Craft and the handmade: Making the intangible visible

New processes of textile making that involve both physical and digital dimensions, and the conceptual implications of these new materialities, are the focus of the research discussed in this paper. Through a consideration of recent theoretical framings, technological infrastructures and experimental processes of making, contemporary textile design is addressed in terms of materiality, mediation and embodiment and their social and aesthetic implications. The relationships between new textile surfaces, new frameworks and the new sensibilities produced through these technological infrastructures (Thrift 2005) are explored in light of the transformative potential of materials within which technology is embedded (Küchler 2008).

This paper presents a current practice-led research project that investigates the use of flax fibre, cultivated in Leicestershire, in combination with recycled polyester fibres, a bio-polymer called poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and digital surface patterning techniques to create sustainable sheet materials for potential use in a range of design-led applications. In doing so the project ultimately aims to foster connections between the creative industries and local material manufacturers encourage sustainable development from a socio-economic perspective.

Journal of Textile Engineering & Fashion Technology, 2018

Royal College of Art, the project set out to investigate the following: a. How practitioners from different disciplines develop hybrid design processes to design smart materials and products. b. How hybrid approaches will bridge the gap between traditional craft and technology. c. How design and technology can be integrated within a physical artifact to develop alternative communication platforms. As a discipline, Textiles is concerned with the materiality of our lives. The skills and knowledge base that the creative textile practitioner develops through a constant dialogue with materials and making enables the development of a unique materials language

Massey University, 2016

India is a country with an ancient history. The crafts of this country are diverse and are a reflection of the country’s cultural heritage. According to Dasra (2013),the craft industry provides millions of artisans with employment and is one of the largest small scale or cottage industries. For centuries, these craft communities have specialized in traditions that are specific to the regions and respective skills, which have been handed down from generations of artisans. Yet in recent years, as Wood (2011) notes, this sector faces a major threat as a result of growing preference for mass produced designs that are cheap and easy to afford. This has contributed to the steady decline of craft based products. This, alongside a lack of knowledge of new innovative ways to design, and decreasing demand for their products have left the craftspeople very vulnerable and has posed a big threat to their sustainable livelihoods. Integrating fashion design with artisan textiles can help regenerate the community and village culture while enhancing the value of products. This practice led research project offers a framework to meet the emerging challenges associated with ethical and environmental principles linked with fashion by incorporating sustainable processes used in traditional craft production. Importantly, it can also offer one strategy to support economic sustainability issues linked to the livelihood of craftspeople at the village level. The project develops an example of a sustainable fashion design process by drawing from the rich heritage of Indian crafts and focuses on developing a fashion collection that integrates artisan craft textiles into the design process.This reaches out to a market that is sensitive towards sustainability issues linked to artisan livelihood and fashion and values the handmade and organic as an alternative approach. This exploration of issues related to sustainability both for fashion design and craft is an attempt to uncover why developing a relationship between the two is significantly more relevant today than it ever has been.

TEXTEH Proceedings, 2021

Today, sustainability is an imperative for industry, in all its sectors. The common focus is on achieving development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the future of the Planet and its People. In the field of fashion and textiles, this momentum toward sustainability translates also into an embryonic process of transformation of the material dimension. This positive transformation is characterized by the choice of new textile solutions supported by growing investments, radical experimentation, and a strong commitment to sustainability. Within this framework, there is a growing interest in bio-based materials, not only from material engineering experts, but also from designers who are starting to explore the possibilities offered by these materials through experiments more focused on design and aesthetics. According to the presented scenario, the proposed article investigates how to strategically implement the systematization of experiments in order to promote t...

Iftikhar Dadi, Guest Editor, Prince Claus Journal. No. 10a (2003) special issue. Includes contributions by 13 international authors who critically examine the prevalent idea that craft today serves only the function of preserving tradition and heritage. Rather, they demonstrate the inextricable and productive links between craft and modernity, and for the continual transformation of artisanal practices in contemporary globalization.

2002

This is a position paper of sorts, arguing that the experience of making a textile is an important component of understanding it, and we should be encouraging textile researchers to include hands-on experiments as part of their investigation. Some TSA members will take this idea for granted because they have first-hand experience with textile making, and may find it overly obvious. The point is hardly new, and archeologist Elizabeth Barber made a strong case for the value of textile "reconstruction" in her 1994 book, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years. 1 Nevertheless, this is not a universally shared assumption, and it flies in the face of some of our dominant cultural paradigms. Many who study textiles come from disciplines where the "making" component is undervalued, and it is left out of many textile history programs. The issue of technical competency is generally not part of professional dialogue-I don't think I have ever heard it discussed at a professional conference, for example. I happily take the risk of seeming obvious by addressing it here. I document ways that the bias against hands-on investigation is embedded in our culture, and offer examples of the critical insights that emerge from trying to reproduce historic textiles or experience how they were made.

Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice, 2017

is an associate professor in Fashion and Textile Crafts in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University. She has a background in the fashion and textile industry where she co-directed two independent labels based and worked as a freelance designer. Her current research projects, "Emotional Fit: Developing a new fashion methodology with mature women" and "The Electric Corset and Other Future Histories", explore material and cultural issues in fashion, textiles and ageing and the use of costume archives to inform the design of e-textiles and wearables. Her research into the role of embodied knowledge in the digital crafting of textiles was recently published in the chapter Closely Held Secrets, in Crafting Textiles in the Digital Age (Bloomsbury 2016

2016

The Textile Toolbox: New Design Thinking, Materials & Processes for Sustainable Fashion Textiles reviews the design research conducted between June 2011 and May 2015 by a team of University of the Arts London (UAL) textile researchers, led by Professor Rebecca Earley, who are part of the Swedish funded multi-disciplinary Mistra Future Fashion (MFF) consortium. The objective of the consortium is to research opportunities to advance a more sustainable and competitive fashion industry.

PhD Thesis, 2015

The research is funded by the MISTRA Future Fashion project, which aims to bring about systemic sustainable change to the Swedish fashion industry and includes a consortium of scientists and designers (MISTRA 2011a). This PhD research is part of the Textiles Environment Design (TED) investigation (Project 3 2011(Project 3 -2015 at the University of the Arts London.