Collaborating with Programmers

At HOSOO STUDIES, we not only explore the past but work in the advanced fields. Inspired by the fact that a Jacquard loom that Nishijin textile uses was a springboard for the invention of the computer, we are taking on the challenge of discovering new weave structures.

Specialists in fields completely different from the textile world, such as mathematicians, artists, and computer programmers, have collaborated with craftsmen to produce textiles. Behind this unique partnership was our hope to bring innovation to textile. By incorporating math and programming, we aimed to create textiles with new structures that humanity could not produce in the 9,000-year history of textiles.

The collaboration session began with programmers standing in front of a loom alongside craftsmen to learn about textile production. Their professional fields, like math, art, and programming, may differ from ours, but finding a common denominator allowed these discrete fields to converge. After months of sessions, we inspired each other and successfully developed new weave structures.

In 2020, the product of this venture came to fruition as an exhibition at HOSOO GALLERY, QUASICRYSTAL — In search of textiles using code, while the research continues to develop.