After the first two years at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute I realised I had gathered an interest for textiles and product development, rather than marketing and branding. The last two years of my bachelors I was given the opportunity to explore this interest further and among other things, do an internship at a textile factory.
Artex BV is part of the Hunter Douglas group. They manufacture window and furniture textiles in their factory in Aarle-Rixtel, the Netherlands. As a Research and Development (R&D) Laboratory intern, I did research on test methods, ISO standards, dyeing and finishing and green chemicals. A laboratory intern works closely with production and the R&D department. During the first internship period I learnt different dyeing techniques and developed new testing methods. During the bachelor thesis I did another internship at the company and researched the possibilities of using green chemicals in wet textile processing. I then tested the efficiency of fluorine-free water repellent agents.
Creating a test method for the durability of metal coated fabrics.
Creating a testing method for the durability of foam coated textiles.
Experimenting with dyeing multi fibre textiles. Two different dyestuffs were combined in the dyeing process and together created the colour on the right.
