The 3-phase power to an induction motor is applied to windings in the stator or outside of the motor. The windings are connected into poles. The poles may be salient (protruding) or more commonly embedded in slots in the stator punchings. Poles for the three phases are placed in a sequence. There must be an even number of poles for each phase.
A two-pole motor will produce a magnetic field which rotates once each cycle of the mains power (3600 RPM at 60 Hz, 3000 RPM at 50 Hz). Increasing the number of poles will slow the rotation of the magnetic field. 4 pole (1800 RPM) and 6 pole (1200 RPM) motors are most common. A link from https://people.ucalgary.ca/~aknigh/electrical_machines/fundamentals/f_ac_rotation.html shows an animation of the rotating field.
The stator windings must be insulated from the steel laminations in the stator. In addition, the laminations must be insulated from adjacent laminations to prevent heating due to eddy currents. The insulation is provided by resins or oxides on the laminations and tape or resins in the coils. The attached photo shows a cross-section of a high voltage stator coil. Note the thin tape layer wound around 14 conductor triplets. Also, note the thick tape insulation to ground. Copper is a very malleable material and coils can show tremendous variety.
It is interesting to compare some terms and materials used in motor construction and compare them with the web handling industry. Conductors in coils are wound or pressed into shape using wire or bars. The tape insulation on high voltage coils is wound around the coil. Pressure, vacuum, and heat are used to treat the resins in the insulation and the entire stator.