Public defence in Design, MA Emmi Pouta

The title of the thesis: Layered Approaches: Woven eTextile Explorations through Applied Textile Thinking

Doctoral student: Emmi Pouta
Opponent: Dr.Elaine Igoe, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, UK
Custos: Prof. Kirsi Niinimäki, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Design

The development of yarns with electrical properties and components suitable for textile integration has introduced new means to augment woven textiles with interactive capabilities. This development has opened new avenues for textile designers to exploit their technical skills and tactile sensitivity in the interdisciplinary field of electronic textiles, i.e., eTextiles. In her thesis “Layered Approaches — Woven eTextile Explorations Through Applied Textile Thinking”, design-researcher Emmi Pouta investigates how practices and thinking associated with woven textile design can be used to explore new directions for eTextile development. The multidisciplinary research is conducted between the School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS) and the School of Electrical Engineering (ELEC), co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Kirsi Niinimäki and Assoc. Prof. Yu Xiao. 

The inspiration for this thesis originated from the observed structural similarities between multi-layer circuit boards and woven multi-layer textiles – and whether woven textile structures could be considered holistically as electrically functional material systems for circuitry integration. This study adopted a material-driven approach to explore the possibilities of weaving as a method for eTextile construction, resulting in several hand-woven eTextile explorations examining various electrically functional weave structures. 

The research findings of this thesis are both methodological and practical. On the one hand, this study delved into the process of constructing knowledge by weaving and generated new understandings of how textile designers’ thinking guides decision-making through practice-based eTextile research. On the other hand, the results proposed novel solutions for constructing complex circuit topologies and visually and tactually pleasing touch-based user interfaces. As its core contribution, this thesis proposes a hierarchical model for woven eTextiles, which augments the models introduced in woven textile design literature with additional levels specific to eTextile circuit design. The proposed model can support finding common ground for interdisciplinary eTextile development ranging from early phase material development to the design of interactive textile applications. Additionally, this thesis aims to point towards the enormous body of knowledge in woven textile design and construction, which can open countless research and design possibilities yet to be discovered.

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Contact information:

Doctoral theses in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/54
Zoom Quick Guide: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide