How creative curiosity powers our stain-resistant performance fabrics

We know that curiosity is an essential part of the creative process, but how do you cultivate an inquisitive approach in the quest for innovation and excellence?

Our product development team at FibreGuard sees curiosity as one of their defining features. This is no accident. A questioning approach to innovation and problem solving has been hardwired into our company culture.

“Creativity grows out of two things: curiosity and imagination.” – Benny Goodman

In this blog post, we explore some of the ways in which cultivating curiosity can benefit design thinking and look at how FibreGuard’s product development team are putting creative strategies into action.

CURIOUS MINDS ARE CRITICAL. THEY ASK THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

“Creativity is based on the belief that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they’ve always been done.” – Rudolph Flesch

As part of the product engineering process at FibreGuard, we value and encourage critical thinking. Playful curiosity is welcomed, and in our brainstorming sessions we have a strict “no idea or question is stupid” policy to ensure our staff are free to question the status quo. It is from this culture of openness and transparency that true creativity can emerge.

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The changing needs of our customers are the main drivers of innovation in the fabric industry, and rapidly evolving digital technologies are also opening up a range of exciting new opportunities. At FibreGuard, we are always striving to adopt more sustainable practices, so this journey towards a greener future becomes another significant source of inspiration and change.

CURIOUSLY CREATIVE MINDS SEE OPPORTUNITIES IN UNEXPECTED PLACES

Creativity is not magic; it's a process. Insights don't always come to us in a flash. Our in-house team of fabric designers, artists and product developers follow ongoing trends in a wide range of fields including product design, fashion, interior décor, architecture and art.

When it comes to textile design, we believe in encouraging our designers to seek out inspiration in unexpected places. Our product developers regularly visit global design fairs, whether they are directly related to the textiles industry or not.

Attending events such as Milan Design Week or hospitality events like HIX (Hotel Interiors Experience) or BDNY (Boutique Design New York) fuels our designers’ curiosity and helps to spark valuable creative ideas.

Of course, our textile designers also draw upon their own personal experiences and cultural perspectives. All these different nuances and experiences contribute to the creation of our groundbreaking, high performance fabrics.

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DESIGN IS A PROBLEM-SOLVING DISCIPLINE WHICH IS WHY CURIOSITY IS KEY

As we seek to develop new and innovative fabrics, problem solving lies at the very heart of the development/design process. Problems may be presented by our consumers in the form of their changing requirements for our fabrics, or there may be problems within the technical manufacture of our products which need to be overcome. Either way, curiosity within our textile design team becomes an intrinsic part of seeking inventive solutions.

It’s this evolutionary process which results in exciting innovations such as TwinBru, our industry-leading digital fabric service which offers an extensive library of 3D digital fabrics for our clients to choose from. These product-realistic ‘twins’ allow our clients to make accurate fabric choices online with ease.

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Curiosity is hardwired into the FibreGuard ethos

Because we know that curiosity is a key factor in achieving creative solutions, we actively seek out employees who exhibit inherent curiosity and empathy. And with the right people in place, creating a culture of collaboration and empathetic curiosity becomes the natural conclusion.

Empathy ensures that our designers are willing to absorb feedback as well as being able to view problems and decisions from other people’s perspectives. Empathic curiosity empowers our staff to ask questions and, in addition, it gives them the confidence to willingly volunteer their own solutions.

Related read: Innovation, digital technology, and our need for a more sustainable textiles industry >

Our emphasis on creativity and learning is also embedded within the way we assess our employees’ progress. In yearly appraisals, we prioritise learning trajectories over KPIs. Yes, we have milestones to reach each year as a corporation, but our culture is one that prioritises ‘growth setting’ over ‘goal setting’.