Semester project »Textile Surfaces - Programmable Textiles«
von Julian Breitschmid, Max Ruder, Maximilian Schatz

superviced by:
Patrick Bösch

During the winter semester 2016/17, students of the Faculty of Art and Design explored the potentials of 4d printing using a commercial 3d printer and synthetic fabrics. When printing patterns onto a stretched piece of elastic fabric, three dimensional forms emerge, due to the occurring tension between rigid lines and the flexible areas.

From first experiments, we had gained several possible material characteristics that could be achieved with the programmable textile technology: bistability, self-assembly, surface enhancement and ruffling. These properties could then serve a purpose within an application scenario such as moving, enclosing or gripping something, creating distance or providing stability.

Based on the findings from our experiments, we started designing structures based on rather simple geometrical shapes, to see how they would behave when organized in larger patterns. In addition to multiple different forms and arrangements, we also experimented with line width and thickness, as well as combining different filaments and fabric materials.

The technology of programmable textiles provides functional, as well as aesthetic qualities that can be applied in many ways, for example in furniture design. The experiments and the design concepts derived from them, open a new perspective on textiles in product design.