Active Patterned Scarves

Self-Assembly Lab, MIT + Ministry of Supply + Iowa State Team + University of Maine + Hills

Active Patterned Scarves were exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2019 in Los Angeles in a collaboration between MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab and Ministry of Supply. 36 scarves were produced on an industrial flat bed knitting machine, then activated with heat through custom, robotically drawn patterns. The structure of the knit morphs in a non-reversible response to the temperature, revealing customizable colors and patterns in the scarf. We imagine this technique could be used as an in-store experience to create customized and personalized apparel and footwear. This project is part of a lineage of research on Active Textiles developed under a grant from AFFOA in collaboration with Hills Inc., University of Maine, Iowa State University, Ministry of Supply and MIT.

Self-Assembly Lab, MIT:
Lavender Tessmer, Carmel Snow, Bjorn Sparrman, Schendy Kernizan, Jared Laucks, Skylar Tibbits

Ministry of Supply:
Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Aman Advani, Oye Ajewole

Iowa State Team:
Rui Li, Guowen Song

University of Maine Team:
David Erb

Hills Team:
Tim Robson, Jeff Haggard