Apart from my own fascination with textiles and sounds, I am curious as to the benefits of bringing sound into a design field that is traditionally dominated by seeing and touching.
Most of the research that has been done into textiles and sound is about sound absorption. Especially in architecture, acoustics play an important role and we all know how curtains, wallpapers and rugs can change the sound of a space enormously.
In my projects I wanted to pursue a contrary direction. I am amplifying textiles and making visual characteristics audible. I produce sound where there was no sound before to broaden our perception and let us see the field of textile design from a different angle.
Regarding the future of sound in textile design, I am wondering:
Will we involve other senses in textile design – and does sound become more important?
Cameras, mobile phones and many toys produce electronic sounds.
How can the concept of audible memory and recognition be brought into textile design?
As textiles are used in order to absorb sound in architecture. Can it work the other way round and textiles become amplifiers for sounds?
Sound in virtual spaces
Virtual realities like Second Life allow us to walk in virtual 3D space and thus give us ideas about colours and materials. Surfaces are defined by patterns and structures, so we can guess how they feel like from our physical experience. However, the essential tactility of textiles is missing.
We often are able to recognize materials from their sounds. Including the sound of the material we virtually touch could help to imitate reality.
Playful applications
Visual patterns show the noise level of places. They create stimulating environments and make people aware of atmospheres of locations and events and in which way they are influenced by sound and noise. The visual patterns could respond to sound inversely to the current sound level in order to achieve a calming effect. Interacting with people‘s use of sound devices such as mobile phones or mp3 players could be another way of generating patterns.
Musical applications
As I have chosen as the outcome for the project SHHH…, sounds and textiles relate in a musical way. Compared to a live concert where each performance is accompanied by visual enjoyment, the textiles become performers themselves. Textiles are soft and light, they move and are moved by people touching them. Each live performance will be different. The sound could be either abstract or emotional.
Warning applications and/or devices for blind and deaf people
Sounds are often used as a warning. Alarms are raised, cars use horns, cyclists have bells, and we use our voices to shout in case of emergency.
Transferring warning sounds into a different sensual perception could be very helpful for deaf people or persons who respond better to visual events.
Nostalgic or future sound design
Many product designs include sound design. In textile design there are for instance polyester materials that feel and sound like silk. Textile design could go a step further and include sounds electronically. Those sounds could be either nostalgic or futuristic.