TC2 a part of Interlace exhibit in Paris
by admin
After a successful three-month run at the prestigious Galerie Lafayette Anticipations in Paris, the Interlace textile research exhibit by Dutch-designer (and TC2 owner) Hella Jongerius came to a close on September 6, 2019. The objective of this initiative was to expose the viewing public to the textile production process in order to create awareness, re-valuation and appreciation for textiles.
The TC2 was one of the looms on which designers and design students wove their textile pieces on. The Weavers Werkstatt (German for workshop) at Anticipation was publicly accessible and designed to be an experimental workspace of sorts, where the idea was to use the building’s performative qualities to transform the interior space into a vast, constantly shifting loom; a giant textile studio.
We at Digital Weaving Norway feel that the idea behind the Interlace project reverberates with the objective of the TC2 loom – to bring the making of the textile out of the industrial context and into the design studio. Below, we present pictures as well as the ideas/concepts that the artists who were invited to weave on the different looms at the Anticipations worked (or rather played with) during their stint:
Aliki van der Kruijs
At the Weavers Werkstatt at Anticipations, Aliki van der Kruijs updated the kasuri technique by emulating kasuri with a TC2 and interrupting the repetition. The great precision of the TC2 made it possible to create the typically soft transitions of kasuri, without dyeing the yarns in advance.
Annie Millican
“If you weave, you stand in a tradition of many generations”, says Annie Millican. Her deep interest in textiles is social, political and economic in nature. Now, completing her Masters of Fashion Design and Textiles, Annie works extensively on hand-looms, as a way to collaborate and communicate with other artisans; as it’s own tacit language. She sees the TC2 loom as the high-tech counterpart to the original backstrap loom technology, which she has worked with in many places around the world. How do the languages of these looms interact? How can draft patterns be seamed together? It is this exchange that explored during her time at the Weavers Werkstatt in Paris.
Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss
Design label Bless (Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss) has been operating for over twenty years in the fields of fashion, design, art, architecture and social communication. The pair do not identify themselves as representatives of any specific pre-defined applied arts category. Bless never draws but develops through hands-on try outs. They knit regularly but have never woven. And that was all the more reason to participate at the Weavers Werkstatt at Anticipations in Paris, where they use this technique to create a self-portrait, a subject with which the duo has an ambivalent relationship. For two decades, they have refused to show their faces in the context of their work or in publications. For them its the work that matters, not what the makers look like. For the media, that’s complicated; so the BLESS N09 Merchandising portraits (1999) originally have been developed as an answer to picture requests in a product format. They wove on the TC2, the newly combined artistic self-portraits that are merged personalities that grew from this – over 20 years lasting – relationship. The first two are named “Sonntag Bless” and “Dienstag Bless”.
Brigitte Dalmaijer
As freelance member of the Jongerius Lab textile team since more than 10 years, Brigitte Dalmaijer has been involved in many developments, ranging from industrially manufactured upholstery fabrics to artistic research, handwoven as well as produced in cooperation with mills. At Anticipations, Dalmaijer will work on the development of new textile designs for Hella Jongerius.
Edith van Berkel
In her hand weaving research, Edith van Berkel started by discovering the possibilities of the a handloom, looking into different qualities of
structures, yarns and constructions in order to create a layered result. At Anticipations, she took the chance to work with the TC2 loom and saw how working with this technique influence the design process in developing new insights in a tactile language.
Helle Jongerius
Hella Jongerius had already worked on the TC2 loom for some months before the Interlace exhibition. In this time, she tried to get to the depth of the possibilities that the TC2 offered by weaving figurative images on it. At Anticipations, she tried another approach, weaving landscapes in the tradition of Gobelin tapestries.
Jos Klarenbeek
Jos is interested not only in the final product, the woven textile, but also in the machinery of weaving. He has already constructed looms, because for him, result and machine go hand in hand. In his eyes, the TC2 loom is actually a really accessible machine because the software demands less abstract brainwork in order to operate it. Jacquard weaving is made very accessible. However, he did not want to make use of the distinctive accessibility; instead, he wanted to program the machine in such a way that it imitates the conditions of a frame loom. This enabled him to test much more quickly and intensively how a ‘normal loom’ behaved.
Meyers and Fügmann
For Meyers and Fügmann, their time at the Weavers Werkstatt at Anticipations was an opportunity to study and experiment. They considered the loom as a ‘colour mixing machine’. Unlike paint or colours on a screen, the mixing of different coloured yarn is purely optical – the yarn itself does not change colour, but when woven, the different fibres appear to mix.
Vera de Pont
On the TC2, Vera de Pont wanted to alter the properties of the fabric by choosing bindings. “The binding can turn textile into a hinge, or make it flexible, stiff or elastic. Or let it shrink. That’s what I’m going to look for,” she’d said before she was at the Weavers Werkstatt at Anticipations.
We are grateful to Roel van Tour, for capturing and sharing the pictures (featured in this article) from the Interlace exhibit at Anticipations. Also, a special thanks to Jongerius Lab for making the TC2 loom a part of Interlace AND for sharing with us the text on the research projects of the visiting artists/designers.
Here’s why the TC2 was chosen to be at Galerie Lafayette Anticipations!
About the TC2 loom…
The TC2 loom is a tool that assists during the Innovation or Creative phase and is designed primarily for Sampling, Prototyping and Product Development purposes. Many of the artists working on the TC2 also use the loom for creating one-offs, special commissions and for mass-customization. The loom simplifies the process of converting an idea into woven fabric, allowing the user to make a perfect quality samples with the desired fibers, weave structures and colors – within hours! With the TC2 loom, it is possible to evaluate the design visually as well as the actual hand or the feel of the fabric. The loom is computer-controlled and manually operated because it is designed to be operated by the creator, designer or the weaver. All changes in properties and materials can be made instantaneously; one can start and stop as many times as required, without problems.
About Digital Weaving Norway…
Digital Weaving Norway is currently the global market leader in the segment of Digital Jacquard looms and has delivered TC2s to educational institutions, design labs of the high-end textiles’ manufacturers and freelance artists. More recently, they have seen a substantial hike in orders from Fabrication Labs and Makers Spaces from across the world, where they are using the TC2 to prototype new materials and play with their properties! In a typical FabLab setting, with an existing portfolio of digital fabrication equipment like 3D Printers, lazer cutters, CNC machines etc, the Digital Jacquard loom (TC2) is a perfect fit.
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