In the presented collection of artefacts, textiles are seen as active elements in their environments – being able to react to environmental stimuli by changing their shape, colour, or other qualities. Drawing parallelism to biological materials, some of these changes are two-directional and thus can lead to reversible changes, whereas some are linear and irreversible, such as ageing. As examples of two-directional changes, textile designs based on UV reactive properties: colour changing, light emitting, and self-cleaning, as well as textile constructions based on newly developed yarns capable of reversible shape changes upon exposure to heat are exhibited. On the other hand, the colour changes of natural dyes dictated by the ambient environment and the heat-response of new PLA yarns bring about elements of irreversible change. When two-directional and linear changes coexist, the appearance (and thus aesthetics) of the artefacts is constantly altering. The timescales contained in these textile transformations vary significantly creating an interesting interplay of diverse and sometimes intersecting qualities. These concepts are approached from different viewpoints – from developing new advanced materials for making yarns, exploring different textile crafting methods for producing diverse textile structures, and to engaging with aesthetic sustainability. 

This exhibition shows work in progress in the Beyond e-textiles project which bases on interdisciplinary research work involving contributions from physics, crafting, materials engineering, and textile design. Partners are Aalto University, University of Turku, University of Borås, VIA University College, and Iceland University of the Arts. Employing methodologies from these various disciplines and conducting research at different levels of hierarchy of textile construction can help us to reimagine, materialise and finally realise new textile concepts and their changing aesthetics

Sustainable design thinking challenges perspectives on approaches to material development that are considerate of resources from the natural environment. This involves limiting energy consumption and re-purposing materials’ use, qualities, and functions for an extended life span. Using a practice-based research methodology, this research proposes an alternative framework for sustainable textiles with a strong emphasis on designing a material’s expressive qualities related to its extended use values: co-creation and wear. The experimental practice looks at the interplay between a material’s inherent properties and its craftmanship, as well as aesthetic and expressive values which could extend the duration of use. The research takes a bottom-up approach to sustainable design thinking and exemplifies the design of diverse material strategies through a curated library of responsive textile expressions. The responsive textile samples developed in this research illustrate rich ways of responding and adapting to user actions and their environmental surroundings. The textiles’ extended multimodal attributes suggest an alternative framework to design for prolonged lifespan, and exemplify materials that enhance daily life by conserving energy and allowing for customization and location-specific applications. 

Printable smart materials offer textile designers a range of changeable colours, with the potential to redefine the expressive properties of static textiles. However, this comes with the challenge of understanding how the printing process may need to be adapted for these novel materials. This research explores and exemplifies the properties and potential of electroluminescent inks as printable smart colours for textiles, in order to facilitate an understanding of designing complex surface patterns with electroluminescent inks. Three conventional textile print methods – colour mixing, halftone rasterization, and overlapping – have been investigated through experimental design research to expand the design potential of electroluminescent inks. The result presents a set of methods to create various color mixtures and design complex patterns. It offers recipes for print formulation and documents the outcomes, offering a new design resource for textile surface pattern designers to promote creativity in design, and provides fundamental knowledge for the creation of patterns on textiles using electroluminescent inks.

To regard the electromagnetic domain of conductive textiles is to unlock a realm of expressive possibilities. The underexplored area of the electromagnetic domain in con­ductive textiles implies that numerous computational and electronic textiles created thus far possess untapped capabilities. These textiles, composed of metals and metal alloys, transcend our perception by constantly interacting with electromagnetic waves, fields, and signals. Serving as energetic materials, they extend a textile’s design qual­ities beyond its visible and tangible elements, ushering designers into an intangible, non-visual, extrasensory realm.

Through experimental design research, the research program aims to explore the ex­pressive possibilities of the electromagnetic domain of textiles. To achieve this, there is an initial focus on material development to understand the means through which these phenomena can be expressed. Subsequently, the design of methods and tools for sens­ing and perceiving the phenomena are explored. This foundational knowledge is crucial in uncovering the aesthetic potentials of electromagnetic systems involving sensing circuits and textile artefacts. Additionally, design variables that extend the expressive possibilities of textiles are proposed including textile radiance, electromagnetic texture, electromagnetic fusion, electromagnetic coupling, diffusion, and field shape. Further­more, the results suggest a framing for how electromagnetic textiles function through acts of sensing, acting, and revealing. 

