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Crafting innovation: The intersection of craft and technology in the production of contemporary textiles

Published as one of four main articles in the double blind, peer-reviewed Craft Research Journal, ‘Crafting Innovation’ investigates if embodied knowledge acquired through physical manipulation of materials can be usefully applied in CAD/CAM design and making processes where direct physical contact with materials does not occur.

¶ This paper advances knowledge in contemporary craft theory and practice by proposing methods whereby embodied knowledge gained by hand-crafting, recognised as crucial to successful craft practice by Dormer (1997) and Sennet (2009), can be preserved and used to inform design and craft practice using CAD/CAM technologies to create complex outcomes not possible solely using hand-processes. This research suggests strategies for design practitioners who combine hand and CAD/CAM techniques in their practice, and educationalists teaching core design skills. ‘Crafting Innovation’ develops ideas generated through the author’s practice-based research, first published with the assistance of a Textile Institute bursary, as ‘Ways of knowing and making: searching for the optimal integration of hand and machine in the textile design process’ at the Textile Institute Centenary Conference 'Textiles: a Global Vision', Manchester, UK, 2010.

¶ Textile artefacts created as part of the project and used to illustrate this article have been exhibited in several exhibitions including an invited submission to the group show ‘Print, Press, Process’, London Printworks Trust, Brixton; and ‘TRIP Textiles Research in Progress’, Harley Gallery, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire. Negotiations are ongoing for the ‘TRIP’ exhibition to travel to Finland, Thailand and Japan.

¶ ‘Crafting Innovation’ investigates one particular aspect of a larger research project. Subsequent publications arising from the core research include ‘Entwined identities: integrating design, art and science in design research-by-practice’, Design Research Society International Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 2012; and ‘Engineering Opportunities for Originality and Invention: The importance of playful making as developmental method in practice-led design research’, Studies in Material Thinking, 9, 2013.