Textiles of today are materials with applications in almost all our activities. We wear clothes all the time and we are surrounded with textiles in almost all our environments. The integration of multifunctional values in such a common material has become a special area of interest in recent years. Smart Textile represents the next generation of textiles anticipated for use in several fashion, furnishing and technical textile applications. The term smart is used to refer to materials that sense and respond in a pre-defined manner to environmental stimuli. The degree of smartness varies and it is possible to enhance the intelligence further by combining these materials with a controlling unit, for example a microprocessor. As an interdisciplinary area Smart Textile includes design spaces from several areas; the textile design space, the information technology design space and the design space of material science. This thesis addresses how Smart Textiles affect the textile design space; how the introduction of smart materials and information technology affects the creation of future textile products. The aim is to explore the convergence between textiles, smart materials and information technology and to contribute to providing a basis for future research in this area. The research method is based on a series of interlinked experiments designed through the research questions and the research objects. The experiments are separated into two different sections: interactive textile structures and health monitoring. The result is a series of basic methods for how interactive textile structures are created and a general system for health monitoring. Furthermore the result consists of a new design space, advanced textile design. In advanced textile design the focus is set on the relation between the different natures of a textile object: its physical structure and its structure in the context of design and use.

Examensarbetet Binary surfaces - ljusemitterande textiler för inredningssammanhang är ett undersökande arbete om hur fiberoptik kan användas i vävda strukturer. I arbetet har de parametrar som påverkar mötet mellan fiberoptik och väv, samt de möjligheter de tillsammans skapar utforskats. Resultatet är två exempel på tyger vävda med fiberoptik i kombination med mer traditionella textila material. Exemplen är framtagna för inredningssammanhang och visas som en rumsavdelare och som yttertyg på sittmöbler. / The thesis Binary surfaces - light-emitting textiles for an interior design context is an investigative work on how optical fibres can be used in woven structures. The work explores the different parameters that affect the interaction between optical fibres and weaving, and the possibilities they create together. The result is two examples of fabrics woven with optical fibres in combination with more traditional textile materials. The examples are designed for an interior context and are shown as a room divider and as outer fabric on seating furnishing.

In this modern landscape where families are spending increasing time living separately, due to parental separation, work travel, and illness, current communication technologies do not fully support the needs of intimate family communication in families with young children, aged two to nine. Prolonged separation, without intimate communication, can damage parent and child relationships, impacting on intimacy, bonding, and a child’s mental health and wellbeing. Care and play activities are the main methods used to build bonds between parent and child. These are hard to replicate with ubiquitous communication technologies when families are separated. Ubiquitous technology, such as the telephone, is easy to use but does not offer engaging ways for a child to interact. Skype (video call), has a higher potential for engagement due to its multimodal nature (audio and visual), therefore is more emotionally expressive. However, to ‘Skype’ someone, a child requires adult support, as the technology is more complex to use than that of a telephone. Thus, neither the telephone or Skype fully meet family needs for communication. Parental-child separation was looked at within parental separation, work travel and illness, to explain how intimacy can be achieved through technology mediated communication systems. Following a Participatory Action Research methodology, utilising methods such as co-design, co-creation, and participatory design, the research discusses five small-scale studies as well as the Trace project, which was the main study of this research. This research addresses communication issues between families through textile-based communication systems which enable intimacy and bonding. It highlights the importance of intimate communications and offers a list of preferred modes of communication for scattered families (multimodal disparate objects that allow for synchronous or asynchronous communications with either the same modes or different modes of input and output). It also outlines key methods for designing new technologies suitable for use in family research (inclusive methods such as co-design, co-creation and participatory design). A better understanding of the participant families’ emotional needs was achieved, by allowing them to become active participants at every stage of the design process (planning, acting, observing, and reflecting), thus producing considerate technologies for remote family communications.

Texte remanié: Dissertation--Archaeology--Lund university, 1999. Titre de soutenance : The common thread : textile production during the late iron age - viking age. / Traduit du suédois par Alan Crozier. Bibliogr. p. 155-165.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Instrumentation et analyses avancées : Lille 1 : 2004. / N° d'ordre (Lille 1) : 3438. Résumé en français et en anglais. Titre provenant de la page de titre du document numérisé. Bibliogr. à la suite de chaque chapitre.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Chimie organique et macromoléculaire : Lille 1 : 2006. / N° d'ordre (Lille 1) : 3870. Résumé en français et en anglais. Titre provenant de la page de titre du document numérisé. Bibliogr. à la suite de chaque chapitre. Liste des publications et des communications.

