(Yes I changed my topic again)
Introduction
While Arts and Crafts have been in lively exchange and reference each other frequently (think of fibre arts as a genre, or soft sculptures), crafts and design are not necessarily as connected. Knitting has experienced a great upswing in recent years, but somehow simultaneously still feels disregarded as a craft for homebodies and grandmothers, where outcomes are to be worn but not necessarily to be appreciated in an artistic way. While this is a whole topic to be explored, including researching under a feminist lens into the whole genre of fibre arts, it is not exactly what this research aims for. There are some projects out there connecting design and typography with fibre arts and knitting, but mostly they concern themselves with bridging the gap between analogue and digital, and end up with knitted works that were informed by digital practices, or depict digitally designed concepts. While these projects offer a lot of perspective for creatives focused on fibre art and creating textile works, I want to try it the other way around. How can knitting influence graphic design? Typography, editorial and publishing? How can the process of knitting and graphic design relate? How can the tangible, physical, material craft of knitting inform the increasingly digital practice of design? How can craft philosophies be integrated into modern graphic design? How can factors like color, grid, texture and rhythm create a common ground between these opposing disciplines? How can a return to craft and handmade philosophies play a part in the future of graphic design (from the perspective of someone trying to be very mindful about the ways AI gets integrated into our processes)? And ultimately, does that even make sense and is there anything to gain from this experiment?
