This dissertation exists in relation to the exhibition of design practice at the RCA, November 7th 2014 (documented in photographs accompanying the text); it is structured according to my construction of the exhibition. It therefore integrates the question of describing my practice-based research methods along with the descriptions of my research context, and case studies of other contemporary designers; the history of the Arts and Crafts ethos, as a precursor of modernity, is also reconsidered as of potential use for a crafts approach to textile sustainability. The methods used are a compound of the workshop method of experiments at the desk, drawing board, computer screen, loom and print room, along with a search for existing cases of similar textile-weave practice in current production, some historical research and some autoethnography, which documents the subjective experience of researching sustainability in one aspect of textile design. The thesis explores aspects of emotional durability through textile design. The meaning of emotionally durable textiles, particularly those using a Jacquard weave design, was encoded in the form of QR code (Quick Response code) patterns, which, when scanned by a smartphone, lead users through the digital portal to digital platforms which inform and network users. Considering the origins of the computer in the digital binary logic of weave and its mechanisation in the Jacquard loom, the use of the weave process as a medium for encoding the meaning of the material is especially interesting for the designer as a means of activating the agency of the maker and the user. The use of textiles in all aspects of everyday life ensures the proximity of textile as an interface between the familiarity and comfort of the material and the designer’s addition of the function of rationality in relation to others and to the world of knowledge, networking and activism. The research concludes with a range of prototype Jacquard designs, which activate the relationship between designer and user through the medium of encoded messages. Using the Jacquard code as a part of new digital media of twenty-first-century technology is a way for design practice to celebrate the industrial innovation of mechanised weave and to apply this to the challenges of sustainability.

Textiles are a ubiquitous facet of global culture, with the potential to become records of significant relationships, events, and stories over their lifetime. This research project investigates textiles which have been informally gathered together, and kept within the home, for their emotional or symbolic resonance. No longer used for their designed function, these textiles are saved from disposal for their ability to prompt personal and family histories and stories, in a phenomenon identified within the study as the personal textile archive. Textile design research is increasingly concerned with incorporating interdisciplinary social and cultural frameworks within its traditional research fields of technology, innovation and creativity, to frame a textile's socio-cultural relevance. This shift in the field requires the development of specific textile design research tools which are capable of producing purposeful research which analyses the material and designed properties of textiles in relation to their symbolic or affective experience, in order to understand the user-experience of a textile. Phenomenological research methods are established as tools for investigating phenomena and lived experience from a first-person perspective, which the investigation of the personally significant textiles within this study requires. A particular method, interpretative phenomenological analysis, has been specifically adapted for textile design research, and it is demonstrated within this research project that is is able to investigate and analyse the personal textile archive, producing original insights into this phenomenon. Through this application of this adaptation of interpretative phenomenological analysis, the design, affordances and craftsmanship of a textile are revealed as interweaving with its emotional, sentimental, biographical orfamily historical meaning. This is a useful and important original contribution to textile design research, and the recommendation is made that other researchers in the field will be able to utilise and further test this tool within future textile design research studies.

This project explores alternative ideals and norms in textile design, using repair as a design parameter. Facing the age of the Anthropocene, the work aims to investigate how repair can be integrated into the design process in order to deal with the Earth’s scarce material resources. By formulating an alternative design method around a concept of repair, this project investigates a holistic way of developing textiles. The result is a design method, supported by a collection of three design examples. By exploring alternative methods for conducting textiles, this project aims to force new ideals and norms within the textile design field.

This project places itself in the field of textile design within flat knitting textiles intended as prototypes for interactive textiles with multifunctional purposes and aesthetics. The purpose of the project is to suggest alternative design solutions towards knitted textiles in the field of sportswear that not only acts as a second skin both in terms of appearance and functionality, as well as aesthetic details once the knit interacts with a moving body. The aim of the project, but also offers visual and contrasting functions such as expandability, rigidness and stretch, as well as creating aesthetic details caused by movement of the human body. The design process was conducted in experimental knitting on both industrial and domestic knitting machines, workshops entailing the relation between the knits and the body as well as technically developing the proper bindings to work in unity. Analysis of the knits were made which led to the solely use of these bindings: rib, spacer, links links, ripple and mesh. The outcome of the projects resulted in four knitted textile prototypes, where one of them is designed as a product in the shape of a top, and the others as knitted fabrics each representing two opposing functions. The conclusion drawn in retrospect of this project that by placing opposing bindings parallel, such ripple and links links, it is possible to achieve two opposing functions as well as different visual perception within the same area of a knitted piece.