Tesi--Milan. / Bibliography: p. [103]-108.

Les textiles sont des biens de première nécessité et des objets de valeur en Mésopotamie, au Ier millénaire av J.-C. L'objet de cette étude est de comprendre comment les matières premières étaient produites, quelles étaient les techniques de fabrication des textiles et leurs diverses utilisations dans la société. Les matières premières étaient en partie produites sur place, et en partie importées. La laine, fibre textile principale, provenait de troupeaux appartenant en majorité aux institutions (temples et palais). Elles la redistribuaient dans toute la société par le paiement de salaires, la vente ou l'échange. Diverses personnes étaient en charge de la fabrication des textiles : artisans professionnels travaillant pour les temples ou pour une clientèle urbaine, femmes travaillant à domicile pour le profit d'une autorité supérieure ou de leur propre famille. Les nombreuses étapes de la chaîne opératoire de fabrication des textiles révèlent une spécialisation des artisans plus importante qu'aux époques précédentes. l'étude terminologique des termes akkadiens de textiles permet de mieux saisir la diversité de leurs usages. Les vêtements sont des marqueurs essentiels de l'identité. enfin, les textiles ont une valeur économique. Ils circulent dans la société, à travers des échanges sociaux et commerciaux. Leur étude révèle des traits fondamentaux de la société babylonienne au Ier millénaire av. J.-C. : l'ouverture de l'économie aux échanges extérieurs, une production artisanale plutôt décentralisée entre les mains d'acteurs individuels que totalement contrôlée par les institutions, et des conventions sociales fortes visibles à travers l'habillement. / The textiles belonged to the basic necessities and were also valuable properties in Mesopotamia, during the Ist millenium BS. The purpose of this study is to undersand how the textile fibres were produced, what were the technics of manufacturing of these objects and their various uses in the Babylonian society. The raw materials were partly produced locally and partly imported through long distance trade. The wool, the main textile raw material, came from sheep herds belonging in majority to the institutions (temples and palaces). These institutions were redistributing the wool in the society by the payment of salaries to workers, by sales or exchanges. A lot of people were involved in textile production : professional craftsmen working for the temples or for the urban customers, women working at home for the profit of an institution or for their own family. The "chaîne opératoire" of textile manufacturing was following several steps, and reveals a specialisation of the craftsmen more important than before. The study of the textile terminology in Akkadian shows the diversity of the uses of these objects in the Babylonian society. Clothes were markers of identity. Lastly, the textiles had an economic value. They circulated inside the society through social exchanges and economic transactions. The study of the textiles reveals some fundamental aspects of Babylonia's history during the Ist millenium BC, for instance the openness of its economy to external trade, a craft production decentralised into the hands of individuals and not controlled exclusively by the institutions, and strong social conventions expressed by the apparel.

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008 / This thesis argues that the story of hemp is one of mistaken identity and focuses on the potential of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in a social and economic context. It also asserts how hemp with the application of appropriate technologies can be developed nationally 'new' material, with reference to examples from abroad. The current proliferation of raw material shortages means that designers have a social responsibility to seek new ways to source and process materials for a sustainable future. Designers are the "future creators" and should prescribe materials that are not only healthy in the cycle of production, but also ensure an afterlife (recycling). The methodology employed is a combination of qualitative (such as interviews) and quantitative methods (such as statistical analysis). Life Cycle Analysis is used to study the ecological impact of substituting hemp for current materials and processes. The study interrogates the historic significance of hemp in various societies across the world with particular focus on Europe, Japan, the United States of America, Ireland and Australia. Such information is analysed within the realities of the South African context. A vast amount of information on hemp has been published but practical information is hard to obtain in South Africa necessitating a search for definite answers abroad, mainly in Europe where there is a strong development in this field. After researching the production of the hemp raw materials and the manufacture of viable hemp products abroad, lessons could be assessed for application to the local market. The findings endorse the view that hemp is a sustainable zero-waste material; the whole plant can be used when harvested, which makes it an ideal material on which to base an eco-design system. Hemp can be processed by utilizing either high technology equipment or by the use of locally available equipment and manual labour. It can be converted into a multi-diverse range of viable products such as paper, thatching, building material and ceiling panels. The main reason for the isolation of hemp in South Africa is the mistaken assumption that it is a drug and outlawed by our legislation. Since hemp (Cannabis sativa L) is perceived as a vilified cousin of marihuana it has lead to a blanket ban on both plants. This is certainly not warranted as hemp produces an extremely low value of the controversial hallucinogenic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)properties which is negligible.

