Textile and Design Lab September news

News from the Textile and Design Lab at the Auckland University of Technology.

SEPTEMBER NEWS

New Shima Seiki knitting technology on the way

The Textile and Design Lab is continuing to meet its commitment to be at the forefront of textile technology by placing an order for a new 14 gauge Shima Seiki SRY inlay knitting machine, which will be the first of its kind in New Zealand. The SRY machine will expand on the lab’s current capabilities by enabling coarse spun and filament yarns, potentially including fibre optics, to be incorporated into medium and fine gauge knitted structures. The machine is also capable of producing weave-like structures in both appearance and stability. It is expected to be commissioned early in the New Year.

The new SRY inlay machine - image courtesy of Shima Seiki

Lab to host UK textile scientist

Dr Debra Carr of Cranfield University in the UK will visit AUT on 14 November as a guest of the Textile and Design Lab. Debra’s visit to New Zealand is being organised by Steve Thompson of the British High Commission in Wellington, who was also responsible for the visits of Dr Annie Shaw of Manchester Metropolitan University and Andy Caughey of Armadillo Merino in August as members of a Smart Textiles Trade Mission to New Zealand. Debra’s current research includes body armour and helmet optimisation and forensic textile science. She also teaches on a wide range of programmes, which include vehicle and weapon engineering, explosives ordnance engineering and battlespace technology.

Textile writer to speak at AUT

Renowned textile writer, Jessica Hemmings, is New Zealand bound and will be giving a public lecture at AUT on Thursday 17 November at 5.30 pm. Her talk will be entitled ‘Making meaning: Craft and Labour’ and considers practitioners such as Liza Lou, Studio Formafantasma, Meekyoung Shin, Theaster Gates and Hechizoo Studio - who each critique current models of production and investigate inspiring alternatives. The lecture is being organised in conjunction with Objectspace. Read more about this upcoming event.

AUT student success at World of Wearable Art

Congratulations to our Bachelor of Creative Technologies students, Lara Galea, Ingrid Worrall and Sophie McIntyre and the lecturers of the ‘Digital Skins’ paper, Donna Cleveland and Miranda Smitheram, who were awarded runners up in the WOW Factor Award at the recent World of Wearable Art Show in Wellington. Their costume, Darling, a digitally printed pulsating circus freak of the future, was chosen for the award by WOW Founder, Dame Suzie Moncrieff.

The students’ World of Wearable Art award winning costume

E-Textile workshop attracts Technology Teachers

Our recent E-Textile and Soft Circuit Design workshop attracted four secondary school Technology Teachers from around New Zealand who are all keen to pass on their new found knowledge to their respective students. The workshop is an introduction to E-Textiles and is aimed to give participants an understanding of the basic principles of soft electronics. Participants are introduced to a range of new materials and explore how these materials can be manipulated to create soft, interactive systems using the Lilypad Arduino, a modular, sewable computer. The dates of our next workshop will be announced early in the new Year.

Participants learning to programme their Arduino Lilypads at the recent E-Textiles workshop

Short course and workshop programme

Our short course and workshop programme for 2017 will be announced early in the New Year.

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Textile and Design Lab
Auckland University of Technology
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