Programming languages made of 0s and 1s find its origin in the automation of looms, where punch cards generating the patterns bore either a hole or flat surface. On a computer screen, the lines made of 0s and 1s are mathematical abstractions for those who don’t read this language. Thus, their logics seem depraved from any poetry, humanity or relation to their context. This abstraction of coding can be a risk as it generates distance with a language that also carries social biases. By linking the stories embedded in weaving patterns with programmable content, Weaving Code offers alternative narratives for new technologies. It demonstrates that traditional crafts and digital tools are not opposites but can actually enhance each other and offers new fabrication possibilities for practitioners. When I weave, pushing the shafts to lift up the frames, I generate information, ups and downs, gestures that can be transmitted from the loom to the computer as they speak the same language made of binary codes. By collecting the weaving gestures and communicating it to a 3D modelling software, the human actions and decisions are augmented. Not only will they produce a unique piece of textile, they will also generate specific 3D printed pieces meant to be connected to it. Weaving Code aims to make the idea tangible that bringing programming into production processes doesn’t mean erasing human control or craft masteries. It proposes to unite experimentation and fabrication in a single enhanced gesture. - www.amandinedavid.com Weaving Code project was developped within FORMAT 2019 research program at Z33 (www.z33.be) in collaboration Manon Picot, ceramicist (www.manonpicot.com) & Bureau Leenknegt-Wuyts, computational design (www.bureaulw.com)

A loom that is hacked to augment the gesture of the weaver. By collecting datas from the weaving gestures, and communicating it to the computer and 3D modeling software, the actions and decisions of the craftsmen are augmented. Not only they will produce a unique piece of textile, they will also generate specific 3D-printed pieces meant to be connected to it. The craftsman is in charge of every steps of the production of the woven/3D-printed object, and can experiment during the whole the process. Eventually, the code linking the loom to the 3D-printer could be shaped by each practitioners, influenced by their culture, knowledges and habits.

In order to link weaving, coding and 3D printing I researched the historical and cultural origins and applications of some weaving patterns. Those informations guided me to associate each weave pattern with a specific material to weave and a collection of shapes to model in Rhino. I hacked an existing table loom. I displayed end stops buttons detecting the position of the shafts. The Arduino documents the position of the four shafts (ups or downs) and generates series of 0 and 1. I worked together with Sebastiaan Leenknegt, who coded the Grasshoper program connecting the Arduino to Rhino. Grasshopper triggers the creation of an object within Rhino depending on the current pattern and its repetition. Some weave patterns generate openings in the textile. The size of the pieces modelled in Rhino are made to fit those openings. I experimented from weaving and PLA 3D printing. I also worked with Manon Picot, ceramicist, for the production of the 3D printed ceramic pieces. Weaving Code is meant to become an open source tools that any weavers or digital practitioners can reproduce and modify accordingly to their work habits and the applications they want to develop from it.

The complete installation is composed as such: -the hacked loom on a structure (size -the video to be projected on a wall to understand the process -the library of experiments (various pieces either to put displayed on a podium or to be hung from the ceiling / materials : raw linen, colored linen, cotton, 3D printed PLA, 3D printed ceramic / size from 15x20cm to 60x160cm)