I feel you

2022
Series of touch-responding jacquard woven textiles
Weaving, electronics, programming
Concept, design and execution Aino Elina Ojala
Exhibited at Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, Finland and New York Textile Month, NY, US

I Feel You is a textile design project that explores the potential of creating electronic textiles that imitate living beings, providing a multi-sensory experience. The multilayered textiles are woven using a Jacquard loom. When combined with electronics, they react to the touch of an exhibition visitor by inflating or vibrating, mimicking the heartbeat and breathing of animals. The textiles are woven with a cotton warp, and weft materials include mohair, wool, linen, and electrically conductive threads. Together and separated, the materials and woven structures strive to create multi-sensory, touchable worlds. Exhibition visitors were encouraged to touch and feel the textiles.

My interest in the interaction between the human body and materials, conductive textiles, and weaving inspired the artistic process. The theme of textile surfaces imitating living beings has emerged from yearning for touching and closeness: During the global pandemic and the ongoing wave of extinction, I imagined a world where we are increasingly physically separated from each other and other animals. What if, in the future, we are accompanied by robot pets and companions? Against this backdrop, this work speculates how textiles could create an illusion of being close to another living creature.

The series of textiles results from my master of art thesis, which explored which kinds of textile surfaces humans can identify through touch, what type of touch is soothing, and how to bring reactivity that imitates living beings into woven textiles. I discovered how traditional materials and techniques can interweave with new technologies, creating opportunities to design new interactions with textiles. When designing interactive textile surfaces, traditional properties such as materials, patterns, and woven structures cannot be separated from the design process, where all aspects are intertwined and affect each other.