Weaving Code

Programming languages made of 0s and 1s find its origin in the automation of looms, where punch cards generating the patterns bore either a hole or flat surface. On a computer screen, the lines made of 0s and 1s are mathematical abstractions for those who don’t read this language. Thus, their logics seem depraved from any poetry, humanity or relation to their context. This abstraction of coding can be a risk as it generates distance with a language that also carries social biases.

By linking the stories embedded in weaving patterns with programmable content, Weaving Code offers alternative narratives for new technologies. It demonstrates that traditional crafts and digital tools are not opposites but can actually enhance each other and offers new fabrication possibilities for practitioners.

When I weave, pushing the shafts to lift up the frames, I generate information, ups and downs, gestures that can be transmitted from the loom to the computer as they speak the same language made of binary codes. By collecting the weaving gestures and communicating it to a 3D modelling software, the human actions and decisions are augmented. Not only will they produce a unique piece of textile, they will also generate specific 3D printed pieces meant to be connected to it.

Weaving Code aims to make the idea tangible that bringing programming into production processes doesn’t mean erasing human control or craft masteries. It proposes to unite experimentation and fabrication in a single enhanced gesture.
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Weaving Code project was developped within FORMAT 2019 research program at Z33 (www.z33.be) in collaboration Manon Picot, ceramicist (www.manonpicot.com) & Bureau Leenknegt-Wuyts, computational design (www.bureaulw.com)