Interdisciplinary textile design research for material innovation: Synthesising design, science and industry collaboration

Morgan, Laura

Abstract

Within the landscape of contemporary textile design research lies a rich site for collaboration, with the opportunity to draw on specialist knowledge across disciplines. This paper argues that Integrating textile design practice with specialist scientific and technical knowledge allows designers to engage fully with new processes, and develop new approaches to textile design to drive innovation in the field. The paper reflects on the interdisciplinary and collaborative elements of a research study examining laser technology for textile design. An interdisciplinary textile design research methodology is described, encompassing industrial and interdepartmental collaboration. Defining a specific strategy for the research was characterised by a fusion of science, design and craft practices. The interdisciplinary approach borrowed from action research principles, with design specific skills identified as key to advancing the study, together with the systematic rigor of controlled experimentation. Industrial input from the project’s industry partners provided commercial validation leading to the development of four novel Laser Textile Design techniques for coloration and three-dimensional moulding of materials that offered environmental sustainability thorough resource efficiency and digital processing agility.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Intersections: Collaboration in Textile Design Research Conference
• Start Date: Sep 13, 2017
• End Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 1, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 3, 2019
• Pages: 1-18
• Keywords: Material Innovation; Collaboration; Textile Design Research; Digital Technology; Lasers
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/3124021
• Publisher URL: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/media/wwwlboroacuk/external/content/schoolsanddepartments/aed/downloads/Morgan_INTERSECTIONS2017_b.pdf