Retooling E-Textiles for Collaborative Creation: Integrating Electronics into Fabric Through Weaving

Description

Researchers are interested in combining electronics with textile materials and structures to create Òe-textilesÓ (or Òsmart textilesÓ), as e-textiles have potential applications in medical devices, smart vehicles, space travel, and much more. Like many disciplines (and the rest of the world), there are growing concerns for sustainability in e-textiles. My dissertation grapples with such questions through the lens of craft, exploring how it reframes what ÒtechnologyÓ means and how it could influence relationships between humans and technology. The method of retooling for coproduction emerged through my PhD studies as my way of engaging sustainability through hands-on making, which I present as a possible Òdesign orientationÓ for other e-textiles designers. Tracing ÒcraftÓ throughout key research projects during my PhD journey, this dissertation follows my learning process of stitching together ideas from design justice (retooling), feminist technoscience (coproduction), speculative design, digital fabrication, and handcraft traditions. The products of this research are e-textiles design tools, such as woven circuits that can unravel, and tangible interfaces for prototyping on looms. But IÕve learned to just call them ÒtextilesÓ tools. Crafts have taught me that textiles have been ÒsmartÓ technologies for centuries before our digital devices, and that these histories may suggest sustainable futures.

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