V2_ Knowledgebase

Adafruit was founded in 2005 by MIT engineer, Limor "Ladyada" Fried. Her goal was to create the best place online for learning electronics and making the best designed products for makers of all ages and skill levels. Since then Adafruit has grown to over 25 employees in the heart of NYC. We've expanded our offerings to include tools, equipment and electronics that Limor personally selects, tests and approves before going in to the Adafruit store.

Craftivism is the practice of engaged creativity, especially regarding political or social causes. By using their creative energy to help make the world a better place, craftivists help bring about positive change via personalized activism. Craftivism allows practitioners to customize their particular skills to address particular causes.

A new breed of designer who is pushing the boundaries of design through materials and process; growing, cultivating and forming new hybrid materials for fashion futures. Borrowing skills from molecular cooking, she is envisioning a future where fast fashion has to respond to a more sustainable future. Setting up a lab in her kitchen, she is growing and freezing bubbles to create a form of bio lace that is both wearable and edible. Micro-Nutrient Couture is a sensory world of transient fashion where no one but the individual will ever wear the same dress again.

This scarf is knit with the Fibonacci number pattern. Famous in the mathematics world, the Fibonacci number pattern is created by adding a number to the previous number: 0,1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… (2 comes from adding 1 + 1, 3 comes from adding 2 + 1). This is no ordinary number sequence. The Fibonacci number patterns are found in nature in the seed placement of a sunflower, the pattern on a pine cone, and the uncurling of a fern. The number pattern creates a golden spiral and is used in financial predictions and for computer algorithms. This scarf is knit with the Fibonacci numbers in order: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and 21. As the scarf is knit, the new number of stitches is added to the previous number of stitches to get the next number of stitches. Thus the knitting method is also influence by the Fibonacci formula.

A special "Advanced Textiles Conference" will focus on blending technology and materials. The 7th International conference on Safety and Protective Fabrics will take place at IFAI Expo Americas 2010 under the Advanced Textiles Conference. High-level symposiums presenting the most cutting-edge trends and information will be featured and are guaranteed to draw a large niche market buyer audience. OCTOBER 27-29, 2010

Designer Mariëlle Leenders has experimented with fabric that features shape memory wire either woven into the material or added later as one or more lines of stitching. Her Moving Textiles (2000) react to differences in temperature by shrinking, creasing, changing structure or rolling up. Lines of stitching added to the basic material in certain places cause the fabric to creep up when temperatures rise.

Kerri is a textile designer from the United Kingdom currently challenging the potential of wearable display technologies in textile design. Prior to her MA in Design for Textile Futures, Kerri graduated from Chelsea College of Art & Design in BA Textiles, 2005 where she specialised in recycled materials for the body and home, and sustainable solutions for interior and exterior spaces. This exploration included textile manipulation and mixed media approaches, printed techniques, and a related written paper. Kerri is both a conscientious and dynamic designer whos skills include silk-screen and digital print design, constructed textiles, fine art and communication design.

This Pop up Lace is the first industrially produced paper yarn lace, engineered to create pop up tea pots that can be sculpted directly from the tablecloth or the wall hanging and was manufactured by Sakae as a one-off edition for the Warp Factor Exhibition.

In Summer 2007 we intertwine the practices of media arts and sound design, textile and weaving, jewellery, object and fashion design to produce the reskin Wearable Technology Lab. This collaborative project of ANAT, the Australian National University School of Art, the Centre for New Media Arts (CNMA) and Craft Australia places jewellers and fashion designers with new media artists in an intensive three week research and development lab.

Organised by independent textile specialists, SPINEXPO presents a truly international top level offer in the field of fibres, yarns for knitting, circular knit and weaving (fabrics and upholstery), socks, laces, labels and technical textiles. It takes place twice yearly in Shanghai -China. It covers also creative machinery for knitwear and circular knits.

We seek to make Kaunas biennial TEXTILE the most significant event for contemporary textile art in Europe, which reflects analytically the art processes currently taking place all over the world, by bringing up the priorities of creative collaboration, openness and democratic relationships in the processes of art creation and its perception. Kaunas Biennial is a platform and a real opportunity for - artists’ debates and the realisation of innovative ideas, - collaboration among artists and visitors, - the enhancement of the sense of community through creative activities, - interdisciplinary artistic and academic practices, - international and intercontinental partnerships and - the creation of a discursive textile culture.

From 1959 Tessitura Tele Metalliche Rossi Oliviero is a production company specialized in wire mesh weaved with threads from 0,035 to 2,00 millimetres. Always placing the technological search and the experimentation of new solutions to the first place it produces, trades and exports nets, wire mesh and welded nets with stainless steel, special alloys, galvanized, copper, bronze, brass, aluminium, iron, titanium and synthetic threads or ropes.

-Wifi jacket: While I was orignally working with basic light stripes, I ultimately decided to integrate them with a flower motif. This design choice was made to recount the age old story of borrowing from the environment to decorate garments - think floral and animal print patterns. Since Wi-Fi is so prevalent in the environment now, I thought it would be interesting to integrate this representation of a man-made part of our environment into a garment in that same way. In the end design, flowers referencing our natural environment are juxtaposed with technology from the synthetic environment. -'Intimate Controllers' is a platform where video games are played by couples touching each other. The platform consists of two controllers, a bra for the female player and boxer shorts for the male player. Each controller is embedded with 6 sensors placed with varying degrees of intimacy in relation to the body part with which they correspond. Players must pass game levels together and in doing so, game play results in increasingly intimate positioning. The goal of this project was to research and create objects that challenge the traditional notions and orientation of video game play.