Zmatek

Profile

Zuzana Zmateková, currently studying at Aalto School of Art, Design and Architecture, has earned her first master’s degree in Textile Design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. There, she has not only developed her painting and drawing skills but also a conceptual approach to design. Various internships abroad have contributed to improving her competences in textile techniques as screen-printing, digital printing, jacquard weaving, and knitting. Her design style has been further developed during an exchange programme at the Lodz University of Technology and later in the Textile Design Innovation Studio at the Nottingham Trent University.

Besides these study visits, she participated in a long-term internship in a Volkswagen Colour and trim design studio in Wolfsburg, Germany. Here, she collaborated in the development of new textiles and interior designs. However, she considers one of the greatest personal achievements to be an internship in the renowned fashion studio Alexander McQueen in London. For four months, she had become a member of a professional designers’ team designing textile prints for dresses and scarfs. Her most recent working experience has been in Mitwill textile design studio in France. Numerous internships, study visits and working experiences have taught Zuzana to fully employ her creative and artistic skills and competences, among the strongest may be listed drawing, painting and composition.

Moreover, using digital programmes and different media such as photography and video, she has been experimenting and reaching beyond the boundaries of the conventional reception and understanding of textile design as well as the message it may convey via such a strong communication medium as fashion is. Generally, Zuzana’s conceptual designs and artworks reflect and address contemporary socio-political issues through visually appealing imagery.

Throughout her work, she has been inspired by topics and issues as a consumerist society, symbolism’s transformation, void and emptiness, tradition versus innovation, new media and digital aesthetics. She perceives textile design to be a medium, delivering her own perspective on contemporary social developments and also a very subjective artistic expression of her personality. Moreover, she does not aim to present textiles as a pleasing decoration but she sees it as a strong and respected communication tool in a public sphere with its value as well as a sculptural artistic expression.