Crafts <> New Technology



< PRE-DRAFT >
<pau

This page aims at referencing and discussing projects and ideas that address a relationship between "Crafts" and "New Technology".

Revisions:
    20180921 start <pau
    20190120 review +david
        ### TODO >pau : overview
    20210613 D+L ping, prof.lint, linked in on 🔗hypertextile





*** TERMS DEFINITIONS


CRAFTS

" an activity involving skill in making things by hand "
" If something is crafted, it is made skilfully. "

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/craft


    * handicraft // handmade

" [...] sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. "


    * craftsmanship

" skill in a particular craft "
" the quality of design and work shown in something made by hand; artistry. "


    * used for
:
    * any hand-made work with materials such as:
        * textile
        * wood
        * paper
        * glass
        * ceramic, porcelain
        * [...]

    * cooking

    * gardening

    * programming
        * Linux computers as contemporary craft (Sennett)
        * "to knit a (computer) programme" in German, Slovenian...

    * [...]



    bibliography
:
    * The Craftsmann by Richard Sennett
        https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/09/society
    * [...]




TECHNOLOGY

" the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry
i.e. computer technology"
    * machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge.
    * the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences. "



"Digital Crafts"
:
    * [...]



*** FOCUS: E-TEXTILES

#towrite !!! :

    * connection between traditional textile techniques and electronics /interactive design /interfaces
    * the research anddevelopment of materials with specific electric behaviour (conductivity, resistivity) and 
    * transdiciplinary approaches
    * the use of new materials
    * traditional tools repurposed, mixed or augmented (new tools)
    * [...]




MACHINES


    the wheel or the spinning windle
:
    * Yarn Recorder project by So Kanno & Ebru Kurbak


    computers
:
    * punch cards = binary code
        * weaving looms
        * knitting machines hacks

    * embroidered computer by Stitching World




TECHNIQUES


    Knitting
:
    * interactex.de
    * Claire Williams
    * Stitching worlds



    Needle techniques
:
    * Zardozi embroidery (India)
        http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/zardozi-embroidery/

    * Igne Oyasi (Turkey)
        http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/bitlace/

    * some shibori techniques
    * lace
    * [...]



    Screen-printing
:
    * [...]





(Resources)

Documentations:
    * Kobakant http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?cat=26
    * https://plusea.at
    * Swatch book exchange http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/
    * https://instructables.com like :
        * https://www.instructables.com/howto/e-textile/
        * [...]
    * [... ]






*** OTHER FIELDS


NEW TECHNOLOGY / NEW FRONTIERS
### [!→] @@fields

    * Wearable Tech

    * IoT

    * Smart Home

    * Robotics

    * Prosthetics

    * Swarm robots

    * AI / Artificial Intelligence

    * Space

    * VR / New Media

    * New materials (Nano-materials, etc)

    * Climate-manipulation Tech

    * [...]



TECHNOLOGY <> ORGANIC MATTER
:
    * Cyborgs

    * Transhumanism

    * Cyborganics:
        * Raune F
        * [...]

    * Bio-mimicry

    * [...]







*** PAD


Interview with Chhail

    * What is craft? What according to you is craft?

The practice of making something – that takes time - skillfully by hand outside an industrial infrastructure.
In my practice it relates to the use of hand techniques with raw materials such as textiles and threads.
By extension, data, soil and food are also raw materials. Therefore hackers; programmers, gardeners and cooks are also craftspeople.

For me what matters in crafts is:
    1) the process of making and the use of specific tools, machines
    2) the hand and body gestures in the making
    3) the preparation and set up required to perform the making
    4) the intelligence of the hand, acquired by repetitions, trails and errors
    5) at last, maybe, a satisfying result achieved through a made artifact, though I will still consider it as a part of a process


    * What is technology? How would you define that? When we talk of technology perhaps is loom a technology itself? What do you think should classify as technology?

I quite agree with the definition @ https://www.useoftechnology.com
" We use technology to extend our abilities, making people the most crucial part of any technological system.
Technology is also an application of science used to solve problems. ..
Technology is human knowledge which involves tools, materials, and systems.
The application of technology typically results in products. "

I consider every tool and machine a technology.
A tool/ machine is the manifestation of a (most of the time) physical shape and an interaction in order to perform a function.
It was made in order to make something, with a purpose and results from human knowledge.
Wether the artifact (or product) is needed, useful, purposeful, good or bad it can itelf be a technology. So are a wheel, a weaving loom or knitting needles.
The word "technology" is also associated with other words such as "bio-", "computer-" or "system-" to name more specifically very different fields of research.


