The matter of tools: Designing, using and reflecting on new tools for emerging etextile craft practices

Abstract

Tools, as extensions of hand and mind, prescribe defining properties for a practice. We anchor our tools research within a case study of electronic textiles (eTextiles), combining textile materials and electronic and computational functionality. While the field of eTextiles is expanding into new personal and ubiquitous applications, its tools as productive means, however, are rarely investigated. We fill this gap by both proposing and exploring new tools, aiming at an integrated eTextile craft practice across disciplinary boundaries. Results from a research through design process have been developed into research products and proposed to a wider community of novices and practitioners. Research insights from making, using and reflecting on our new tools show they not only guide habits of making, but also are formative to the understanding of eTextiles as a practice and a field. Their form and function matter for the skills, processes and users, ultimately prescribing the technologies that surround us.