From: Leonie
Winson, Derby, Derbys., web designer/amateur knitter
In
answer to the question:
If you have created both textile and web-work, where do you see the
similarities?
I've always
enjoyed making things. When I was younger that included knitted teddy
bears and woven bags, which I used to sell at school to my classmates.
There is something really satisfying about the whole process of design
and creation. I carried on weaving knitting and sewing into my adult
years. My ambition when I was at school was to become a knitwear designer.
As I grew older I also discovered computers. I became fascinated with
technology and did some experimentation with computer aided knitwear
design. I moved away from the slow process of needle and pin, to the
instant results of a knitting machine. I went through my own personal
industrial revolution. No longer satisfied with manual construction.
I wanted the speed of the machine. The design process and technical
how, became as important as the simple satisfaction of making something
with my own hands. In the end however, I decided to keep textiles as
a hobby and moved further into the field of technology. To put it simply,
while at university, I discovered the internet. I moved from knitwear
design to web design. It is not a big a leap as you might think.
There are lots of parallels that I can make between the two. Both textile
work, and web work, involves connections. Each has its own process of
interweaving, and joining, one with thread, the other with hyperlink.
Both can involve careful choice of materials to achieve a controlled
blending of media or texture. Screen and cloth have there own individual
style and texture. I weave myself into each page or cloth I create.
Keyboard needle or loom, my hands and my intellect connect. My creations
grew with my rising skill as I experiment with new materials and cutting
edge technology. Yet you never forget your first creation. I remember
my first piece of knitting all holes and dropped stitches, But the pride
I took in having created it was undeniable. When I created my first
web page the thrill was very similar and the result on a similar level
of competence, no doubt.
Technology and craft are often put on opposite poles one involves skill
and imagination while the other is logic and technical knowledge. Yet
for me they fit and satisfy similar cravings. I need to create. To use
my brain and construct things that serve a purpose. On the other end
of the scale, I love to use my imagination and play with aesthetics
and the visual senses. Whether I'm creating a jumper or a website these
needs are filled.
I'm a web designer with a fascination for patterns whether they are
virtual or textile. That gives me plenty of scope.
From: Millie
Niss, USA,
In
answer to the question:
If you have created both textile and web-work, where do you see the
similarities?
I do a
lot of crafts and I have noticed the similarities between doing needlework
and programming (not specifically web page, though). I do crochet and
the instructions in books that tell you how to make doilies and sweaters
are written in a sort of programming language, complete with loops,
branching (g to a certain label in the instructions), staments, conditionals,
etc.
For example: ("2 dc in each sc of previous row then repeat from * 2
more times unless size small in which case go to step 2")
I have dreamed of a program which would let you design crochet work
by typing in the code and then the program would display the result
so you could see what it would look like without trial and error with
real yarn...
If you crochet or knit in multiple colors, you have to do thinngs like
predict where two lines will cross, which is done doing algebra only
it's not as simple as predicting what two ideal lines would do because
you have to take into account the fact that your lines are made up of
large dots and are not continuous like lines in geometry. You use basic
number theory to figure out how many stitches there will be on the hypotenuse
of a triangle with given size (the number of stitches on the hypotenuse
is the greatest common divisor of the lengths of the two other sides...)
Counted cross-stitch is very mathematical as it consists of translating
a picture of the subject you want to depict into pixels of various colors
at a low resolution (rasterizing). And you can (and professionally-made
patterns do) use techniquies such as anti-aliasing lines, interpolation,
translating from a big color space to an indexed color scheme (i.e.
you have a palette made of the colors of embroidery thread you bought).
This can be likened to converting a photo from jpeg to gif by hand...
From:
Sue Thomas, Loughborough, UK, artist and occasional web-handcrafter
In
answer to the question:
In what way does technology aid creativity?
In his
article "The Revival of Handcraft", published in the Fortnightly Review,
November 1888, William Morris asked:
"Are we justified in wishing that handicraft may in its turn supplant
machinery? Or it would perhaps be better to put the question in another
way. Will the period of machinery evolve itself into a fresh period
of machinery more independent of human labour than anything we can conceive
of now, or will it develop its contradictory in the shape of a new and
improved period of production by handicraft? The second form of the
question is the preferable one, because it helps us to give a reasonable
answer to what people who have any interest in external beauty will
certainly ask: Is the change from handicraft to machinery good or bad?