Huari and Tiwanaku Textiles: Comparisons and ContextsLike all aspects of material culture, textiles related to Huari and Tiwanaku exhibit many similar iconographic characteristics, but remain essentially distinct in terms of construction and techniques of manufacture. Huari textiles uncovered in many sites along the Peruvian coast have both close design ties to the Tiwanaku center and design innovations clearly separate from any central source. Most Tiwanaku textiles remain much more restricted in designs more clearly oriented to the standard icons known from Tiwanaku stone sculpture. Even though both cultures created garments that seem remarkably similar at first glance such as the man's tapestry tunic and four-pointed hat, as well as unusual textiles such as discontinuous warp and weft tie and dye patchwork mantles and shirts, each of these textiles is constructed differently within its respective sphere of influence.Huari tunics use brilliant patterning in two separate webs or fabric pieces that are cut from the loom, folded, and then sewn together. Only a few Tiwanaku tunics have survived, but these all were woven like later Inca types, with one single web and the neck slot created within the weaving process. Huari four-pointed hats are remarkably similar to hats with four points discovered in the Tiwanaku sphere, but Huari hats have pile in the knots and Tiwanaku 's hats depend on the color change of the knots and yarns alone. The authors discuss a larger series of textiles with iconography that relates them to the highland centers where cloth has not been preserved. Huari textiles from El Brujo, Chicama Valley, Peru are discussed in context along with Tiwanaku textiles from well preserved burials in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The article discusses the similarities and differences in textiles from Huari and Tiwanaku. / En muchos aspectos de la cultura material, los tejidos huari y tiwanaku presentan y comparten rasgos iconográficos, pero se distinguen en su construcción y técnicas de manufactura. Los tejidos huari descubiertos en diferentes sitios a lo largo de la costa peruana poseen diseños que los ligan íntimamente al centro de la cultura Tiwanaku, pero también evocan distintas innovaciones iconográficas con respecto a las de este centro. En lo que respecta a los tejidos tiwanaku, sus diseños son mucho más restringidos y presentan una fuerte orientación hacia la iconografía estándar conocida para la escultura en piedra. Ambas culturas crearon una fastuosa vestimenta, la que es muy similar a primera vista, como es el caso de las túnicas en tapiz, los gorros de cuatro puntas, así como los mantos y camisas elaborados en urdimbres y tramas discontinuas, decorados por teñido al negativo. Estos tejidos, sin embargo, fueron hechos de manera diferente, obedeciendo a los patrones culturales establecidos dentro de su esfera de influencia.Las túnicas huari se distinguen por sus brillantes colores, conformados a partir de dos tejidos que se caracterizan por presentar sus orillos recortados. Estos tejidos fueron doblados y luego cosidos. Por otro lado, las evidencias de túnicas tiwanaku son limitadas: un examen de estas muestra que fueron elaboradas como las túnicas del estilo Inca, confeccionadas a partir de un solo tejido, con la abertura para el cuello realizada durante su elaboración. Otro es el caso de uno de los accesorios del estilo Huari, el gorro de cuatro puntas, que comparte atributos con aquel desarrollado dentro de la esfera tiwanaku. Ambos son sorprendentemente similares, pero los gorros huari llevan pequeños mechones entre los nudos, mientras que los ejemplares tiwanaku se caracterizan por el cambio de color en los hilos empleados. En ambos casos, estas variaciones están relacionadas con el sistema decorativo. En este artículo se discutirán evidencias textiles y la iconografía asociada a este material, el cual no ha podido conservarse en el centro de su dominio. Textiles huari, procedentes de El Brujo, valle de Chicama, Perú, serán presentados dentro de su contexto, así como también los tejidos tiwanaku registrados en el cementerio de San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Se expondrán, por último, las similitudes y diferencias existentes en ambos estilos.