Threads of Innovation: Immersive Textile Storytelling
What are the stories embedded in our clothing? If our textiles could speak, what wisdom would they share? How might immersive textile storytelling guide us through the challenges of a world in crisis?
These are the questions at the heart of Threads of Innovation, an exhibition featuring the work of a multigenerational group of students, artists, and designers who created physical pieces that weave together textiles, storytelling, and creative technology.
The exhibition marks the culmination of the Creative Impact Lab Amman 2025, a six-week hybrid learning exchange centered on immersive media, personal narrative, and traditional textile practices. Each piece was conceived and completed in less than three weeks, following an intensive week-long workshop series I led. Drawing on my background in audio storytelling, bio-fashion design, and creative technology, I guided students in using emerging tools to bring their personal and cultural narratives to life through textiles.
Through research-driven and experimental approaches, these works explore how emerging technologies can expand the narratives woven into textiles and materials. By layering digital storytelling — through augmented reality, 3D scanning, projection mapping, and audio — onto physical fabrics, they transform textiles into dynamic vessels of history, memory, and personal expression. Audiences are invited to experience textiles not just as craft, but as storytellers that connect us, teach us, and preserve our histories.
The exhibition was curated by Olivia Cueva and Layth Mejbel and featured the works of: Mohamed Basel Alrazooq, Osama Adnan Alkrian, Hala Khaled, Roaa Qurashi, Rafal Zuhairi, Abdullah Zuhairi, Waad Sakar, Hana Jehad, Maisa Mishaal, Rawda Eada, SalahEddin AlQawasmi, Hanan Al-Jabary, Mais Qattan, Ala’ Janbek, Hanin Alshawabkeh, Laura Torossian, Layan Hajjarah, Layth Mejbel
This project was made possible through a collaboration with Leonardo/ISAST and I Dare for Sustainable Development, with funding by the U.S. Embassy.
To view the projects in their full functionality please visit the project website.
From Worm to Wonder
Mais Qattan
Fabric, Embroidery threads, Metal wires, projection, augmented reality
This project explores where our fabric and clothes come from, focusing on silk production. Inspired by traditional Chinese clothing, it features designs resembling silkworm webs. Projection mapping visualizes the silk-spinning process, while AR showcases silkworms living on raspberry trees, blending tradition with technology.
Spaces in Between
SalahEddin AlQawasmi and Hanan Al-Jabary, Layth Mejbel
Bioplastic, Upcycled Acrylic, Metal, Laser
This project explores the rhythms of nature, including its textures, cycles, and transitions. Through the use of bioplastic, upcycled acrylic, laser projection, and movement, it transforms projected patterns into a sensory experience, inviting reflection on the delicate space between presence and absence.
Survivors Fashion
Mohamed Basel Alrazooq and Osama Adnan Alkrian
Mannequins, Winter Clothing, Bundle (Buqja), Travel Bag, Projectiony
Our project highlights the suffering of refugees during migration and freezing conditions through mannequins in torn winter clothing. A symbolic bundle and suitcase represent memories and pain of escaping war. Inspired by my and my colleague's experiences as Syrian refugees, it emphasizes the struggles of displacement and the need for empathy.
I am the Land, The Land is You
Ala' Janbek
Jordanian Awasi wool, Madder natural dye, Gelatine, Glycerol, Branch and leaves from the burnt trees, augmented reality.
In remembrance of the little forest beside our house that burned in the summer of 2022, leaving only ashes and silence where jays once played and fennecs hid. Leaves from its trees were preserved in bioplastic and woven with wool, symbolizing the deep interconnection between all life and the land. Scan the piece with Artivive to see the underlying story.
What Happens When We Eat Our Clothes? Do We?
Rawda Eada
White T-Shirts, Augmented Reality Image Scanning
The project is an AR-enhanced story showing how microfibers are released from the clothes, what happens to them on their long journey to the ocean, and the consequences of this. It is an environmental issue.
A Woven Identity
Hana Jehad, Maisa Mishaal
Fabric, Threads, Wood, Augmented Reality
In Woven Identity, thread becomes a medium for weaving history, and technology serves as a window connecting the past to the present. We redefine Palestinian symbols by embroidering them and granting them a digital dimension through augmented reality, each symbol carries an indelible imprint.
The project allows viewers to interact with these symbols and uncover their stories, transforming them from mere patterns on fabric into a visual archive that reflects an enduring heritage, a living narrative that preserves identity across generations.
Zoom on the Past
Hanin Alshawabkeh, Laura Torossian, Mais Qattan, Layan Hajjarah
Fabric, Embroidered pieces, Augmented Reality
Four girls, each from Jerash, Madaba, Yafa, and Armenia, created a dress with embroidery representing their heritage. Each piece features a special stitch from their region, activating AR to reveal a montage about its history and culture. This fusion of tradition and technology brings embroidery to life, weaving personal and cultural stories into an interactive experience.
Beethoven’s Echoes
Roaa Qurashi, Rafal Zuhairi, Abdullah Zuhairi, Waad Sakar
Fabric, Wood, Embroidery Threads, Augmented Reality
Beethoven's Echoes showcases the interplay of music and art, where viewers can explore how Beethoven's frequencies translate into tangible forms, merging the auditory and visual realms through fabric and innovative technology. This project not only honors Beethoven's legacy but also invites audiences to engage with sound in a new, immersive way.
The Witch
Hala Khaled
Satin fabric, white canvas fabric, augmented reality.
An interactive educational project that raises children's awareness of pollution and its impact on seeing beauty. It features a cloak printed with the witch's image, which comes to life through augmented reality when viewed with a phone camera.