NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN TEXTILE DESIGN EDUCATION
NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN TEXTILE DESIGN EDUCATION

Summary/Abstract: Important changes are anticipated as digital technologies impact the traditional world of education. Textile design education meets the requirements of the textile industry and brings the student closer to experimenting with new technologies. There is not an area of our world unaffected by the advances in textile research. Principles of textile science and technology merge with other research fields such as engineering, chemistry, biotechnology and information science. This paper follows a set of pro/con arguments for the use of new technologies/software in textile design education. The present paper does not emphasize the contrast between old and new solutions but rather challenges the degree of adaptation of new technologies both to the requirements of the industry, for a sustainable future and the need to develop the creativity of new generation of designers. To exemplify the arguments we turn to our teaching and research activity. Working with students to design projects for a new generation of digital textile printers led us to conclusions that aim to establish the relevance of these technologies in textile design education. In teaching textile design we often combine modern techniques of printing and weaving with ancient methods and emphasize the wide array of environmental friendly techniques. The experience gained in textile design education and the use of new digital printing technologies/software in particular determined us to change our view over the possibilities the field offered until not too long ago. Textile design is the research field that could reach at an industrial scale the standards for a sustainable future.

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