Performative Woven Textile-form Interfaces

In this project, I explored how textile-form thinking, i.e., the simultaneous design and construction of the textile and form, can be leveraged as a strategy to embrace and unlock the performative potential of woven interactive textiles and build towards more intuitive interactions with them in everyday life. With this project, I challenge e-textiles to be more than ‘stable and predictable 2D interfaces’ by integrating conductive yarn in multi-layer woven structures.

I designed and hand-wove five textile-form interfaces, working as contact switches and sensors, with sensing capabilities and diverse performative qualities.

The textiles that you see below are obtained with zero to minimal post-processing after taking them off the loom. The videos show how the sensors work when connected to a microcontroller.

Then, I investigated the action possibilities of the interfaces in a user study. Grounded on the study's outcomes, I derived practical design tactics that designers can apply to design for the performativity of woven textile-form interfaces.

This work is presented in: Buso, A., McQuillan, H., Voorwinden, M., Karana, E. (2023). Towards Performative Woven Textile-form Interfaces. Textile Intersections Conference 2023, 20th-23rd September 2023, London, United Kingdom. [click here to read the paper]