Balls Form Knit explores the relationship between spherical objects as a filling material and knit to design transformable objects that offer an alternative perspective on what anatomical support can be, based on bold interaction. The expressive possibilities of weft knitting have been investigated from the perspective of generating form using the tension created by the filling. The elevation of the textile and fillings role from passive to active within the context of seating objects has been the starting point for this work. Both filling and knit have been worked with simultaneously to let them contribute to the expression of the design and let the meeting between their properties influence the form and the way an audience interacts with the objects. As a final result, the collection consisting of six textile objects presents ways in which different knit techniques and filling can be combined to create transformable objects that offer different interactions and supports for the body. Balls Form Knit engages the user to interact and be playful while finding support in a way that is intuitive and accessible.

This work places itself in the field of textile design, printed surface patterns and pleating. The primary motive for this work is to bring together pleating and surface patterns by designing surface patterns that are the main component of the pleating. The aim is to combine printed surface patterns with pleating in order to design contemporary two-sided textiles for a spatial context. Different pleating patterns have been tested in combination with material and scale. Small paper sketches have been used to develop the surface patterns and to see how the different surface patterns are merging with each other when printed on both sides of the fabric. The printing method that has been used is transfer print. The result is a collection of three different textiles printed with surface patterns on both sides of the fabric. For further development the textiles can be placed in an interior context and serve as room dividers.

This project combines industrial tuft with handmade embroidery in order to explore various combinations of textured surfaces, materials and colors. The purpose is to investigate a meeting between craft and design by focusing on the encounter between the compact and the loose, the assembly of materials, as well as variations in levels and heights. The works are mainly based on recycled materials. Three textiles pieces were designed: a First Piece focuses on the meeting between craft and design; the Second Piece relates to different textures and the Third Piece addresses growth. The combination of hand embroidery and tufting create diversity and nuances in expressions, forms and textures. The small-scale of hand-embroidery permits the use of materials difficult or impossible to handle in machines and thus break the monotony of tuft. Through the tufting technique, larger compact pieces are produced that have depth and are sound-absorbent. This project aims to create a bridge between craft and design in the field of textile design.

Floats. In weaving, they serve as a base for fundamental bindings such as twill or satin; they can also be considered as an error. Although more experimental floating threads have been a subject of exploration for many creators, their use in interior-oriented textiles is still rare. Basing on the possibilities offered by the Jacquard weaving technology, this project aims to investigate the aesthetic properties of floats. It was done through a systematic development of near-field and far-field structures as well as colour and yarn research. The investigation resulted in a collection of five textile objects, displaying different visual expressions achieved by the use of floats. Furthermore, by placing the woven pieces in a spatial context, Floating in focus aims to challenge the prevailing perception of interior textiles. Shape exploration of the collection is an attempt to find new ways of integrating woven textiles in space, somewhere between architecture and archetypical interior textiles such as blankets, pillows or upholstery.

In this work is the realm of lichens. Lichens are everywhere around us but generally unseen by many people. Lichens adjust and react to the circumstances of its surrounding: humid or dry. The responsive property of the lichens to humidity led to the investigation of this species in combination with the flexible properties of knitted textiles. The knit enhances the lichens’ properties in its stretchable, textural, and color possibilities. While activating the textiles through moisture, there is a change in haptic- and visual expression. Working towards a material library, the transformable properties of the textiles are being explored. Lichen in combination with knit is investigated in four categories: transformation, shape, texture, and dye. The lichen and the knit adapt their role according to the category and demonstrate the potential of their various collaborations in each category. In several countries, lichens are protected due to the increase in air pollution. Through visualizing and emphasizing these precious and unseen species, the changeable textiles aim to activate the viewer in rethinking human’s relationship to nature.

This work sets out to explore changeability in woven expressions using optic fibers in an interior context for home environment. The primary motive is to investigate how optic fibers can change the expression of a woven textile through its color and placement in the structure. The work was conducted with a trial and error-method by sketching, weaving samples, etching the optic fibers, and exploring how the fibers changed the expression and properties of the woven textile. Experiments with displaying the textiles in the intended environment were conducted in order to experience the effect of color and expression changeability. With the optic fibers the expressions repurpose weave structures and patterns, connecting them to the craft of weaving. The result is three double woven textiles with two stages each, activated and unactivated. In the activated state, the optic fibers brings new expressions through color and pattern from a white textile, which is the unactivated stage.