Smarter Looms, More Ambitious Textiles

This is one section of an article about technology in the visual arts at the University of Washington. Click here for the complete article.

When most people think of weaving, they envision a simple wooden loom that produces basic patterns. Think again. The newest looms, which can weave stunningly complex designs, are computerized and made of aluminum and steel,” says Professor Layne Goldsmith, chair of the Fibers Program. “These looms no longer speak of that down-home aura.”

	Layne Goldsmith (standing) shows a student how to use software to create designs for weaving on a computerized dobby loom. Photo by Mary Levin.

It’s not just looms that have changed. It is also the process of designing textiles. Before computers, “designs were drafted by filling in squares on graph paper to designate which threads would be up or down in weaving the cloth,” Goldsmith recalls. “It could take many hours to try out an idea just to see if it was feasible.”

By the mid-1980s, special software enabled artists to plot their designs in a fraction of the time. When Goldsmith introduced the software in her classes, students were able to explore more design ideas, more efficiently. “I still have my students complete one design the old way,” she says. “I think it’s important to incorporate traditional tools so students see where the current processes come from.”

The School of Art also purchased the first of its two computerized dobby looms in the mid-1980s. “It was the most advanced loom of its type at the time,” says Goldsmith. “A black box on the side connects to the computer, allowing you to design on your software and then activate the loom from your computer.”

The artist still sits at the computerized loom and throws the shuttle by hand, but there’s no need to repeatedly climb underneath the loom to tie and re-tie treadles to create a complex design. The computer changes the tie-ups instead. “It facilitates complex weave structures in a way that had not been possible in an efficient manner before,” says Goldsmith. “This was an exciting innovation.”

Still, Goldsmith has wanted students to experience one more tool: the Jacquard loom. With a Jacquard loom, the artist can select individual threads rather than groups of threads, allowing an intricacy of design not possible with other looms. One problem: until recently the only mechanized Jacquard looms available have been industrial.

“They are huge and hugely expensive,” Goldsmith says. “We’d have to knock out a ceiling to put one in. So I looked into ways we could access the technology without the looms themselves.”

In 2001, Goldsmith found her solution: software that interfaces with industrial state-of-the-art looms. The cost of the software was prohibitive, but its owner provided it to the UW at virtually no cost. “He felt that students would think about different ways of using the software—different ways of designing cloth—and that interested him,” explains Goldsmith, “so he set us up with six stations of this expensive software, plus a lifetime of upgrades.”

Students can use the Jacquard software to create their designs, and then send them to the industrial looms to be realized. Of course this still has its problems. “It’s difficult to actualize your design without the loom there to let you test out your work,” admits Goldsmith. She recently located a smaller computerized Jacquard loom and is hoping to purchase one for the School in the next few years.

“It is not necessary to have ‘fancy tools‘ to make good work,” Goldsmith says, “but they do allow for other ways of thinking. Where these tools become valuable is in the hands of someone with the creative and critical thinking skills and passion to find out what can happen next. This is why I continue to be interested in teaching.”

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