This 4-year research project investigates how novel soft circuits can be created through constructing electronic functionality as sculpted dynamic objects, rather than as plane surfaces. Textile technologies and construction methods to design, fabricate and analyse three-dimensional dynamic materiality in electronic textiles (e-textiles) are explored in a research-through-design approach. Knitted, woven, pleated and coated sensor structures are prototyped and assessed electrically and from an interaction standpoint.

The findings could be applicable to fashion design and performance, and to other fields where knowledge and practice of pleated sensor and actuator structures could lead to light, comfortable and robust electronic objects and devices, e.g. architecture, healthcare or aerospace engineering.

This project intends to contribute to the body of work in research through design in the field of textile wearables. Exploratory textile and garment construction techniques are applied, to broaden the current portfolio of textile sensor and actuator technology. We are interested in solutions derived through experimental design and artistic practice, and how these can prompt engineering solutions while providing poetic outcomes. We further aim to develop a system for retrieving and applying data processing procedures that inform creative and functional exploitation of pleated e-textiles, which will be provided freely to other researchers and practitioners in performance, design and engineering disciplines.

Team:
Berit Greinke
Giorgia Petri
Zora Kutz

Collaborators:
Arantza Vilas
Barbro Scholz
Emma Wood
Paul Biessmann
Pauline Vierne
Sophie Skach

Musicians:
David Schwartz
David Soyza
Maja von Kriegstein
Melissa Wedekind

Partners:
Emmanuel Baccelli, FU Berlin, ECDF
Felix Biessmann, Berliner Hochschule für Technik, ECDF
James Flint, Loughborough University
Rob Seager, Loughborough University
Tincuta Heinzel, Loughborough University