Materiality and Meaning

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on new ways of thinking about textile and fashion design, drawing on the philosophical thought of Byung-Chul Han, particularly his works Saving Beauty and The Disappearance of Rituals. In dialogue with materiality studies and phenomenology, this article discusses the progressive loss of symbolic, sensory, and ritualistic depth in textile artefacts, which are often reduced to objects of accelerated consumption, superficial visuality, and rapid obsolescence. According to Han, the logic of positivity, acceleration, and performance empties aesthetic experience of its constitutive negativity, understood as that which requires time, contemplation, attachment, and permanence. Within this context, textiles cease to operate as symbolic mediators and come to exist predominantly as visual and functional surfaces. This article argues that textile design can function as a field of resistance to this sensory impoverishment by reclaiming materiality, conscious experience, and the symbolic value of textiles. From this perspective, these artifacts are understood as symbolic systems capable of producing cultural and affective meaning. Phenomenology, furthermore, contributes to an understanding of sensory perception in the construction of experience with materials, thus providing a conceptual tool for thinking about attachment and relational bonds. By articulating these perspectives, the article proposes textile design as a critical and interconnected practice, capable of reintroducing ritual, temporality, and meaning into the contemporary experience of fashion.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The International Journal of Design in Society, 2026 · DOI ↗