2022: MSc Textile Sustainability and Innovation
Showcase
Statement
This research dissertation focuses on the potential that craft knowledge holds in terms of innovation. Hand woven experiments demonstrate what we can learn through making by hand.
Abstract
This dissertation recognises craft practices, with a particular focus on hand weaving, as a tool for innovation. It demonstrates the importance of making, developing, and understanding materials using the knowledge gained through hand craft. Through research of current literature, it is shown how craft has informed innovations within the textile industry, in an aim to demonstrate the need to preserve the knowledge of craft in an age of digital and technological transformation. It will question how craft can inform emerging technology but also hold its own in the ability to define new techniques and still be sustainable in the modern industry. The research will explore the concept of play within digital design and the designer’s ability to create without the parameters of the loom chosen for production.
The aims of the research question are tested through practice-based research in the production of samples both on Dobby and Jacquard looms. It will demonstrate structures and techniques that are unachievable in the realm of industrial production and digital simulation. The rising use of computer aided design is considered, highlighting the importance of craft knowledge to inform the CAD process with CAD being an important development in efforts to create less waste and a more sustainable industry.
