Textile Spun silk is less elastic, dull in appearance and stiffer than regular silk filament. It is also less expensive and more comfortable. It is used for summer apparel, drapery and upholstery Textiles Futures course at Central Saint Martins, Kathy Schicker fuses craft skills with new technology to produce smart textiles for interior environments. Part of a collective of textile designers called Puff & Flock, ‘risk-taking to expand new boundaries’ is their mantra. Kathy’s textiles explore the integration of smart fibres into high-end woven jacquard fabrics and she is also interested in designing for educational and medical end uses. Her light emitting textiles use sunlight to activate the fibres, charging them up so that they glow in the dark, revealing previously unseen patterns within her weaves. Kathy is a member of the TFRC (Textiles Futures Research and Consultation) at the University of the Arts in London.