2021-2022
Self-Shaping Textiles for Furniture
As part of this research pursuit to achieve a deeper understanding of self-shaping woven textiles, we used the rapid sketching tool in Grasshopper/Kangaroo and collaborated with furniture designers to design these dimensional textiles with intentional behavior to meet functional/ergonomic needs. Full-scale prototypes as demonstrators for a textile-centric sling chair were created, with the textile combining different woven behaviors, each with different physical properties, and woven as a single piece on an industrial Jacquard loom.
Team:
Virtual Textiles Research Group (VTRG)
Publications:
E. Meiklejohn, F. Devlin, J. Dunnigan, P. Johnson, B. Hagan, J. Ko, Woven Behavior and Ornamentation: Simulation-Assisted Design and Application of Self-Shaping Textiles, SIGGRAPH 2022 Art Paper and published in Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (2022) 5:24, 1-12 | PDF
Presentations:
Presented at SIGGRAPH 2022 in Vancouver as an Art Paper “Woven Behavior and Ornamentation” in Intelligences: AI and Interactions session
Internal tools, such as this visual mapping of fabric behaviors to functional/ergonomic properties for seating, facilitated conversations with collaborators in Furniture, allowing us to understand which fabric behaviors to use where, and why. The two chairs we designed and fabricated used a zoned approach to combine two woven behaviors with different physical properties - moderate elasticity in the center, so a person can rest comfortably in the sling-type seat without sinking too far, and thick corrugated padding at the edges