And the answer to that question is to my mind that, as my friend Belfort
Bax has put it, statically it is bad, dynamically it is good. As a condition
of life, production by machinery is altogether an evil; as an instrument
for forcing on us better conditions of life it has been, and for some
time yet will be, indispensable."
It seems to me that he was saying that machinery will, for a period
of time, make life better for us so that we can contemplate and develop
free from the drudgery of simply staying alive, but that once this was
achieved we would have the resources to return to a society more based
on handicrafts and their accompanying techniques, beauty and skill.
When he complained about
"the empty grumbling about the continuous march of machinery over
dying handicraft"
what he was guessing at, but could not properly have ever foreseen,
was that the crafts we developed a hundred years later would be a combination
of intellect and technique with the potential to endlessly design and
refine the most sophisticated ideas.
Intuitively, he was on the cusp of imagining that these powers of creation
and crafting would be available to people of all ages, education and
social class in every part of the world. (This hasn’t happened
yet, but it is my belief that eventually it will.)
In New Review three years later, in 1891, he wrote of The Socialist
Ideal: Art, insisting that to the Socialist "a house, a knife,
a cup, a steam engine, or what not, anything, I repeat, that is made
by man and has form, must either be a work of art or destructive to
art."
He goes on: "in the making of wares there should be some of the
spirit of the handicraftsman, whether the goods be made by hand, or
by a machine that helps the hand, or by one that supersedes it.”
And later “when people once more take pleasure in their work,
when the pleasure rises to a certain point, the expression of it will
become irresistible, and that expression of pleasure is art, whatever
form it may take."
It is my opinion that the internet, especially the worldwide web, has
brought that irresistible expression of pleasure into the lives of many
of us. With our personal homepages, with the revival of letter-writing
via email, with our creative communities and the technical skill we
learn and apply to all of them, we are surely living in the spirit of
the handicraftsman (and, of course, woman).
Extracts from The William Morris Internet Archive : Works http://www.marxists.org.uk/archive/morris/works/index.htm
From: Adrian
Butters, Nottingham, England, Ex-textile dyeing and finishing operative.
In
answer to the question:
A general comment about the project
Interesting
to see someone taking an interest in such an historical (though unfortunately
declining) industry. One that, along with the railways, was a manifestation
of the original industrial revolution 'smoke industries'.
From: Kaz
Madigan, Old Bar, Australia, Weaver, Web Lover
In
answer to the question:
What excites you about textiles and technology?
Both textiles
and technology share common threads and intersections. Although the
actual process of handweaving 'grounds' me in ways that web weaving
doesn't, web weaving and handweaving share an underlining technical
basis which supports a creative process. My aim in both is to create
beauty and function (or usability!). Both share repeated analogies.
The web, woven, spiderwoman, tapestry, threads are all words used on
the web to describe the creation of a new medium, collective, community
or even a business based on many contributing individual 'threads'.
Although
I don't have a computerised loom as such I use software to create patterns.
I like to create textiles with a minimum of tools but I am still drawn
to the acquisition of a computerised dobby loom if I could afford one!
In weaving
I am always looking for new ideas and new techniques to 'unravel' and
explore and to know. I am exactly the same with the web and computers
in general. New ways of programming or creating in a technical way appeal
to me as long as the product at the end is creative and useful. I am
particularly attracted to developing interactive ways of viewing and
using the web and its attendant technology for teaching. I see this
as more rewarding and I can somehow see the full process like I would
a woven cloth.
I also have a strong interest in making sure women have knowledge about
the web and how to use it. I teach many older women to give them more
of a sense of power about the web which I find is directed in a hierachical
way with technical and often male styles of knowledge being superior
in every way to creative and use based knowledge. I don't mean that
technical knowledge is not important and the development of the net
owes much to the work of many men - its just that womem can feel very
intimidated and excluded. But of course its up to us to just continue
in what and how we know and do it well! Similarly, women have often
been very involved in the world of creating textiles. In Australia,
textile work is less valued commerically than for example, painting
and sculpture. But its artistic expression is often based around the
home, caring, functionality and people.
