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Fibrous
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Fibres are long, thin, and strong. Plants and animals have evolved special fibres to perform specific jobs; you don’t see trees made from wool or sheep made from wood! A single fibre by itself is not much good but when they are brought together, they can create different properties.
In textiles we have natural and man-made fibres. These come in short staple form or continuous filaments. Fibres are a textile designer’s basic building block.
Biology can teach us how to use our fibres.
IN BIOLOGY...
Fibres are found in groups - think of the long straight fibres in a stick of celery, or the muscle fibres in the human body. These are aligned together to make them stronger.
In textiles we also bring fibres together when we want to create yarns. A yarn spinner will tell you that they prepare textile fibres by gathering them together to get them to align in one direction.
There are lots of ways fibres are used in biology. Biology can teach how to use our fibres.
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