On Textiles, Crafts and Digital DIY: "the spirit of the maker is very important"

Introduction/Editor's note: there are a museum and laboratory in Tilburg, NL, where "the spirit of the maker is very important", the digital revolution "gives [textile] craft a new meaning" and professionals can use DiDIY (Digital DIY) to build better tools for their creations. Knowing what happens in such places is quite important for our researches on DiDIY and Creativity, but also on DiDIY and work. We are therefore really grateful to Jantiene van Elk for this guest post, and invite everybody else involved in similar activities to let us know!

The ‘spirit of the maker’ is very important in the TextielMuseum (Textile Museum) in Tilburg. The TextielMuseum offers more than the history of the local textile industry. It is a ‘working museum’, which spans conservation, exhibition and creation, bridging the gap between the heritage and craftsmanship of the past and innovation for the future.

In the TextielMuseum’s heart you’ll find the TextielLab. It’s a knowledge centre, combining a specialised workshop for the manufacture of unique fabrics and an open studio where innovation is central. Computer controlled weaving and knitting machines, a laser cut and embroidery machine next to several craft techniques are available to professional designers and artists. These national and international designers, architects, artists and promising students are guided by product developers and technical experts, and so discover the endless possibilities of yarn, computer-controlled techniques and craftsmanship.

Digital craft

Craft is learned by repeating the steps in the making process over and over again. Experience is needed. Craft’s role in society became smaller after the industrial revolution. The digital revolution gives craft a new meaning. In the TextielMuseum the importance of digital technique, craftsmanship and the combination of old and new knowledge play a central role. Knowledge of material, technique, and the making process are important when working with digital textile machinery. The skills needed for creating a product on the digital machines is comparable to the knowledge needed for craft:

"Just because you're using a computer, a lot of people think you're cheating," says Johnston. "But it still takes thousands of hours of skilled work to create the final piece." (source: review Digital Handmade in Wired).

And this is Mark Miodownik’s (Professor of Materials ) description of the importance of materials and knowledge of making:

‘Making is not just an economic activity, it is the equal of literature, performance or mathematics as a form of human expression. By eschewing material knowledge we cease to understand the world around us.’

Working in the TextielLab creates possibilities for designers to develop unique and innovative art and design textiles. The TextielLab creates a new network in the community for Research & Development unavailable in the industry.

Exposition

In the exhibition Co-creation three collaborative projects developed in the TextielLab are on show from 16 January 2016 till 17 March 2017. From concept to realisation, the exhibition traces the projects’ creation over the past two years in the TextielLab. Design agencies Inside Outside and Studio Samira Boon worked with the experts in the TextielLab (Editor's note: details and more information about the photographs and projects presented here are in the "See also" section below).

Knitting to catch the sun

Curtains are used to block sunlight so why don’t they also absorb it to produce energy? This was the question posed by Inside Outside, which set about the challenging task of developing an exterior curtain with integrated solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity. With the technical support of the smart textile experts of Solar Fiber, the idea was elaborated in the TextielLab. The prototype, ‘Solar Curtain’, which is shown both below (testing phase) and in the opening picture, is presented in Co-creation.

Folds on the loom

Weaving ‘Archi Folds Y’ in TextielLab

The second project was designed by Studio Samira Boon. Samira has worked with the TextielLab since 2013 on textile structures inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. A number of assignments for the museum collection led to ‘Super Folds’, complex self-folding textiles produced through a careful combination of yarn and weave. Once removed from the loom, the textiles assume the pre-programmed folds, thereby creating a 3D structure. The starting point of the commission was the realisation of large woven folded structures that could serve as room dividers. The prototype and samples from the research phase are both included in the exhibition.

Weaving in motion

The project‘Cosmic Curtain’, a large-scale curtain developed and produced by Inside Outside led by Petra Blaisse in collaboration with the TextielLab for the Qatar National Library. The library was designed by the renowned architecture firm OMA and consists of an open plaza spanned by a bridge. The section of the building that folds down from this bridge forms an auditorium with tiered seating for events and presentations. Inside Outside was given the challenging task of designing a curtain that could both close off and define this space. The main challenge lies in designing a fabric that was flexible enough to move between the horizontal and diagonal structure of the space, without compromising the aesthetic quality. In the exhibition, visuals of the end result convey the immense size of the project.

Partners

See also...

(All pictures included in this article are provided by TextielMuseum, and reproduced with their permission)

More photo’s on the exhibition co-creation can be found here, and more photo’s on our TextielLab here.

    Opening picture: Design team Inside Outside ‘Solar Curtain’

    • Designer: Inside Outside
    • Year: 2015
    • Material: acryl, monofilament, stainless steel conductive yarn
    • Technique: knitting
    • Production: TextielLab
    • Collection TextielMuseum
    • Inv. Nr.: 17679
    • Photo:Rudi Klumpkens commissioned by TextielMuseum

    Testing ‘Solar Curtain’

    • Designer: Inside Outside
    • Year: 2015
    • Material: acryl, monofilament, stainless steel conductive yarn
    • Technique: knitting
    • Production: TextielLab
    • Collection TextielMuseum
    • Inv. Nr.:  17678Photo: TextielLab

    Weaving ‘Archi Folds Y’ in TextielLab

    • Designer: Samira Boon
    • Year: 2015
    • Material: monofilament, mohair, paper
    • Technique: weaving
    • Production: TextielLab
    • Collection TextielMuseum
    • Inv. Nr.: 17727
    • Photo: Josefina Eikenaar/TextielMuseum
    Tags: 
    textiles
    netherlands