It is with great pleasure that we present a collection of research stories from the Beyond e-Textiles project. This project was first and foremost crafted to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, e.g., material science, engineering, design, and fine arts throughout Nordic countries around a defined subject area - the development of novel responsive yarns, textile craftsmanship and design methods. This book collects snapshots from the joint explorations of the partners, Aalto University, University of Borås, University of Turku, Iceland University of the Arts and VIA University College, on this vast domain. These case studies were guided by collaborative biannual workshops, which deepened our understanding of each other’s disciplinary expertise and aimed to refine the concrete research tasks of our open-ended inquiries. With this publication, we document different ways of working together, showing creative ways of finding trust and courage to conduct projects that often crossed many different knowledge domains and sometimes seemingly contradictory aims. It is our hope and concern that our experiences will contribute to and inspire future interdisciplinary research. After all, holistic, multi-sectoral knowledge is needed to drive radical systemic changes, essential in fostering the transition to more sustainable societies and ways of living. Compared to conventional textile design methodswhere material qualities and form composition define the final expression, this research positions designers and scientists as enablers of material relations. The research artifacts, therefore, exhibit multiple expressive states and transforma-tive forms determined by use and sensitivity to natural phenomena. Even though we often intentionally didn’t target production or application, the research findings and created prototypes provide new openings for paths that would warrant a research project of their own. The research findings include healthcare applications, new aesthetic norms of use and wear, and ideas for interior textiles that can alter their shape and function, relying on energy harvested from their immediate environment. Together with the published articles and numerous exhibitions, both physical and digital, this collection of cases represents the project’s legacy. The presented works showcase the formation of deep interdisciplinary links between participating researchers and mixing methodologies typical for the diverse participating domains. We see the case book as a rich material library and as a foundation for cross-disciplinary training where design and science meet to generate more sustainable material practices together, based on a better understanding of natural phenomena as agents for change. Moreover, a meaningful learning was that textile craftsmanship, such as weaving, knitting, bobbin lace, dyeing and printing, was a crucial factor to fully understand the character and potential of different light stimuli, ranging from UV to near-IR, as well as temperature as change agents on textiles. Other learnings, too numerous and occasionally too personal to list here, will hopefully reveal themselves to you while reading.NordForsk enabled this research through the funding to the Nordic network on smart light-conversion textiles beyond electronic circuits, 2021-2025, project ID: 103894. The work will continue with NorTex, 2025-2026, which allows us to further explore the journey towards a Nordic Center of Future Textiles, project ID: 202996. For this support, we are truly grateful.

Happy reading, on behalf of the Beyond e-Textiles research team, Jaana Vapaavuori, Anne Louise Bang, Delia Dumitrescu, Ragna Bjarnadóttir and Kati Miettunen

The samples explore the design possibilities of solar-responsive yarns (light-emitting, color-changing, and shape-changing yarns) in textile design using knitting and weaving constructions. The textiles developed in the project Rhythms of Sunlight connect to the rhythms of nature; they form a visual representation relating acts of use to different climate conditions by being sensitive to continuous changes of light. In this process, natural phenomena are included as co-designers, allowing each piece to exhibit multiple expressions and gently completing the process the designer has opened. Beyond the textile design, the collection of artifacts generates new questions and speculates different ways of daily living with light-responsive textiles.

The paradigm of smart textiles has shifted beyond electronics and computational technology. The awareness for preserving the natural environment through the gentle imprint of raw materials, reduced energy consumption, and applied principles of design ethics asks for the search for alternative relations between humans and the designed materiality. Subsequently, “designerly” care for the natural environment opens new research trajectories for material design and innovation questioning established hierarchies between humans and more-than-human subjects and objects. In this context, research methodologies have become more comprehensive; they are open to cross- and trans-disciplinary methodologies and move objective knowledge to situated research.

This project aimed to suggest possible knitted textile designs using biopolyamide yarns that expand when subjected to infrared light or heat-stimulated structures. Through exploring the design potential of responsive kinetic textiles using these novelyarns, the research raised the following questions to inform their use in textile objects: “How does kinetic motion in textiles influence our emotional response?” And: “How can kinetic textiles be designed in meaningful ways for everyday life?”

Inspired by nature's capacity for change, the project proposes an alternative approach to designing smart materials with shape-changing properties powered by green energy. Natural phenomena, e.g., light, are explored to trigger changes in textiles rather than using electrical circuits and energy, which are often used in smart textile design. The project relates material science to textile design through an experimental research methodology to generate responsive materiality, bridging developments in material science, textile craftsmanship, artistic research, and design.

Nowadays, ethics and care for the environment have shifted paradigms in smart textile design towards responsible energy use and preservation of natural resources. In this research, we aim to relate material science and engineering to textile and interaction design in discovering a vibrant responsive materiality triggered by ultraviolet (UV) energy. The research addresses a bottom-up approach entangling scientific development in material science, textile craftsmanship, and design to the understanding of human use and the capacities for change of this natural phenomena. Compared to a conventional textile design process where material and form composition connect in a final expression, this research positions designers and scientists as enablers of material relations. The artefacts, therefore, exhibit multiple states and forms, transforming dynamically through use and sensitivity to natural phenomena. The selected textile artefacts are seen as relational; they open for different conversations and materialize entanglements of materials, techniques, methods, and research methodologies that relate experimental research to human-centered and more-than-human approaches.

This research project explored how natural phenomena influence textile expressions over time and aimed to develop alternative approaches to textile design and use. It investigated how textile lifespans can be adapted to their intended use, opening up to diverse rhythms of change that align with sustainable practices. Through this lens, the project reimagined how fiber properties and structural design can interact with environmental elements to shape textiles that evolve over time. The project consisted of a core long-term experiment documenting the transformations of textile samples exposed to organic matter, followed by an analysis of changes in colour and expression. The outcome is a material library that exemplifies these principles and contributes to a novel framework for co-designing responsive, temporal textile systems with nature.

This research project explored solar energies beyond their traditional role as a mere power source, examining their capacity as agential materials (Barad, 2007; Bennett, 2020) within smart textile design. It emphasized the active participation of solar energies—encompassing visible light, ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, and infrared wavelengths—in shaping both the material properties and interactive behaviours of textiles. These energies are framed as co-constituents in the dynamic interaction between natural and designed environments, influenced by a “more-than-human design” theoretical framework (Barzdzell et al. 2021; Giaccardi et al. 2025; Wakkary 2021).