Knowing through making : an investigation into the construction of hand-knotted textiles and their collective application as textile space-defining elements within the interior

Abstract

Currently textiles are mostly employed within the interior in a very traditional and conventional way. The discipline of Interior design does not exploit the uniqueness of the material nor does it fully explore its potential. Textiles offer underutilised potentials. If the evolution of the interior design discipline from upholsterer to decorator to interior designer contributed to the devalued status of textiles within the interior, the research aims to reevaluate this position and to reclaim valuable lost territory through alternative textile applications. These alternative textile applications are a re-interpretation of traditional textile applications and construction techniques. The dissertation investigates the construction of hand knotted textiles and their collective application in the formation of textile space-defi ning elements. The process culminates in textile space-making. The in-depth exploration that leads to the creation of these textile space-defi ning elements, is initiated by the translation of traditional rope knotting techniques into alternative textile fabrication methods. Through this translation the project exploits the unique, and often latent characteristics of textiles as a material that can be fl at but threedimensional, weak but structural and soft but rigid. With this in mind, the dissertation employs a hybrid research strategy which combines the Practice-based Research method and the Action Research method. Knowing through making therefore signifi es a defi nite shift away from the more established research methods that operate from the known to the unknown towards Practice-based Research which operates from the unknown to the known . Further, Knowing through making implies research processes where data is created or made instead of collected .