Velero Textile

Velero Textile by Jef Montes was inspired by the construction of sailboats and the materials from which they are constructed including glass fiber, carbon, aramid, brass, nylon, wool silk, viscose and cotton.

The silhouettes of Velero Textile draw from the contours of ships. The forms seem to move around the body like a ship in a storm: angular and organic at the same time – inspired by the battle between machine and nature.

Fire and water play an important role in his creative process: Montes literally set materials on fire and ‘treated’ them with explosions after which the burned areas were decorated with Swarovski crystals in the creation of these textiles. Experiments with water soluble materials and the creation of chemical reactions yielded further to the creation of these innovative fabrics.

Velero Textile was created in collaboration with artists and product designers. Montes abstracted the work of artist Simone Albers into graphic colour patches, which are incorporated into a fabric that has been developed in collaboration with the Textile Lab of the Textile Museum in Tilburg. There, he also produced a material composed of four thicknesses of nylon and cotton, which reveals sail patterns when light shines through.