    * Do you see any value in combining craft and technology? If so what?

I consider that in crafts practice the use of tools already involves technology (as explained above).
If we call "technology" the "new" technologies, specifically digital technologies, their computing qualities disrupt some processes.
Their use allow for some part of the crafts process to be accelerated or totally transformed.

Let's take as an example fashion design:
    * CAD softwares allow for new possibilities in tailoring on demand -> parametric design
    * algorithms can calculate and display all the cuts for a serie producing zero material waste
    * a laser cutter can process layers of materials at once as well as it fasters time consuming embellishments when done by hand 
    * this all allows for small series, direct production line and less costs

In her book https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Crafts-Industrial-Technologies-Designer/dp/1408127776, Ann Marie Shillito gives an overview of works and processes combining hand made skilled craft techniques with the use of digital tools.
New approaches and creative use of traditional tools or materials in combination with computational systems allow for what seems to be infinite possibilities in shapes and functions.

Besides the aesthetical research and achievements, crafts can benefit from digitisation in terms of:
    * recognition of the economic value of crafts,
    * preservation of endangered crafts,
    * [...]
        * see http://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Digital-Craft-Traditional-and-New-Skills.pdf
        * http://www.frrarchitects.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/craft-thinking-digital-making_Joanne-Aitchison.pdf
        * http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1109946/FULLTEXT01.pdf
        * maybe also http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1109946/FULLTEXT01.pdf

When we talk about electronic textiles, we address the meeting of interactive technologies, programming and textile techniques (many of those tools exist for centuries).
It opens a wide range of new applications for human empowerment and augmentation with:
    * monitoring sensors (health, physical performance, military...)
    * energy harvesting (heat, flexible solar panels, woven batteries...)
    * [...]

Another thought on what makes a technology a "new tech" or "high tech" device:
    * device is defined as "a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment"
    * example of eyes contact lenses:
        * I would argue it is a technological product, but we don't call it a "new technology" nor a "high tech" product
        * it augments human perception ; we use them to rectify our vision when the eyes don't perform optimally
        * following the definition a "high tech" contact lenses is expected to display additional information, processed electronically
            * see https://www.lenstore.co.uk/eyecare/5-high-tech-contact-lenses-could-change-world
            * influence of nano technology


    * When you work with the two completely different fields what are a the challenges you faced? How did you overcome them?

(You mean in the practice of electronic textiles I suppose here.)
I personnally come from a textile design background, though I always had a strong interest in physics and electricity it is not my strength.
As well as I didn't grow up with computers and programming, this aspect is still a big challenge if I'm left alone with it.
As I work in cross-displinary groups I learn a lot practically on those missing elements. It's also always a great opportunity to confront views and evolve in the theory and practice.
If I can find a spot where to apply what "I'm good at" I take it while if I find myself with a lack of knowledge I take the challenge to learn from it.
It's a logic of contributing and learning at the same time!


    * Did you feel the need to develop some tools (both physical and theoretical) to improve and smoothen the process? 

Yes.
At the first place I'm very interested in using my usual tools and sometimes reappropriate them differently.
Try their limits and understand what is specifically needed, ex:
    * my traditional tiny scissors for threads worn out after being used a few times to cut copper threads,
    * I need to fix it and find an appropriate blade for those materials
There is also this particular project focussing on tools for etextiles "Tools we want" that is an inpiration.

The research methodology in design was never a part of my studies. But as a design researcher for 4 years (at the Design Research Lab, UdK Berlin) I learned about methods for research and design developments and used them in practice on projects. 
Art students often claim that they get their inspirations from unconventional thinking and through an intuitive process.
I think though that reflecting on oneself's practice and processes is not "killing" the creative process but rather allow for a deeper approach when confronted to a next design problem/question:
    * A reflected practice can lead to a richer theoretical statement.
    * A theory must be prove by successful - and challenged by failed - experiments.

Currently as a nomadic etextile practitionner I also had to analyse what do I really need and for what purpose.
As I travel to different places for workshops and research I need to reflect on the formats, the materials and tools I have to have on me, and how to pack them optimally.
This is an ongoing work, also based on the PIFpack project.