Bioengineered Textiles and Nonwovens – the convergence of bio-miniaturisation and electroactive conductive polymers for assistive healthcare, portable power and design-led wearable technology

Today, there is an opportunity to bring together creative design activities to exploit the responsive and adaptive ‘smart’ materials that are a result of rapid development in electro, photo active polymers or OFEDs (organic thin film electronic devices), bio-responsive hydrogels, integrated into MEMS/NEMS devices and systems respectively. Some of these integrated systems are summarised in this paper, highlighting their use to create enhanced functionality in textiles, fabrics and non-woven large area thin films. By understanding the characteristics and properties of OFEDs and bio polymers and how they can be transformed into implementable physical forms, innovative products and services can be developed, with wide implications. The paper outlines some of these opportunities and applications, in particular, an ambient living platform, dealing with human centred needs, of people at work, people at home and people at play. The innovative design affords the accelerated development of intelligent materials (interactive, responsive and adaptive) for a new product & service design landscape, encompassing assistive healthcare (smart bandages and digital theranostics), ambient living, renewable energy (organic PV and solar textiles), interactive consumer products, interactive personal & beauty care (e-Scent) and a more intelligent built environment

Functionalisation of textiles: future perspectives

Multifunctional effects are essential for producing higher value added textiles, important not only for new technical applications but also for more “traditional” uses such as clothing and home textiles with high product differentiation. Within the “European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing”, functional textiles are a clear priority. Surface modification by means of finishing is very versatile and allows a large number of effects. The developments of new functional effects also lead to the need of the development of specific test methods that are able to measure the effectiveness, durability and toxicity of the claimed functionalities. The technical committee for “textiles and textile products” of the European Standardisation is now devoting special attention to this subject

The Textiles traded by the Assyrians in Anatolia (19th-18th Centuries BC)

International audienceThe cuneiform private archives from Kaniš, dated to the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C., belonged to Assyrian merchants who traded many textiles between their home city Aššur and central Anatolia. The numerous terms linked to textiles cited by these tablets have been extensively studied by K. Veenhof in 1972. Since then, thousands of texts have been published and deciphered, which have supplied so many new data that a new analysis is desirable. Of those exported to Anatolia, many were imported in Aššur, others were produced in Aššur or somewhere in northern Mesopotamia. In addition the Assyrian traded textiles which were produced in Anatolia. This implies that the textiles had different origins and that their names come from different languages. Most of them occur only in the Old Assyrian dialect and the overlap with the Old Babylonian vocabulary is limited.Archaeology has not produced any remains of textiles, which means that we have to try to identify them on the basis of the designations, their combinations and the context in which they occur, which most of the time is not helpful (enumerations, lists…). This means that the researcher is faced with at least three main tasks:1. Establish the origin of the textiles (Southern Mesopotamia, Aššur, Northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia) and their material2. Make a distinction between untailored textiles or ready-to-wear garments and understand their categorisation3. Analyse their nature and functions on the basis of the various qualifications (quality, price, size, weight, colour, finishing…

John Hinchcliffe

This is a monograph on the designer-maker John Hinchcliffe and charts his work from textiles to ceramics. This was published to coincide with a major exhibtion of his work at the Crafts Study Centre. The book is written by Simon Olding the Director of the Centre

Donna R. Danielson, Fashion Illustrator at Iowa State University, 1964-1991

From the years 1964 to 1991, Donna Rae Danielson taught fashion illustration in the Applied Art Department and costume design in the Textiles and Clothing Department, College of Home Economics, Iowa State University. The purpose of this study was to understand her teaching and research methods during her tenure as a faculty member at ISU

Dragons in the Drawing Room: Chinese Embroideries in British Homes

Chinese embroideries have featured in British domestic interiors since at least the seventeenth century. However, Western imperial interests in China during the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century created a particular set of meanings around Chinese material culture, especially a colonial form of nostalgia for pre-nineteenth century China, with its emperors and 'exotic' court etiquette. This article examines the use of Chinese satin-stitch embroideries in British homes between 1860 and 1949, and explores how a range of British identities was constructed through the ownership, manipulation and display of these luxury Chinese textiles

Women Working in the Shadows: The Informal Economy and Export Processing Zones

A publication providing a description of women’s work in the world economy and the manner by which their rights are systematically violated. Suggests that the ILO Agenda for Decent Work and the recommendations of the UN Development Fund for Women be used as guidelines to ensure womens’ rights in the workplace

Useful knowledge, 'industrial enlightenment', and the place of India

Research is now turning to the missing place of technology and ‘useful knowledge’ in the debate on the ‘great divergence’ between East and West. Parallel research in the history of science has sought the global dimensions of European knowledge. Joel Mokyr's recent The Enlightened Economy (2009) argued the place of an exceptional ‘industrial enlightenment’ in Europe in explaining industrialization there, but neglected the wide geographic framework of European investigation of the arts and manufactures. This article presents two case studies of European industrial travellers who accessed and described Indian crafts and industries at the time of Britain's industrial revolution and Europe's Enlightenment discourse on crafts and manufactures. The efforts of Anton Hove and Benjamin Heyne to ‘codify’ the ‘tacit’ knowledge of a part of the world distant from Europe were hindered by the English East India Company and the British state. Their accounts, only published much later, provide insight into European perceptions of India's ‘useful knowledge’

Home Economics in the 21st Century : A Cross Cultural Comparative Study

This article is reprinted with permission from the International Federation for Home Economics, August 2010Peer reviewedPublisher PD