Weaving is having a moment. Once rooted in domestic and craft traditions, and long celebrated in museums—like MoMA’s Woven Histories, on view through September 2025—textile work is stepping into new prominence, and public art is part of that shift. These six projects draw from the language of weaving and fiber arts, some using cloth and thread, others translating their textures and structures into steel, plexiglass, leather, and light. Each reimagines fiber’s legacy on a new scale, making patterns, connections, and histories visible in the public realm.
Here, cord-wrapped tetrahedrons echo molecular structures, stainless steel is laced into florals and birds, and leather lace traces the contours of a city’s past. Folded letters hold the voices of a neighborhood, kites drift through a prism of textile patterns, and sculpted fiberboard blooms anchor a playful interior landscape. Together, these projects show how the language of textiles can shift shape—appearing in unexpected materials, scales, and settings—while holding on to its tactile, connective power.
Birds of Peace Gates, Perth, Australia
Paula Hart’s collaboration with Redfort Architectural Fabrics transforms stainless steel into lace-like gates and panels, patterned with birds and floral motifs. Powder-coated for durability, the handcrafted “Lace Fence” screens bring the delicacy and care of textile traditions into an architectural setting, offering a gentle, welcoming presence for residents and visitors alike.
Folding Stories, Houston, TX
Suspended like folded letters in midair, Folding Stories weaves Alief’s history and voices into fabric and metal. Panels patterned with handwritten excerpts from community letters mix with hand-painted motifs and hand-embroidered designs by refugee and immigrant women sewists, transforming the sculpture into a layered portrait of one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the U.S.
River Flux, Frisco, TX
Wrapping the corner of a lobby stairwell, River Flux translates historic topographic maps of Frisco into a sweeping textile-sculptural form. Hand-dyed leather lace and nylon are shaped freehand into dimensional lacework, turning map lines into a flowing, tactile narrative of place, movement, and memory.
Day by Day, Philadelphia, PA
Spanning the height of the Honickman Center’s street-facing volume, Day by Day drapes a cloud of kites around prisms patterned with archival textile point papers. Drawing from the university’s Textile and Costumes Collection, Jacob Hashimoto fuses historical motifs with airy, contemporary form, creating a work that is both fully public and intimately detailed.
MOL, New York, NY
Suspended in a constellation of 18 modular clusters, MOL reimagines the tetrahedral geometry of carbon molecules as a woven network of stainless steel, recycled polyester cord, and flashes of dichroic plexiglass. Ines Esnal’s system of interconnected forms wraps geometry in vivid, textile-like surfaces, creating shifting plays of color and light while echoing the building’s biophilic, carbon-conscious design ethos.
Novo Land Sales Gallery, Hong Kong, CN
Blending Scandinavian warmth with playful, nature-inspired forms, this sales center reimagines the typical high-luxury real estate showcase. Cocoon-shaped “flowers” made of polyester fiberboard greet visitors, while LED “puddles,” oversized mushrooms, pink birdhouses, and interactive wooden sculptures bring a whimsical, tactile quality to the space. The result is an immersive environment that’s as approachable as it is inventive.
Closing Threads
In each of these works, weaving is more than a technique—it’s a way of thinking. Whether through fabric, metal, leather, or digital fabrication, these artists and designers harness the structural and symbolic power of textiles to connect material, story, and place. Their approaches expand what weaving can mean in public art, leaving us with spaces and surfaces that are as layered and interconnected as the communities they serve.
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