Texture and text. A translation process

The word “texture” conjures up the idea of weaving, of interlacements laid out tidily and typified by a repetition of small parts and colours, by warp and weave. The polysemic character of the term also reverberates etymologically in the word “text” (from Latin textum or textus derived from texere or tessere); textures as texts then, conjuring up images of calligraphic embroidery and interwoven narratives. Texture design effectively forms part of an extremely wide design context ranging from the visual arts to craftsmanship and is expressed as a symbolic framework packed with tradition in many cultures, cutting across eras and languages. My interest here is specifically to deal with texture design as preparatory ground for a visual design disciplines. I am also interested in retracing the use of textures for the methods with which it becomes the common denominator in various communication design forms, and thus consider the perceptional meanings around signs capable of transforming the surfaces entrusted them with expressive interweaving