In some
ways what excites me about textiles and technology is the nurturing
aspect of textiles and how that can be applied positively in the technology
of the web. The web has the potential to give so many isolated people
a web of power based on information and access.
From: Armele
Adams, Manchester, UK, tricoteuse
In
answer to the question:
What is the future for textile or Web technology?
Soon,
with a bit of time and patience, we'll be weaving intelligent fabrics
which react to our bodies to create ambient environments...we'll be
connecting into the 'net via tiny transmittor/receivers woven into our
clothing and be connected with each other in ways that we can only imagine...
From: Jennifer
Vasil, New Orleans, USA, web designer and long time knitter/crocheter
In
answer to the question:
In producing textiles or web sites: Is narrative or pattern important
for you?
I'm a
sucker for cables. Almost every piece I've knit over the past several
years is filled with them. I love the way they wrap among themselves,
twisting and roping through the weave of yarn. I suppose there is a
narrative of sorts in this - two sections of stitches that cannot stop
playing with each other, that must rough and tumble, twist and gyrate
under the needles, caught in the act of love or war as the rows progress.
Narrative is important in a much different way for me when designing
websites. When knitting, I am the sole author; what I move off the needles
is what remains as the "story." Websites are a completely different
matter. Here, I think of how the reader will create the narrative, how
he or she will piece together the various threads of text to create
something meaningful to them. I dislike the linearity that comes from
many websites, where I am forced into certain patterns of movement.
I'd much rather my reader be the producer, generating narratives I could
likely never have dreamed.
From: Bernadette
McCabe, Nottingham, UK, Researcher in Fashion and Textiles
In
answer to the question:
In what way does technology aid creativity?
Taking
technology in the broad meaning, (not just computers) you have the ability
to explore creative combinations and ideas. There is a means of developing
a language so that these creative combinations of materials and techniques
may be reproduced, further developed and refined with as much or little
control as the artist desires. Understanding materials, processes and
techniques to produce textile designs is very challenging and a seemingly
endless series of investigations.
From:
Vanessa, Maracaibo, Venezuela, teacher and tutor, writer, thinker
In
answer to the question:
If you have created both textile and web-work, where do you see the
similarities?
Among
other things, I never feel obliged to finish either the quilts or the
web pages... I love this, because it means I can make things as perfect
as I want or dump them if I get bored without feeling guilty.
From: D.
Sukumaran, Hindupur, India, Spinning Technologist
In
answer to the question:
What excites you about textiles and technology?
Textiles
and technology are quite interlinked. The technology is everchanging
and hence the quality of the textile product is also improving and oriented
towards customers' needs. It is such an interesting technology that
I was attracted to this line purely because of this, eventhough the
textile field is not thriving or flourishing exactly in India at present.
Continuous value addition takes place in the case of textiles. An end
product be it a shirting, suiting or a knitwear, just imagine the no.
of processes it undergoes and the varying treatments/operations it has
to meet in the hands of different technologists before it reaches the
enduser. The end user just looks at it and if he chooses to buy that's
it. The whole thing is a success, otherwise it is a failure.
From: Karina
Carlyn, Manchester, UK , amateur textile artist and amateur web
designer
In
answer to the question:
If you have created both textile and web-work, where do you see the
similarities?
Design
is important and colour.
What excites me is texture, colour, and the feel of a thing, or the
look of something.
Similarities between textiles and web sites are design, layout, planning
and a beautiful product.
From: Ann
Kaloski, Yorkshire, UK, academic amateur knitter beginner web designer
In
answer to the question:
A general comment about the project
So far
(one week in [to a training course]!) html feels like knitting to me
- with the same kind of comforts and compulsions and excitements. (I
was reminded of the first time I knitted a Fair Isle pattern and the
sheer laugh-out-loud delight of the work growing under my fingers. Not
sure why that translation of code into something more solid should be
so seductive - so like magic - to me! But it is.)