have left a lasting sense of nostalgia for many former workers. It is these personal connections and stories that the ”Neighbourhood Conversations” seek to gather and archive. Photography, workshops and collections of objects serve to capture a glimpse of the cultural heritage and lived experience of those who built the city’s textile industry.

A small archive of objects were collected from textile industry workers, including those from FABER’s neighbouring 1 Iunie Factory, which is soon to be replaced by a new real estate development. These artefacts and photographs are presented scattered around the exhibition space, offering a thoughtful reflection on the evolution of the industry, design, materials, and the social fabric. Furniture from the 1 Iunie factory was recovered and refurbished to be used in the exhibition.  

Stories about the objects of the industry

The audio recordings of the stories about the objects recovered from 1 Iunie were taken from the interview with Mrs. Mihaela Stroia, the former director of the factory. The story about the welcome letter from Industria Lânii (ILSA) belongs to Mrs. Letiția Moga, a former production worker.

From – To
Young Matters

From – To is the collective outcome of a pedagogical workshop, part of the Young Matters program. It consists of letters written by students, addressed to the city of Timișoara—its neighbourhoods, citizens, and passersby. These letters, presented as image essays, use Google Street View to capture past scenes, inviting reflections on future possibilities. They were later translated into virtual worlds, using 3D scans captured across the city, continuing the exploration of what Timișoara could become. 

Tutors: Bianca Schick / Domitille Debret / Connor Cook

Students: Raul Miculaș / Alexandra Floarea / Evelina Elena Tănasie / Diana Huțuleac / Anthony-Charbel Esber / Andra Petrică / Cristina-Elena Gătăianțu