MA Textile Futures
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: My work explores the potential for textile design to induce body movement. I aim to question the kinesthetic relationship between design and user, garment and wearer, material and sensory receiver. WHAT IS THE CONTEXT FOR YOUR PROJECT? My starting point is human sustainability. The human body is designed for movement, yet movement has been and is to a great extent being designed out of our lives. In combination with sedentary lifestyles and working conditions, and consequently increasing health impacts, it is increasingly pertinent to consider the impact of design on our movement levels and patterns, and equally exciting to consider the potential of design to lead to innovation in this area. HOW DID TEXTILES INFORM YOUR RESPONSE? Textiles place the idea of inducing body movement in a very tactile and personal space. The concept of textiles that we wear on and close to the body has many connotations, and interesting questions arise from asking what somatic experience can a textile provide for its user? Textiles also informed my response through material and characteristic exploration, and through the projection of textile techniques onto body movement. WHAT INSPIRED THE PROJECT? From a somatic point of view, the design of the body, kinesthetic learning, the dance arts, integrative and bodymind centred movement techniques such as the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique and Yoga. From a design perspective, projects such as the Active Design Guidelines of New York City, concepts such as living ergonomics, and companies such as Urban Movement Design. The work of Maria Blaisse, Issey Miyake and Lucy McRae. WHAT IS YOUR VISION OF TEXTILE FUTURES? In my view, the need to create environmentally and economically sustainable societies is interlinked with the need to attend to human sustainability. My vision of Textile Futures is linked to the promotion of human sustainability through design, in particular with relation to health and physical activity. I believe that a critical and unconventional textile point of view is important and valuable to this area of research.