Turning classic braiding into a platform for experimentation
Not only the combination of insights from different textile techniques, but also the mixture of different expertise’s during the cocreation process has led to an innovative opensource machine. The research started with the question: what if one machine could create several braiding patterns? What if a bobbin no longer needs to follow its regular track as in traditional braiding machines, but can move more freely?
As an introduction to each other and to braiding as a technique, the participants of the Fiber Fever Summercamp at Timelab were invited to create upscaled braids. Guided by different disks that were developed by Soft Connection Lab, the participants gained deeper insight into the creation of a braid and the way its patterns come to life.
By exploring different experiences in different scales, the insights in the technique itself were reinforced. First, small groups of eight people literally walked the tracks, and, by doing this, they collectively braided upscaled braids. Secondly, the exercise was scaled down for two people to make braids by following the tracks with their hands, and not with their whole body anymore. This has led to different embodied insights and helped the participants of the summer school to better understand the basic principles of braiding.
This playful exercise inspired one of the participants, French textile designer Lou Cruard, to research if it would be possible to rearrange the braiding tracks digitally. For the project, she teamed up with designer Jesse Howard and engineers Maximilian Ernestus and Lieven Standaert. Together, they’ve converted an out-of-use 3D-printer into a trackless braider. The machine is based on the open-source design by Fraens, an Austrian engineer.
From classic to digital
In a classic braiding machine, the braiding track is determined mechanically and fixed to a single track. For those who are not familiar with a braiding machine: imagine a tram that is driving on rails. The tram itself cannot decide where to drive, it is led by the rails. The same principle applies to the bobbins on a braider machine. Each bobbin follows a pre-defined track, on which the bobbin is stuck and from which it cannot step away.
The adapted version of the classic braider, which Lou and the team were working on, allows constant rearranging of the movement of each single bobbin. The feature opens up tons of possibilities for experimentation. In this new version the classic printhead of a 3D-printer is steered in a magnetic way, and it moves the bobbins – which hold a magnet in the bottom – one by one. Lou Cruard translated the classic braiding trackpads into sequences of steps. While on a normal braiding machine the bobbins move simultaneously, the adapted and hacked braiding machine has only one arm to move all the bobbins separately. That’s why this needs to happen in a sequence of different movements one after another.
This research project, carried out by a multidisciplinary team, resulted in the Jacquard Braiding Machine, which is a proof-of-concept of a braiding machine that can braid any pattern, and change patterns on the fly while braiding. As each braiding machine can normally only take one braiding technique at the time, this marks an innovative opportunity for a traditional textile technique.
The title refers to one of the main inspirational sources of this project: the classic Jacquard weaving loom. In an early meeting during the camp, she mentioned that she wanted to try to apply the same principle that is used in a jacquard weaving machine onto the braiding machine. A jacquard weaving machine also allows each single warp thread to move separately, while on a normal dobby weaving loom, threads are moving on a pre-defined pattern.
Summercamp Fiber Fever 23: BRAIDED RIBBONS
We use them every day. Braided ribbons, like ropes, shoelaces or the string of your hoodie, are the most ordinary objects. However, they have multiple associations, meanings, and functions. As these objects collect historical, cultural, technical, social and systemic layers, they inspired the Fiber Fever Summercamp 2023 at Timelab. Fifteen participants with different backgrounds focused on engineering, techniques, patterns, colors, movement/meaning and circular materials. They worked in mixed groups on the multiple aspects of braiding and presented these elements as one collective outcome. Besides VUB, Design Academy Eindhoven, UGent and LUCA Genk Soft Connection Lab was one of the main partners.
Jacquard Braiding Machine by Lou Cruard and Lieven Standaerd during Summercamp at Timelab Gent
