Abstract
Recent developments in textiles — including hybrid practices and new material innovations — point to the emergence of new ways of doing, sensing and reflecting through textiles. However, the tools used to investigate these remain anchored in conventions, failing to align with new ways of working reflected by theoretical movements like new materialism. This paper challenges existing methodologies for investigating textile making through the concept of uncertainty. It asks how we can engage more deeply with textiles beyond pre-established frameworks by pushing the affordances of methodological thinking. Drawing on a two-day ethnographic study with textile designer Melissanthi Spei, the paper traces an emergent methodological pathway — from pre-planned mixed methods through a pivotal encounter with an unresolved artefact, to creative writing and blind drawing as modes of re-reading the making process. It concludes by reflecting on how notions of affective materiality, intuition and emplacedness surface from the maker-material relationship and offers practical orientations for researchers seeking to work with uncertainty in textile and craft research.
Keywords
Uncertainty; New materialism; Blind drawing; Materiality
DOI
10.21606/TI-2026.132
Citation
Lupu, R.(2026) Material Impasse: Decentering Intentionality through Uncertainty in Textile Craft, in Jane Scott, Sophie Skach, and Rebecca Stewart (eds.), Textile Intersections 2026, 17-18 September 2026, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2026.132
Conference Track
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Included in
Material Impasse: Decentering Intentionality through Uncertainty in Textile Craft
Recent developments in textiles — including hybrid practices and new material innovations — point to the emergence of new ways of doing, sensing and reflecting through textiles. However, the tools used to investigate these remain anchored in conventions, failing to align with new ways of working reflected by theoretical movements like new materialism. This paper challenges existing methodologies for investigating textile making through the concept of uncertainty. It asks how we can engage more deeply with textiles beyond pre-established frameworks by pushing the affordances of methodological thinking. Drawing on a two-day ethnographic study with textile designer Melissanthi Spei, the paper traces an emergent methodological pathway — from pre-planned mixed methods through a pivotal encounter with an unresolved artefact, to creative writing and blind drawing as modes of re-reading the making process. It concludes by reflecting on how notions of affective materiality, intuition and emplacedness surface from the maker-material relationship and offers practical orientations for researchers seeking to work with uncertainty in textile and craft research.