V2_ Knowledgebase

The mission of The Textile Institute is to promote professionalism in all areas associated with the textile industries worldwide. It is an association of men and women throughout the world which unites those with an interest in textiles. The individual professional expertise of members is diverse: it includes management, art, design, fashion, economics, science, engineering, research, production, marketing, selling, retailing, education and training. These skills relate to the totality of industrial and commercial operations from fibre production to the use of products by individual and corporate consumers.

Alexander Reeder creates interactive garments, accessories and perfume. He works to enable through projects such as Sophie's Pet, enhance with Dream Jammies and Butterfly Dress, and facilitate with S Ring. Alex explores performative elements of interactive garments with Touched By Strangers.

Transstudio is a creative laboratory dedicated to emergent materials research and the development of material-focused architecture and design applications. Created by architect, materials researcher, and sustainable building advisor Blaine Brownell, Transstudio promotes the positive transformation of the constructed environment via synergistic intersections between sustainability, technology, and design innovation. The Transstudio platform seeks to make change through multiple channelsópromoting awareness, providing resources, and offering tangible solutionsóin order to connect disruptive technologies with concomitant design approaches.

The Industrial Design course started in 2001 and counts a number of nationalities among its multidisciplinary staff. The emphasis is on ëambient intelligenceí: the design of intelligent products, systems, and services. Over the next couple of years 'ambient care' will receive special attention because health and well-being are among the primary focal areas of both Industrial Design and the TU/e. Because of its broad range of contacts with companies and institutions in Europe and beyond (Singapore, Australia, the United States), Industrial Design is well-equiped to respond to international developments in a pro-active manner.

UNIQUE's engineers have designed and constructed sophisticated looms incorporating the most up-to-date weaving techniques and electronic controls, further giving us the ability to insure that your requirements and specifications are met in every respect.

Unravel: the SIGGRAPH2006 Fashion Show presents a runway show of innovative and experimental works in computational and conceptual couture, fashion with a social agenda, science-inspired form, and new technologies of material fabrication. Unravel brings together the work of designers and artists from the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia who are seeking to redefine the notion of ‘wearable.’ In the increasingly mobile nature of contemporary life, it has become important to contemplate how the devices we carry and the garments we wear converge into a ‘secondary skin’ which function as an extension of ourselves, in both ability and perception. By using fashion, a medium which has always been associated with self-expression and personal identity, these designers seek to demonstrate how the use (or misuse) of technology and its modes of production have the power to stimulate, delight, and inspire in ways as yet untapped in the fashion world. Gone are the stereotypical bulky cyborg devices; what emerged are garments of beauty, subtlety and elegance in form. Some bring to light important social issues — redefining our notions of personal space, networked environments, and issues of privacy and protection. Others relish in pure delight, reminding us how technology also has the power to enhance our personal relationships and celebrate fantasy and play as part of the human condition.

I recently graduated from the MIT Media Lab and co-founded ESKI. I also make electronic textiles at XS Labs, and teach Physical Computing in the Design & Computation Arts department at Concordia University. This is a chronological repository of interactive artefacts I have had the opportunity to build and play with. Feel free to use and abuse these ideas in accordance with the license below.

We are attempting to address the computing research issues that arise in the successful realization of e-textiles. Our approach to this process is to build physical prototypes and employ extensive simulation to explore the vast design space in e-textiles. Towards that end, we are constructing a modeling and simulation environment to explore that space.

Regine Debatty studied Classics in Belgium and England, worked as a teacher of Latin and ancient Greek, then moved to media, working as a documentary director for the Belgian national TV, as a reporter for the radio Onda Cero in Spain then as a consultant for the MEDIA programme of the European Commission in Italy. She now writes about the intersection between art, design and technology on her blog we-make-money-not-art.com as well as on several European design and art magazines. She curates art shows and speaks at conferences and festivals about the way artists, hackers and interaction designers (mis)use technology.

"Wearable Technology & Powered Art and Fashion Design" presents latest developments in the area of technologically augmented clothing. The program crosses the disciplines of fashion design, performance art, wearable computing and interaction design. The selected pieces envision a future in which our second skin, our clothes, become relevant element in our social life, in our communication and interaction with others. This is achieved by embedding electronics seamlessly into the textiles. After the miniaturisation of processors, sensors and batteries designers can now use these to create expressive and performative garments beyond the everyday experience.

-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.

WIRAD's vision is to become Wales' premier Art & Design research institution with an internationally reputation for cutting edge research in the field. The Institute may eventually become a jointly owned independent entity of its own. By so doing, it will not only serve Wales through stimulation to creative and cultural practices, but also make very evident at an international level the high standing of research in Wales. Research may be commissioned on the contribution Wales might play in the development of pure and applied research within the Art and Design fields; aiming to ensure that the Institute is outward-looking and responsive, serving Wales by serving Europe and beyond.

The World of Wearable Art Awards Show is a series of six spectacular shows combining choreography, sound and light as a backdrop to the display of amazing garments. An international line-up of top artists and designers put their creations on show in this iconic event, introducing the latest in imaginative couture and accessories. Extraordinary lighting and special effects heighten the sense of drama in each of the two-hour shows. These theatrical experiences attract up-and-coming designers, celebrities, hosts of the fashion-conscious, and others wishing to witness the cutting edge of the wearable art scene.

In Xtreme Fashion authors Courtenay Smith and Sean Topham turn their attention to the fashion world, where haute couture is taking a backseat to serious concerns about the environment, personal safety, and privacy. Featuring more than 300 color photos and fascinating text, the authors show how real fashion starts on the streets, born of urban conditions from gang culture to teenybopper worship. They showcase the works of designers, artists, and other creative individuals such as Moreno Ferrari, Freddie Robins, Vexed Generation, Alicia Framis, Daniele Buetti, Lucy Orta, and Hussein Chalayan to illustrate the demand for clothing that can protect, extend, alter, mark or mask the human body.

Artist, designer and researcher Dr. Zane Berzina, originally from Latvia, is involved in interdisciplinary projects across the fields of science, technology, design and art. Her studio practice and research evolves around responsive, active and interactive textiles, soft technologies, new materials and processes as well as biomimetic practices.