Abstract
The mathematics of craft have created rich and diverse material cultures. Through craft, humans have shared a common language of patterns, proportions, and expressions inspired by the complexity of the natural world. We pass this knowledge on through generations, each time making things more complex and techniques more robust. This passing on of generational knowledge is one of the things that creates our individual cultural identities, however many crafts across the world are in decline. By analyzing the structure of crafts computationally, we can create a hybrid approach that lays a foundation for use in the 21st century. This paper uses bobbin lace, a historic technique used to make decorative tex-tiles, to look at the process of using visual scripting and algorithmic modeling, demonstrating how the mathematics of design can contribute to the many skill-based crafts that embody our cultures and histories.
Keywords
craft; parametrics; lace; digital design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.447
Citation
Marks, L. (2024) Algorithmic lace: Leveraging mathematics in design for craft resistance, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.447
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Algorithmic lace: Leveraging mathematics in design for craft resistance
The mathematics of craft have created rich and diverse material cultures. Through craft, humans have shared a common language of patterns, proportions, and expressions inspired by the complexity of the natural world. We pass this knowledge on through generations, each time making things more complex and techniques more robust. This passing on of generational knowledge is one of the things that creates our individual cultural identities, however many crafts across the world are in decline. By analyzing the structure of crafts computationally, we can create a hybrid approach that lays a foundation for use in the 21st century. This paper uses bobbin lace, a historic technique used to make decorative tex-tiles, to look at the process of using visual scripting and algorithmic modeling, demonstrating how the mathematics of design can contribute to the many skill-based crafts that embody our cultures and histories.