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M.Tech. (Fashion) / Advanced studies in fashion design in South Africa have attracted little interest. Master’s studies are limited and doctoral studies are almost non-existent. This situation has resulted in the academic vulnerability of the discipline as a creative and commercial practice. In order to promote and expand research activities and advanced studies within fashion design at the University of Johannesburg, this study contends that it is necessary to develop a systematic understanding of the theoretical and practicing manifestations of fashion design in relation to the nature and process of design and fashion systems. In order to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnection between theory and practice, this study adopts a thematic style and a qualitative methodological approach to the examination of fashion design from the perspectives of history, theory and practice. The study synthesises key ideas from these areas and applies relevant frameworks to review the South African fashion system and to determine the theoretical orientation of selected advanced studies and research activities pursued over the last decade. The study proposes that considerations for the theoretical grounding of advanced studies in fashion design that could be taken into account include the need to: encourage an approach that accommodates the broader theoretical and practical dimensions of fashion design when engaging in advanced studies and research activities; view fashion design within the constellation of specialist design practices integral to ideas of a unitary discipline which could underpin and enrich advanced studies; adopt forward-oriented theoretical foundations for research and advanced studies which would ensure greater and more meaningful connections to practice; develop third- and fourth-order design theory and thinking in advanced studies in any discipline of design; take cognisance of developments in design theory concerning the nature and context of design problems and ensure an understanding of fashion systems and the multiple positioning of fashion designers within such systems.

Bloodline: An Experiment in Knit and Proximity is research by practice that has its origin in an affective encounter experienced during the performance of two women knitting together, a mother and daughter – who simultaneously knit a conjoined red line, Bloodline – initiated by the daughter, who is, in this context, both artist and writer. The research responds to this question: how might I account for a moment of affect, to explain its manifestation in association with knitting and the knitted thing, and to substantiate my hypothesis that the knitted object, and knitting as process, have a unique capacity to explore the issues of proximity and distance that are encountered and negotiated in Bloodline? This research adopts an auto ethnographic and mixed methodology approach to investigate the context, practice and outcomes of hand knitting as illuminating the experience and meanings of attachment, separation and loss – the problematic of being in relation with and to another. It seeks to contribute, through a process of ‘close looking’ and the production of evocative objects (Turkle, 2011), to a language of textile practice that is as much concerned with the sticky, unpleasant and unknown as it might be with the sensuous and warm.

This practice-led research examines how the emerging role of the ‘material designer’ can enrich the design process in Human Computer Interaction. It advocates embodiment as a design methodology by employing tacit knowledge; focusing on a subjective, affective and visceral engagement with computational materials. This theoretical premise is explored by drawing on the fields of soft robotics, as well as transitive and programmable materials. With the advancement and democratisation of physical computing and digital fabrication, it is now possible for designers to process, or even invent and composite new programmable materials, merging both their physical and digital capabilities. This study questions how the notion of soft can develop a distinct space for the design of novel user interfaces. This premise is applied through a phenomenological understanding of technology development—as opposed to generating data which is solely reliant on observable and measurable evidence. Bio-engineered technologies such as electroactive polymer, pneumatic and hydraulic actuator systems are deployed to explore a new type of responsive, sensual and organic materiality. Here, traditional medical diagnostic applications such as microfluidics are transferred into the experimental contexts of textiles and wearable technology. Therefore, by thinking through physical prototyping, a bodily engagement with materials and the interpretation of the elements of water, air and steam; a designer can create a fertile ground for a polyvalent imagination. Together, this methodology is used as a qualitative system for collecting and evaluating data on the significance of design-led thinking in soft robotic materials. This research concludes that there are insights to be gained from the creative practice and exploratory methods of material-led thinking in HCI that can contribute to the commercial research and development fields of wearable technology. Outputs include a prototype box of ‘Invention Tools’ for textile designers and the identification and creation of the role 04 of embodied making in relation to the imagination. Further, soft composite hybrids, incorporating elastomers, have potential applications in colour, texture and shape changing surfaces. Thus, this thesis argues that it is within the creative soft sciences that the next advancements in soft robotics may emerge.

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Exegesis (BA--Art and Design) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (xix, 101 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in City Campus Theses Collection (T 338.47746920993 FIN)

Exegesis (MA--Art and Design) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (111 leaves : col. ill. ; 22 x 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 746.92 WAL)