• Arantza specialises in pleating and biomaterial exploration for textiles
• She is best known for her pleating and folding works
• Collaborative projects include multi-layered pleated fabrics and folded electronics

Arantza Vilas is a textile artist and researcher best known for her pleating and folding techniques, which she uses to investigate transformation. How can materials compact, adapt and unfold? Her work is a way of thinking through systems of change, within a broader research practice that addresses material, narrative and time. The pandemic of 2020 marked a shift that prompted Arantza to reframe her process around circularity, intention and long-term relevance. Trained at Central Saint Martins with a Master’s in Textiles, she is regularly invited to contribute to costume design, with past collaborations including Michele Clapton (Game of Thrones), Phoebe de Gaye (The Musketeers) and Alexandra Byrne (Mary Queen of Scots). "Pleats and folds across any material have the ability to deliver extraordinary visual and structural effects," she says. Arantza's work blends craft and cross-disciplinary methods to rethink what textiles can be today and in the future.