MILI JOHN THARAKAN
NEOCRAFT
Aesthetics of : Smart textiles Workshops
a Circuit
Workshop Outline
A series of workshops were conducted with various craft communities in Sweden. The aim of the workshop was to share/exchange knowledge and skills between traditional craft practitioners and researchers in smart textiles. The participants learned to work with smart materials and electronics as well as share their skills and knowledge with the group. The workshop leaders demonstrated techniques in the field of smart textiles and taught how simple electronics can be embedded into textiles; learn a local craft skill and get an understanding of the craft culture in the community.
Smart textiles is emerging as a new craft form of the 21st Century. Smart materials with new properties such as conductive yarn and soft electronics allow one to begin integrating electronics into textiles to create interactive and responsive fabrics. These new possibilities allow for new expressions. Materials such as time, light and sound can now become elements incorporated in textiles.
Craft is man's intimate engagement with materials - the struggle with a material, understanding its potential and limitation, and how this could be channelled for use and expressions of their community. Materials inspire and open up new possibilities and we would like to share our knowledge to a craft community to explore within their context. During the workshop we would like to introduce new materials, used within smart textiles, and reintroduce familiar materials with unexplored properties as inspiring starting points for the workshop participants to inquire into and learn. The participants will also learn simple electronics and this will enable them to introduce and control materials such as light, movement and sound in their work.
What is lacking in the young field of smart textiles is craftsmanship and skill in making. The fluid knowledge and skills found among traditional craftsperson can play an important role in building smart textiles as a craft form. Together with the participants we want to explore the possibilities of traditional materials and knowledge in combination with new materials and technology to create new knowledge and aesthetic in the field of smart textiles.
Workshop 1 School of Design and Crafts [HDK, Gothenburg]
The School of Design and Craft (Hogskolan for Design och Konsthantverk), University of Gothenburg conducts a course once a year for the bachelor students called Interactions between studios. This course gives the students in the textiles, jewellery and ceramics department a chance to experiment and learn a little about each others disciplines. Within this course a four day workshop was organised for the students to learn and explore new materials and engage in a discussion about the role and future of smart materials within the crafts.
The workshop 'Exploration of temporal materials through craft practices' was designed to explore two materials - thermochromic inks and fibre optics. The students were introduced to these materials and its properties, but were encouraged to look past the novelty of the material to explore temporal materials such as light and heat in their works. A lecture about the role of craft, its evolution, future and a discussion about the possibilities of these materials in the crafts opened up many viewpoints and impressions the students have about this field.
In collaboration with Mika Satomi
Workshop 2 Sami Community [Kiruna]
The Sami people are the natives of Sampi (a region that covers part of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia) They have their own language, culture, traditions and parliment. In Sweden there is a population of around 20, 000 that are spread across the country. Kiruna is the northern most town of Sweden and in this region there is a large concentraton of Sami people here who still practice their own crafts and traditions.
Their deep traditional craft knowledge is valuable and relevant for smart textiles and through this workshop we explored the aesthetics of circuit making through the craft of tennråd making. Tennråd is a traditional Sami craft practice where tin wire in braided into bracelets as well as used for emboirdery. Here tin has been used for its aesthetics and flexibility for braiding etc. Tin is also a conductive material and we are interested in exploring the conductive property of the material through traditional tennråd crafts.
Together with the participants we experimented with tin threads to find new possibilities of traditional materials such as tin in the context of smart textiles as well as see how traditional and new materials can influence and inspire the Sami craft practitioners to create new artefacts and expressions within their own practice.
During the workshop, participants were introduced to the field of Smart textiles and the present state of work in the field. We also introduced them to a simple electronic circuit such as Solarbot where they learned to use new materials such as conductive yarn and fabric as well as use traditional materials such as tin wires. leather, felt and wool to make a textile circuit that will produce sound or movement when exposed to (sun) light. The result of the workshop was not to develop a final product but to explore what is possible when traditional craft skills and materials are merged with smart materials with new properties and how the two can combine to create a new aesthetics and genre of craft artefacts that is reflective of its time. We also engaged in a discussion on questions about craft, its role today and what our role as a craft practitioner is in a changing world.
In collaboration with Mika Satomi and Lisa Kejonen
Workshop 3 Craft Community [Hudiksvall]
The Hudiksvall Museum had invited 10 local craftswomen to together to share their skills with me as well as to learn about new materials and possibilities in smart textiles
The curiosity that a maker has for new materials was all too evident here. We worked with fibre optics as the material that was explored through various techniques such as lace making, knitting, embroidery, paper making, jewellery etc. Each practitioner was experienced in one or more technique and took fibre optics as a material into their field. The new materials presented them with challenges that they were keen to work out. The two days resulted in a range of explorations but the participants felt that it would be best for them to really play with the fibre optics for another 3 weeks by which time they can really become familiar the materials and figure out ways in which this new material can be adapted into their craft form. New materials such as fibre optics require new tools and techniques within a craft form and the makers were extremely interested in 'figuring' out how to work best with fibre optics and bring its properties into their traditional crafts.