Design Expo 2012

Last Tuesday was Texas Tech's annual Design Expo! It's always exciting to go each year and check out all the cool vendors and latest design innovations.

There were a lot of vendors this year specializing in porcelain tiles. Porcelain tiles are a popular option for a floor or wall finish because it's durable and easy to clean. We were shown several photos of the tiles used in rooms and they looked great! They were even used on the exterior walls of a restaurant. I didn't know that porcelain was such a multifunctional material. I always associated it with delicate porcelain dolls, so it was interesting to discover its high durability.

This vendor also had some neat office furniture that would have been perfect for our last studio project. I really like a table that had speakers and electrical components integrated into it, making it a perfect table for a video conference room or something of that nature.

And of course, who doesn't like free candy???

Campus Materials

This week I went on a hunt around campus to find several different uses for materials.

Seating: Library

This orange fabric has to be quite durable to withstand all of the students coming and going all day!

Art: Library

The canvas is fiber based, though I couldn't quite tell if the art itself was. It appears to be a print.

Flooring: Library

This carpet also has to be heavy duty to withstand all of the heavy traffic. The muted color and pattern is appropriate so that dirt does not show up as easily.

Wall covering: English Building

A sort of wallpaper is used here to give a plaster look to the building.

All About Looks

On Monday the 24, our class took a field trip over to All About Looks, which is Lubbock's main high-end fabric store.  This was definitely a fun field trip, because let's face it: who doesn't like touching and looking at pretty fabrics? Besides getting to look around the store, the owners came out and talked to us about the history of the store, running the business, and which fabrics are in vogue right now. I thought it was interesting to learn that they actually go out to the sites sometimes and help design the space then and there. Here are some pictures from the trip!

This sofa was on display in the front of the store. I love the color of the sofa with the deer pillows! It looks like something that would come out of Anthropoligie

Their walls display panel after panel of fabric... so many choices! 

These are pieces that local customers brought in to have re-worked. One lady repainted those sofa legs herself! How neat!

Here is where the action happens. The employees need to know how to work a sewing machine, along with all their other industrial equipment.

Texas Tech Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute

Last week our class visited the Texas Tech Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute. I thought it was an absolutely fascinating trip! We rarely think about where our fabrics come from, so seeing the process of turning a fiber into a fabric was extremely eye opening. There are so many steps and pieces of high-tech machinery used to complete the process. It makes me wonder how people did it back in the day before technology. They certainly must have had a lot of patience to do this! Here are a few photos from the field trip documenting the journey of the cotton fiber.

This is a photo of the cotton fibers after they have finished being cleaned. They originally come in straight from the farm, so they need to clean out the dirt and things so it doesn't get into the final product.

 This is the machine where all of the clean cotton fibers are sifted into!

Here is the cotton in the process of being carded.

These are the many ring spinning machines used to turn the fibers into yarn.

Finally, the yarn is weaved using this scary machine. It was extremely loud!!

Silk

Silk is one of the world’s quintessential luxury fibers. Noted for its beautiful sheen and smooth texture, it is no wonder that silk was one of the most sought after fibers throughout time. Silk is distinguished as one of the oldest natural protein fibers. From thousands of years ago to present day, silk is still made the same way- from a silkworm. Through its creation, uses, and history, silk has remained a popular fiber that never goes out of style.

Even with today’s technological advances, making silk is still extremely tedious process. Silk originated in China, being harvested and woven from the cocoons of moths. An incredibly unglamorous procedure, the process begins with bombyx mori (silkworm) larvae eating mulberry leaves, which makes the silk white and easy to dye. Weeks later, they then begin to wrap themselves in a cocoon with silk they produce. After the cocoons have formed, they are put into boiling water so the larvae die. People can then begin to unravel the cocoon and extract the silk. Unfortunately, each cocoon only produces a few grams of silk (Yates, 2002). The real art of silk-making then comes in its refinement, where the fibers may be separated into several strands, dyed, and then woven together by skilled artisans (Frank, 2006). The amount of time, skill, and resources needed to produce silk make it all the more valuable and sought after.

There are many different varieties of silk: raw silk, spun silk, wild silk, Noil, and Doupioni silk. Raw silk is silk that has not had the gum (the substance that stiffens the cocoon) boiled off of it.  Spun silk is spun from unusable cocoon scraps that can’t be reeled. Silk that is harvested after the moth has broken out of the cocoon is called wild silk, because the filaments are broken. Noil is a type of spun silk made from silk waste, known for its “nubby” texture. Lastly, Doupioni silk is created from the double fibers produced when two worms are in one cocoon (Yates, 2002).

Innovations are being made, however, in the type of worms and caterpillars that are used to produce the silk. For example, it has been recently discovered that a species of lacewing can make silk, almost three times as strong as common silkworms. That is because it has two fibrous proteins which give it strength and elasticity (Williams, 2009). Silk has found many uses over the centuries. The most common uses of silk are usually in fashion and bedding (Cue images of Fabio lying in silk sheets on a romance novel cover), but silk has many other uses as well. Its fibers have found themselves woven into medicine, bullet-proof vests, and industrial applications because of its durability. It was even used for parachutes before the invention of nylon (Williams, 2009).

A question that many ask is, “How was silk discovered?” After all, it is a little strange to see a substance emitted out of a silk worm and come to the conclusion that it would make wonderful fabric. Myths say that the empress Leizu of China had the idea to weave silk after a cocoon fell into her tea cup and began to unravel. She then studied the art of cultivating silk worms and started a trend (Fan, 2003). There is no evidence to prove this, however. All archaeologists can tell us is that first evidence of silk was found in Xia County, Shanxi around 4000 to 3000 BCE, and that silk exportation became a major venture for China (Fan, 2003).

Thousands of years later, silk is still as treasured today as it was then. It is a beautiful fiber that can still evoke a sense of luxury. The next time a silk shirt is on sale, consider, the labor-intensive process used to make it. Since silk is timeless anyways, it will be worth every penny.

References

Fan, Lizhu (2003). The Cult of the Silkworm Mother as a Core of a Local Community Religion

in a North China Village: Field Study in Zhiwuying, Baoding, Hebei. The China Quarterly No. 174.

Frank, Nelson (2006). Factory-raised silkworms eat well, die young to produce garments,    

bedding. Santa Barbara News-Press. Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-143795133.html

Williams, Brain (2009). Stalking the secret of silk- Lacewing gives strength to the smoothest of

            fibres. The Brisbane Courier Mail.           

Yates, Marypaul (2002). Fabrics: A Guide For Interior Designers and Architects. New York,

            NY: Norton & Company Inc.