Designing a toolkit to explore the design space of woven textiles
Milou Voorwinden (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Savanne Klop (Student TU Delft)
Holly McQuillan (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
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Abstract
Driven by the potential of smart textiles, shape-changing structures, living textiles, and sustainable manufacturing methods, designers are pushing the boundaries of weaving. However, most existing industrial technologies are designed for mass-producing simple, flat fabrics. This has narrowed the collective understanding of weaving's design potential, thereby restricting the development of complex, three-dimensional, and animated textiles. We present a toolkit, developed through an exploratory workshop and focus group discussion with academic and industry-based designers, that enables exploration and expansion of the design space for woven textiles. The card deck and canvas provide a shared language to externalise and interrogate existing ways of thinking, while a modified frame loom enables hands-on exploration of new possibilities. The toolkit demonstrates how combining analytical reflection with hands-on making offers both techniques and a vocabulary for unconventional textile design, while enabling critical examination of production systems.
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