Ariane Fourquier
Woven Smart Structures: Investigating the negative space in and of weave as a holistic entity to open new structural potentials.
Summary
Ariane is a weaver, researcher and writer. Her research explores the negative space of weaving, that is, the empty space adjacent to vertical (warp) and horizontal (weft) threads, to uncover new ways of understanding weave structures and in turn, new ways of designing weave geometries. Led by practice and theory, she draws on architecture, mathematics, and textile theory, to study the principles of weave construction and map a new textile language visualisation.
Her written work explores the 'hole' as part of a wider 'whole' in woven textiles and their lexical implications. She has been published in The Pluralist and is currently developing an online journal focused on cloth and culture.
Additional info
Abstract *
Since its inception, weaving has played a foundational role in our world. However, an integral element has been disregarded: the negative. But until now, research into this empty space has remained overlooked. This practice-led study explores the negative space in and of weaving as a material entity rather than an absence. By considering empty space as 'not-something' as opposed to nothing, it can be seen as the nucleus of weave structure construction and aims to enable new understandings and shape new weave geometries — away from the binary language weaving now employs.
Currently, weavers are completely dependent on machine specifications, a constraint which clearly prevents the ideation of potential new structures (Tandler, 2016). In fact, since the 1990s, fervent interest in smart materials, i.e. fibres, yarns, sensors, coatings and other technologies, has seen designers divert their attention away from weave structure development. This study steps away from the known principles of weaving, current structure visualisations and required tools to explore what a holistic, emotionally intelligent way of designing can bring to the creative process. It questions whether attitudes within emotional intelligence to the so-called un-mechanical (negative space) can lead to new ways of understanding the mechanical (weave structures).
The research considers whether a conceptual and technical investigation of the space as a material entity can inform a new understanding of weave geometries that could open new structuring possibilities. It also asks if combining practice-led inquiry and theoretical findings could challenge the ways in which the negative space as a structure unit repeats itself. The study uses a bricolage methodology (Kincheloe, 2001) in order to address conceptual and experimental understandings of the negative space. Practice is crucial to the research, and explores the complexity of that space, leading the inquiry to build on existing theories and in turn, inform critical thinking. Simultaneously, an experimental qualitative methodology which includes interdisciplinary research methods — drawing, weaving, digital rendering and narrative reflective writing — guides the inquiry, in the form of two case studies, namely, identifying the negative space and experimenting with the idea of the ‘repeat’. This will be followed by the construction of a new textile theory which will then be applied into practice.
Having entirely transformed weaving to binary writing, industrialisation has led weavers to become a design tool as opposed to creative agents, limiting their comprehension of cloth’s qualities and behaviours off-loom. As such, insights from the study could potentially indicate properties and qualify qualities of woven textiles prior to construction — for instance, reducing sampling waste during the design process — and ultimately, shape a new textile language.
