The founders of berlin textile coop., Sara Diaz Rodriguez and Essi Johanna Glomb, share both a passion for textiles, textile processes and sustainability, but also the vision to build new structures for their development and partnerships with local and regional stakeholders of the textile industry. As a promising sector, they want to strengthen the (Berlin) textile scene and develop empowerment strategies for future generations based on their own experiences in the traditional textile industry. An important building block here is the accessibility of technology and know-how - which is a core focus of the berlin textile coop.

Image © 2023 Lydia Goolia

Sara Diaz & Essi Glomb

Sara Diaz

Sara Diaz Rodriguez is a textile expert, design researcher and founder of HILO in Berlin. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Textile and Surface Design from the Berlin-Weissensee School of Art. In 2018, she co-founded Studio HILO to develop open-source textile tools that explore circular processes and small-scale textile production. Since then, she have developed several open-source spinning machines and software to enable designers and researchers to produce their own digitally programmed yarn.

www.hilotextiles.com

Essi Glomb

Essi Johanna Glomb is a textile designer and design researcher with a focus on sustainability, new materials and new forms of cooperation within the textile industry. As a studied textile and surface designer, she combines the fields of (textile) research, design and application in her practice. Since 2017, she established the Textile Prototyping Lab as a BMBF-funded research project focusing on design research, open innovation and the development of innovative textiles as well as novel networks within the German textile industry and continues it as a spin-off since 2022 with her co-founder Karina Wirth. As a long-time lecturer, she teaches at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee and other renowned institutions with a focus on conceptual textiles and sustainable design strategies.

www.textileprototypinglab.com

  • Sanna Ahonen

    TEXTILE DESIGNER & TRAINER

    Sanna is a Finnish textile designer, with an MA degree from Aalto University. She brings expertise in various textile techniques, including spinning, weaving, and knitting. Her master's thesis explored ancient Shibori techniques combined with weaving patterns to explore new methods for zero waste clothing. We are looking forward to her contributions in experimenting with the Kniterate and supporting our upcoming workshops.

  • Nicole Schönherr

    DESIGN INTERN

    Niki joined our team as part of her internship. She is a designer from Chile with a background in graphic & fashion design, and currently pursuing a master's program in Textile and Material Design at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. Nicole will focus on creating our material archive, assisting in the lab, as well as holding the botanical print workshop. 


FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM

We want to create synergies and intersections in the field of textiles and beyond. Access to technology and know-how is at the core of berlin textile coop.