Textile Design Capstone Ideation 2025: Joy of Play

Candace Betts, a Textile Design senior with a fervent passion for woven and print design, brings her creative vision to life with her capstone project by blending color, texture, and whimsy. Her collection is inspired by the playful and imaginative worlds of renowned children’s book illustrators such as Ezra Jack Keats and Lauren Child. Their distinctive artistic styles have ignited Candace’s vision for her textiles, allowing her to craft a dynamic interior collection. Through this project, Candace aims to bring to life a nostalgic and refreshing space where the fabrics become a storytelling medium, connecting the audience to her work on a deeper level.

Candace’s love for residential and contract textiles is the cornerstone of her work, providing the perfect platform to showcase her expertise in jacquard and print design. She eagerly accepts the challenge of creating textiles that surpass traditional expectations, using color and texture to transform ordinary spaces into interactive environments. For Candace, designing textiles is not just about aesthetics but about crafting experiences that invite tactile exploration and visual engagement. Her philosophy is simple but powerful: “I want everyone to have fun and connect with my fabrics.” This emphasis on interaction in her designs ensures that the audience feels engaged and connected to her work.

By incorporating tactile elements into her designs, Candace ventures into the world of novelty yarns, including eyelashes, bouclés, and slubs, to bring depth and dimension to her jacquard fabrics. These are not just ordinary woven textiles but intricate pieces that offer unique textures and patterns, encouraging the user to experience them through sight and touch. By experimenting with various substrates for printing, Candace can manipulate luster and value, testing which combinations best capture the joy, warmth, and creativity she wishes to convey through her work. The final result is a playful, sophisticated, and uniquely intriguing collection, capturing the spirit of childhood wonder while maintaining the functionality and beauty necessary for modern interior spaces. Through this capstone project, Candace demonstrates her ability to merge artistic inspiration with technical skill, creating truly one-of-a-kind textiles.