All posts tagged: fabric

How Former Fashion Designer Emma Safir Turns Fabric into Painting

How Former Fashion Designer Emma Safir Turns Fabric into Painting

Published by Jenni Sidey

What might it take to tackle the en-slick-ification of the art object? Emma Safir’s answer to this question arises from her embrace of the sensory capacities inherent in textiles and an eagerness to place oppositional strategies and gestures into new formations and dependencies. The results are works of great mystery and manipulation, each one a reflection on the elusive and ambiguous correspondences between the handcrafted and the digitally (re)produced.  A former fashion designer and experienced printmaker, Safir harnesses her intimate knowledge of clothing, traditional embroidery techniques, and decorative ornamentation in a complex and embodied practice of art-making in an era wrecked by shallow consumption and political decadence. Uninterested in the stagnant hierarchical divides between fine and decorative art, craft-based and digital processes, Safir seeks a framework for addressing the fight against commodification by engaging techniques and strategies from across media (photography, printmaking, and handiwork, most specifically) and histories of mark-making (such as puncturing, stitching, and, at times, digitally altering). Related Articles Emma Safir: Screened Nacre (Alternate), 2025. Photos Jenny Gorman/Courtesy Hesse Flatow, New York The …

Ditch fabric softener and give jumpers a good steam: how to make your clothes last longer | Fashion

Ditch fabric softener and give jumpers a good steam: how to make your clothes last longer | Fashion

Published by Sam Flores

It’s a common problem: you buy something new and start wearing and washing it regularly, only to find that it has developed a slightly grey tinge or faded colours after just a few months. Most clothes aren’t fragile, but they’re not indestructible either – and the way we wear, wash and store them makes more of a difference than we think. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Looking after your clothes properly can mean they last longer, hold their shape and don’t need replacing nearly as often, which is better for both your bank balance and the planet. And while investing in well-made pieces is important, what you do afterwards matters just as much. Embracing small habits beyond separating your whites from your colours can help – think washing clothes less often or airing them between wears. Even how you hang or store pieces can have an impact. With advice from textile experts and conservators (people who spend their time understanding how …

AI needs a strong data fabric to deliver business value

AI needs a strong data fabric to deliver business value

Published by skeptic

Without that context, AI can generate answers quickly but still make the wrong decision, says Irfan Khan, president and chief product officer of SAP Data & Analytics.  “AI is incredibly good at producing results,” he says. “It moves fast, but without context it can’t exercise good judgment, and good judgment is what creates a return on investment for the business. Speed without judgment doesn’t help. It can actually hurt us.” In the emerging era of autonomous systems and intelligent applications, that context layer is becoming essential. To provide context, companies need a well-designed data fabric that does more than just integrate data, Khan says. The right data fabric allows organizations to scale AI safely, coordinate decisions across systems and agents, and ensure that automation reflects real business priorities rather than making decisions in isolation.  Recognizing this, many organizations are rethinking their data architecture. Instead of simply moving data into a single repository, they are looking for ways to connect information across applications, clouds, and operational systems while preserving the semantics that describe how the business …

Enterprise AI agents keep operating from different versions of reality — Microsoft says Fabric IQ is the fix

Enterprise AI agents keep operating from different versions of reality — Microsoft says Fabric IQ is the fix

Published by skeptic

In 2026, data engineers working with multi-agent systems are hitting a familiar problem: Agents built on different platforms don’t operate from a shared understanding of the business. The result isn’t model failure — it’s hallucination driven by fragmented context. The problem is that agents built on different platforms, by different teams, do not share a common understanding of how the business actually operates. Each one carries its own interpretation of what a customer, an order or a region means. When those definitions diverge across a workforce of agents, decisions break down. A set of announcements from Microsoft this week directly targets that problem. The centerpiece is a significant expansion of Fabric IQ, the semantic intelligence layer the company debuted in November 2025. Fabric IQ’s business ontology is now accessible via MCP to any agent from any vendor, not just Microsoft’s. Alongside that, Microsoft is adding enterprise planning to Fabric IQ, unifying historical data, real-time signals and formal organizational goals in one queryable layer. The new Database Hub brings Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, MySQL and …

Sam Altman Admits That AI Is Disrupting the Basic Fabric of Capitalism

Sam Altman Admits That AI Is Disrupting the Basic Fabric of Capitalism

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s public persona depends on a carefully balanced contradiction. Though he presents himself as the thoughtful steward of a dangerous technology, the AI luminary has aggressively pursued relationships with top lawmakers while racing rival tech moguls to the top of the market, consequences be damned. One of the ways he maintains this shtick is by acknowledging painful truths he has no plan of acting on. Speaking at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit this week, Altman mused on AI’s public relations crisis, admitting that the tech is upending the dynamic between capital and labor. “Data centers are getting blamed for electricity prices hikes. Almost every company that does layoffs is blaming AI, whether or not it really is about AI,” Altman said, per Fortune, alluding to “AI washing” in which firms use the tech as cover for more ordinary market pressures driving workforce reductions. Whatever the cause, he granted that AI is letting “capital” — businesses owners …

Seaweed fabric revolution: Sylva’s skin-soothing fashion by Tallulah Harlech

Seaweed fabric revolution: Sylva’s skin-soothing fashion by Tallulah Harlech

Published by Sam Flores

Unlike other skin-science brands, including Soothems, which produces eczema-relief sleepwear, Sylva positions itself firmly within the haute scene. “It’s fashion-led and Gothic enhanced,” says Harlech. “The clothes allow me to manoeuvre around fashion shows, appointments and interviews without things getting worse, or people pointing and saying, ‘Oh my God, what’s that weird bit on your skin.’” Source link

Trump’s policies ‘erode the fabric of global cooperation’, ex-Swedish PM Bildt says

Trump’s policies ‘erode the fabric of global cooperation’, ex-Swedish PM Bildt says

Published by Sam Flores

As the UN stands on the brink of financial collapse, Iran faces possible US strikes and world leaders navigate how to handle US President Donald Trump, FRANCE 24 spoke to Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former prime minister, about the impact of the US leader’s foreign policies on the international community and the conception of a rules-based order. Source link

The best Los Angeles fabric stores to find deals for your next project

The best Los Angeles fabric stores to find deals for your next project

Published by Sam Flores

This nonprofit organization and secondhand fabric store started out in 2016 in a 400-square-foot garage. Today, Remainders operates out of a 3,200-square-foot store in Pasadena, where patrons can browse hundreds of different kinds of fabrics all donated by individuals, film studios and small businesses, among others. “We saw the need for a textile store that could positively impact environmental awareness, offer repurposed materials and create a much-needed affordable resource to the community,” said Executive Director Robin Cox. The business model helps to divert untold amounts of craft supplies and fabric from ending up in landfills. “By promoting creative reuse, Remainders helps people contribute to the healing of the environment and raises awareness about the benefit of upcycling raw materials and repurposing usable goods, as opposed to buying materials new,” said Cox. Price point: 💰Few stores rival Remainders in terms of price and selection: The store offers fabric scraps and remnants for $5 per pound or $15 for a grocery bag’s worth. Fabrics sold by the yard may be leftover from contemporary fashion houses or vintage. …