From ancient sewing needles and woven baskets to wearable technology, textile production is a uniquely human endeavor. Textiles not only keep us warm and protected from the elements, but, throughout history, what we wear often reflects our identities and cultures, economic background and social status as well as our personal preferences and style.  

Evidence and memories of these lives lived are housed in the Jo Ann C. Stabb Design Collection, part of the Department of Design in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. The collection, which began in the 1960s, includes more than 5,000 objects — 134 of which recently arrived in London for their international debut at the Fashion and Textile Museum. 

The exhibit, Textiles: The Art of Mankind, consists of 11 different sections, taking viewers from the first uses of raw materials to modern-day innovations and technologies. It marks the first time an exhibit formed from the UC Davis collection will be on view internationally. 

“Textiles have always been more than functional objects — they carry stories of human creativity, resilience and evolution,” said Mary Schoeser, the exhibit’s co-curator and a UC Davis Department of Design alum (‘72). “This exhibition not only celebrates beauty but also places importance on how textiles reflect and shape our relationship with sustainability and identity.” 

Featured objects include an authentic Kuba raffia skirt wrapper from Congo, a beetle-elytra decorated singing shawl by the Karen people in Thailand and a late 19th century Syrian metallic embroidered vest. 

“It takes us through the whole cycle of textile history through contemporary creation, linking it to our daily lives and our technological developments,” said Adele Zhang, co-curator of the exhibit and steward of the Design Collection at UC Davis. “We can see textiles serve the entire society." 

Textiles: The Art of Mankind will be on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum from March 28 until September 7. 

UC Davis design exhibit expands

Following the release of Schoeser's seminal book, Textiles: The Art of Mankind, which features many images from the university collection, she and Zhang curated an exhibit for the Design Museum at UC Davis in 2013. That show, People and Textiles: Structures, Signifiers and Society, was so well-received that Zhang and Schoeser had the idea to expand it and take it the global stage.

For the past year, the two women have meticulously combed through the collection’s database of more than 5,000 objects, thoughtfully curating it for the London showcase. After a successful fall crowdfunding campaign at UC Davis, Zhang spent the first weeks of 2025 packaging and shipping 134 objects to London.  

“We’ll occupy most of the two-story gallery at the museum,” Zhang said. 

Zhang will travel to London later this month to help with finishing touches. 

Textiles tell unexpected stories  

Textiles: The Art of Mankind is split into several major sections, many of which, much like the items in the collection, may surprise and delight viewers. The main sections are: String, Materials, Needles and Pins, Identity, Abstract Ideas, Complex Notions, Counting Counts, Waste Not Want Not, and Better Together. 

In “Counting Counts,”  textiles and jewelry are shown for their utility in keeping track of accounting, like the abacus, as well as how they’ve inspired designs for such things as the computer punch card and the internet.  

“The internet, as we call it the ‘website,’ is just like textile weaving — you create that web, you repeat that web and you structure the web,” Zhang said. “The whole communication network and all these basic concepts, I think, we can trace back from textile creation.”  

The exhibit ends on a hopeful note as the curators explore sustainable design and highlight pieces that bring together fashion, science, health and technology in order to help improve our lives and the planet. The museum will display work by Zhang as well as current students Shenwei Zhu, Brandon Mammon and Kiko Nguyen; and alum Ellen Hauptli (‘73). A video highlighting Associate Professor of Design Gozde Goncu-Berk's CalmWear, a textile based wearable technology, will also be on display at the exhibit. 

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