With this issue, the Journal begins its 25th continuous year of publication. Volume I, Number 1, a four-page document, was edited by Stephen Blumrich, then of Halsey, Oregon and Don Blake of San Francisco. Then it traveled to New Jersey where Carol Westfall and Pamela Scheinman arranged for its printing at Montclair State University. That was in 1976, one year before the Surface Design Association was officially established.

In content and appearance, that first Journal was more like today's SDA Newsletter than this magazine in its 21st century manifestation. Critical to this quarter century of growth has been the dramatic expansion of knowledge and experimentation in the field of surface design. As a vehicle for the communication of ideas and images, the Journal now reaches an international network of artists and designers.

It seems appropriate to mark this milestone by recognizing contributions to the field from another continent. Yet, this effort to honor European surface design has made us aware not only of a faraway place that seems to get ever closer, but also of how much at home we have become in each other's worlds. For example, Mary Schoeser lives in England, but e-mailed her article on British textile education from California. Before it was published here, Beatrijs Sterk delivered her lecture on European textiles at SDA's recent conference in Kansas City. Virginia Davis and Jacqueline Ruyak, living on opposite sides of the US, often find their way to Europe, and have brought us news of artists they encountered there. Although Annet Couwenberg, the subject of J. Susan Isaacs' award winning essay, is a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, growing up in The Netherlands has strongly influenced her work. And Helle Abild, our "Informed Source," is Danish but had a San Francisco address when we contacted her.

Serendipity often is a welcome collaborator as the pieces of an issue come together. Here, by fortuitous accident, New Yorker Lois Lunin's reflections on the Venice Biennale dovetail into Sterk's remarks on the demise of European textile exhibitions.

Inevitably, the more we learned about what is happening in Europe the more it became apparent that we could barely scan the surface. All we were able to do was suggest the rich complexity of this continent with its awesome layers of cultural history, its restless borders, its mix of languages, temperaments and moods. (Europe is where both angst and joie de vivre were identified.) Some may notice major omissions such as references to the important textile industry in Italy. However, because it has broadened our horizons and expanded our contacts, this initial exploration should precipitate further coverage of European textiles.