Through examples, exhibitions, and publications, an argument is made for positioning electromagnetic textiles as a distinctive category of smart textiles, unveiling the often overlooked design potential residing within electromagnetic phenomena. The choice of how to sense and reveal electromagnetic phenomena through textiles presents aesthetic implications for multisensory textiles, requiring designers to transcend the realms of visibility and tactility, thereby challenging the predominant senses employed in conventional textile design. This presents as an expanded design space that allows for unconventional textile expressions. This forms the basis for radiant textiles: a type of smart textile that regards a textile’s electromagnetic qualities and properties, and which opens to multisensorial textile expressions.

Radiant textiles are smart textiles regarded for their electromagnetic properties. The work is a series of 3D-printed objects that make visible the otherwise imperceptible magnetic fields of woven textile structures. These fields are captured through a “magnetic textile scanning” method that employs magnetometer readings. The data is used in 3D design software to create visualizations for 3D printing.

The design of woven smart textiles presents a discrepancy of scale where the designer works at the level of structural textile design while facets of the material express at scales beyond one’s senses. Without appropriate methods to address these unknown (or hidden) material dimensions, certain expressional domains of the textile are closed off from textile design possibilities. The aim of the research has been to narrow the gap that presents when one designs simultaneously at the scale of textile structure and electron flow in yarns. It does this by detailing a method for sensing, visualizing, and discussing expressions of electromagnetism in woven smart textiles. Based on experimental research, a method of textile surface scanning is proposed to produce a visualization of the textile’s electromagnetic field. The woven textile samples observed through this method reveal an unknown textural quality that exists within the electron flow – an electromagnetic texture, which emerges at the intersection of woven design and electromagnetic domain variables. The research further contributes to the definition of specific design variables such as: field strength and diffusion expanding the practice of woven smart textile design to the electromagnetic domain.

In textile design education, material expressions tend to be directed toward visual-tactile sensory domains. Yet, materials are perceived by all senses, as the body’s experience is mediated through multiple sensory modalities. This paper presents an experiential learning workshop designed to introduce textile design students to somaesthetics as a way to increase sensory competencies and enrich the exploration of sensory-material expressions in textile design. Teaching methods involved a sensitizing exercise, a reflective sense collage, a collaborative sense map task, and a final design task. An evaluative discussion is based on workshop feedback by the students and reflections by the researchers. The main contributions of the paper are guidelines as an inspirational source for introducing sensory-material aesthetics in textile design education.

The paper presents the context and inspirations for the Flower Antenna, a large-scale, hovering, sculptural sound installation that combines sound and transmission art, computational textiles, and architectural design. Computational textiles include microcontrollers and other electronic components as well as use the natural property of the fabric to communicate information to people The Flower Antenna was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA) Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America during the spring of 2021. The authors discuss the use of electromagnetic waves via an electronically active textile construction as a form of non-visual media used to represent the paradox of Blackness and the presence of Black people in architecture in the wake of the history of slavery in the United States. Electromagnetic waves are neither seen nor recognized by most people, yet they shape the spaces people inhabit and support almost every part of society today with the use of invisible networks cast by the internet and its structures. This artistic project contributes to a discussion and reconstructing an understanding of Black culture in transmission arts, textile design, and in architecture. 

The design of smart textiles presents a discrepancy

of scale where the designer works at the level of

structural textile design while facets of the material

express at scales beyond one’s senses. Without

methods to narrow this gap, certain expressional

domains of the textile are closed off from design

possibilities. The aim of the research has been to

design a method for observing, visualizing, and

describing expressions of electromagnetism in

textiles. Through a method of textile surface

scanning, one can produce a visualization of its

electromagnetic field. Woven textile samples

observed through this method reveal a textural

quality that exists within the electron flow – an

electromagnetic texture, which emerges at the

intersection of woven design and electromagnetic

domain variables. The design variables field

strength, diffusion, and field shape contribute in

narrowing the gap that presents when one designs

simultaneously at the scale of textile structure and

electron flow in yarns.