TEXTILES and TECHNOLOGY

Yesterday we had our 3rd annual Imagine RIT Innovation and Creativity festival with a record breaking 23,000 visitors to campus. Wow. The event was amazing and too much for me to report on in entirety. I do, however, want to give props to one little corner of the Innovation Center that caught my attention.

In a sea of hi-tech games and robots, I really appreciated three textile exhibits. One was put on by my students. Above is a picture of Lauren and Sarah with their concept called RocSmock. It's a retail concept in which they assume that digital textile technology lives in the retail space. This technology allows common folks to design and print their own patterns on fabric. But even more interesting than the technology itself is how Lauren and Sarah employed it. They propose that locally grown produce can live in the store for sale and consumption but also it can serve as inspiration for textile designs. When you can design your own clothes with inspiration from your local produce, you are likely to grow your values as you transfer them from one aspect of your (what you eat) life to another (what you wear). 

Just a stone's throw away from the RocSmock group was textile guru Andrea Handy. Andrea was generously teaching folks how to work this awesome knitting machine. I didn't get the full scoop on this, but I see Andrea later this week so more to come. Here's a pic. Andrea's on the right.

And finally I was just thrilled to see this young woman from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy displaying her quilted saddle blankets. I didn't catch her name, the one seated on the left, but I will and post a link soon. Just in case you know any riders in need of a super hip blanket.

As I said earlier, the entire festival was great and you can read more about it here. Just wanted to make sure that this sweet spot of textiles people got their moment in the spotlight.