WE REVIEW WITH ÖZGECAN ÜSTGÜL ABOUT THE NEW POSSIBILITIES AI OFFERS IN TEXTILE DESIGN
What is the place of artificial intelligence in the future of design?
Design, in fact, is a way of being and forming, which always require an inspiration, away from a completely productive mind and creative impulse, and always reach the “new” with a collective perspective.
In this path of formation, the whole process begins and evolves with inspiration. Evolution occurs through certain processes such as trends, needs, creating compositions and reaching the whole or starting from the whole. Thus, the originality of the final output is transformed into an art piece by being shaped with the severity of the effects and reactions at the points where it is exposed to the processes, and afterwards takes the name of design. In fact, everything that is called design is one of the drafts of infinite originality and transformation.
Throughout this design process, artificial intelligence is positioned as a new tool that will accompany all cyclical processes starting from the inspiration processes of design, but in fact it is only a tool. Design should communicate with the state it has transformed, which appeals to emotions. Using the output produced by artificial intelligence as the final output, rather than interpreting it as a human, will do considerable damage to the identity of the artist or designer and thus their career. However, the ability to use it to make it unique to its sectoral vertical by passing it through the designer filter will also depend on the improvement of artificial intelligence and prompt skills as well as the immediate integration of artificial intelligence within daily life.
Considering Türkiye’s place in design, what do you think is the most valuable feature that distinguishes it from its competitors in the world?
Türkiye has developed its strength and power in production over the years with the motivation to respond quickly to demands. This speed has turned into an impulse to complete our daily works and always save the day, damaging our ability to think and depriving us of our ability to design the future. “
Design that responds to demand has developed in Türkiye, therefore, we are a country that uses artificial intelligence the most and can quickly adapt to design processes. In this way, I can explain the 65-fold growth of artificial intelligence-based pattern design MYTH AI technology, which meets the demand in the fastest way and provides customer satisfaction, in Türkiye in the last 3 years.
What are the most enjoyable and challenging aspects of designing with artificial intelligence?
The most enjoyable part is existing within an endless cycle of creation and always being able to reach the unthinkable. A design output that would take a human millions of minutes to achieve would be achieved in seconds with artificial intelligence.
The most difficult part is that you exist as much as you can tell, as much as you can describe with artificial intelligence. One has to develop prompt skills to use technology. The only way to develop this skill is to improve your descriptive skills by reading books. Another issue is that users spend 15-20 minutes every day on the artificial intelligence tool to improve their artificial intelligence skills. Institutions are required to monitor the performance, efficiency increase and artificial intelligence platform usage their employees by including these parameters in HR performance processes.
What feature of HOMETEX do you think makes it stand out among other fairs?
Türkiye is a very strong player in the field of home textiles. HOMETEX is an important fair that is attended by mostly foreign participants and thus contributes directly to exports. We observe that the buyers who participate in the Heimtex fair also participated in the HOMETEX fair and that they are looking for alternatives in terms of manufacturer.
What do you think are the important points that will inspire young designers and what are your suggestions for young designers to be?
The designer scope has already evolved into the AI Designer concept.
Two years ago, we were discussing the question of whether artificial intelligence will replace designers, and now we are talking about a technology that can make trend-specific design with artificial intelligence in home textiles in MYTH AI, where institutions or brands can learn by uploading their own unique designs. My biggest advice to designers would be to follow artificial intelligence tools very closely, and to immediately integrate artificial intelligence into their daily lives and try to internalize it, even if it is challenging.
Which patterns stand out in the designs made using artificial intelligence in the field of home textiles this year?
This year, we mostly see geometric and abstract concepts predominantly, but this year we will start to see more pastel-colored patterns with patterned abstract concepts. Inspiration from nature is more popular than ever, as a consequence of the increasing importance of the need for freedom and returning to essence based on the current global chaos and limited resources.
What is the impact of artificial intelligence on sectoral trends and home textile trends?
Home textile is a sector where regional, geographical and cultural styles and tastes are very important. According to the changing trends in this sector, it is very difficult to prepare a collection 4-5 times a year, and the need to create a continuous “new” design is even more difficult.
MYTH AI, which learns and produces according to trends and trending colors, accelerates this process by 90%, increases efficiency, directly intervenes in energy use and waste management areas, thus eliminating the carbon footprint so you can easily have a sustainable, clean design technology.
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