Resurser och hållbarhet är nära förknippade. Hållbarhet innebär att hushålla med resurser - materiella, miljömässiga och mänskliga. Och hushållning är per definition kärnan i ekonomi. Man börjar alltmer se framväxten av en hel arsenal av verktyg och förhållnings- och angreppssätt för att bygga hållbarhet. Detta förenas av ett synsätt att det som hitintills setts  om avfall och värdelöst, och rent utav besvärligt att ta hand om, nu blir en värdefull resurs. Det glömda och gömda kommer åter. Faktum är att många ord och begrepp kring detta börjar på just åter- eller re- . Internationellt talar man om Redesign, Recycling, Remake, Recycle, Recraft, Reuse, Recreate, Reclaim, Reduce, Repair, Refashion.

Vad är då allt detta? Ja, vill man dra det långt, är det inte mindre än framväxten av ett nyvunnet sätt att tänka, ja av en ny samhällssektor, en bransch och en industri,  sammanbundet av filosofin att återanvändningen, spillminskningen, vidarebruket, efterlivet anses som viktiga faktorer för ett miljömedvetet samhälle. Re: blir paraplytermen för detta. I denna antologi av forskare från skilda discipliner vid Högskolan i Borås lyfts ett antal av dessa begrepp inom Re: fram.

Utställning "Color Memories"

Trace Textiles are traditionally designed and produced to more or less keep a given, static expression during their life cycle; a striped pattern is supposed to keep its stripes. Also textile designers are traditionally trained to design for static expressions, where patterns and decorations are meant to last in a specific manner. However, things are changing. The carpet Trace is part of a series of design experiments that focus on contributing to identifying and characterizing new design variables, new design methods and new design techniques as a foundation for dynamic textile patterns. Textile designer deals with a new raw material, a dynamic textile, ready to be further designed, developed and/or programmed after its being produced. Expressional changes in real time due to pressure This design example is made as a carpet that lights up when someone walks on it. The light is achieved by using an electroluminescent wire, that requires an electrical power source to be switched on / off which is controlled by a program. This is a reversible textile pattern and will change back to its initial expression when there is no applied pressure on the carpet. Not only designers need to learn how to design with these new materials and their specific qualities that can be seen as a kind of functional styling with dynamic textile patterns. Both users and production perspective need to be further investigated to be able to develop a fully expressional potential and function inherent in these “smart textiles”. If you are interested to know more about dynamic textile patterns and our design examples all our publications are available from The Swedish School of Textiles digital library Bada (bada.hb.se). For example you can find Linda Worbins thesis Designing Dynamic Textile Patterns and Anna Perssons thesis Exploring textiles as materials for interaction design. Trace is funded by Smart Textiles, Vinnova and The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden. The project is initiated by Linda Worbin and made by Anna Persson, Christian Mohr and Linda Worbin Smart textile Design Lab, in a collaboration with Kasthall Carpet AB.

Jag blev beviljad ett vistelsestipendium på Eckerö Post och Tullhus, Åland under perioden 10 juni till den 21 juli sommaren 2013, detta är min reseberättelse om vad jag gjorde, med dagboksanteckningar och bilder från vistelsen och utställning i min atelje i samband med öppethus. I naturen och årstiderna finns en ständig föränderlighet, samtidigt som det finns en konstant upprepning i dygnet och året. I mina textila experiment växt-färgar jag utan betmedel (alltså inga tillsatta kemikalier) för att undersöka naturens inneboende flyktighet, där något träder fram och ett annat försvinner. Kommer de Ålandsfärgade textilierna förändras om tio månader, ett år, fem år?

