KNITTED KNOTS
Karin Landahl, conference paper, In the Loop 4: Knitting - from Craft to Couture, University of Glasgow/ University of Southampton, 26-28 August 2015
Abstract
This research project questions the commonly accepted dichotomy between form and material in the knitwear design process, and explores alternative fundamental geometrical notions that connect action with expression on an elementary level. The exploration is made through the making of garments. As an alternative to the guiding form principle of the silhouette, the use of invariants was explored as a foundation for knitwear design. The specific invariant used here was the notion of a knot. A framework of rules, based on the theory of knots, guided the processes of designing and making. Sketches and small prototypes where made on a hand knitting machine, before full scale tests were programmed and knitted on an industrial knitting machine. The outcome is five knitted wearable knots. Each garment-knot knitted in one piece without distinction between inside and outside, making it a construction in one continuous plane. The use of topological invariants as a guiding principle for the knitwear design process showed to be relevant as it directs a connection between form and material in the acts of making. Furthermore the project opens up for the use of other invariants as guideline in the design process.
Keywords: knitwear, fashion design, form, invariants, knots