Contemporary preconception of color within textile design is more or less seen as a static and measurable phenomena, but in this project will the opposite be investigated, textile colors are crafted to investigate expressions that is evolving over time. This practice based design research project presents a series of textile color samples that will give guidance to a number of plant dyed expressions. Textiles are dyed without any mordant, meaning no added chemical or salts that will influence on the color or color fastness. The objective in this project is to investigate and visualize color changing textile expressions from plant dye, and to verify the changing process within the color samples. This will be documented and fulfilled in two phases: 

Åland 2013 - Report no.1 (this report) plant dyed samples are documented and presented as visual scanned color samples with foundational information like; materials, plants, dyeing methods etc. Evaluation of first phase in the project covering what visual color you get from different combination of textile materials/fibres and plants etc. 

Åland 2013 - Report no.2 (to be presented) same samples will be juxtaposed and presented a second time, after being exposed to light etc. in x time. Evaluation and comparison between the scanned samples presented in report no. 1 and in report no. 2 with respect to visual color changes.

We are developing a dynamic textile wall hanging as an interface to the atmosphere of a room. Atmospheres are elusive. An atmosphere is the result of an ongoing negotiation between the activities in the room and the expression of the material objects, the lighting, the temperature, and the boundaries of the room [4, 8]. The wall hanging will play an active part in that ongoing negotiation. The activities in the room will influence how the textile wall hanging changes structure, form, color, as well as the pace with which it happens, and the activities in the room may in turn be influenced by the expression of the wall hanging.

In art and design practices, materials and technology are means of expression as well as sources of inspiration. On the other hand, in technical development processes art and design provide meaning, direction and expressions of functionality. In some sense this duality of perspectives is what defines the loci where art, design and technology meet. Over the past ten years, the Swedish School of Textiles have taken part in the ongoing discussion on how practice-based research can further develop our understanding of the expressiveness inherent in new materials and new technology. In this context it is clear that art, design and technology meet in the lab and in the workshop. However, for discussions across borders between the perspectives of art, design and technology we need meeting places outside of the labs and the workshops as well. The Ambience exhibition is an exercise in building such a meeting place, but also an exercise in providing conference space for interaction between artistic practice and theory. As designers and artists working within a research setting, we often work in parallel with writing, presenting conference papers and exhibiting in different arenas. It is then only natural to include two ways of presenting results at a conference for artistic research; to let paper presentations and exhibition interact to create wider perspectives and deeper understanding. All exhibition contributions have been subject to a peer review process similar to the review process paper submissions are subjected to. And just as for paper submissions, reviews focus on originality and skills with respect to both results and presentation. This exhibition is the first in the series of Ambience conferences. The conference is organized by the University of Borås in cooperation with Tampere University of Technology and is a part of the Smart Textiles Initiative – www.smarttextiles.se In this catalogue you will find images, artist statements and/or project descriptions presenting the works displayed at the exhibition. Welcome to the Ambience´11 exhibition!

No longer is it sufficient to add ‘smart’ to textiles to secure interesting research results. We have surpassed the initial stages of explorations and testing and now need to raise the bar. We have thus specified a research program in which we investigate what it means to design with smart textiles. What can we design with smart textiles? And how do we design with smart textiles? We now explore how these complex, often abstract, materials can enter traditional design practices and what role smart textile can play in the design of our environment. In this paper, we discuss the challenges we see at present, we outline our new research program and we qualify it through three examples of our ongoing projects: The smart textile sample collection, Dynamic textile patterns, and Bonad [tapestry]. The paper is as much an invitation to join forces, as it is a description of a maturing process within design research. We are over the first love, now what?

No longer is it sufficient to add ‘smart’ to textiles to secure interesting research results. We have surpassed the initial stages of explorations and testing and now need to raise the bar. We have thus specified a research program in which we investigate what it means to design with smart textiles. What can we design with smart textiles? And how do we design with smart textiles? We now explore how these complex, often abstract, materials can enter traditional design practices and what role smart textile can play in the design of our environment. In this paper, we discuss the challenges we see at present, we outline our new research program and we qualify it through three examples of our ongoing projects: The smart textile sample collection, Dynamic textile patterns, and Bonad [tapestry]. The paper is as much an invitation to join forces, as it is a description of a maturing process within design research. We are over the first love, now what?