Week 8: Material Connexion + Store Visit

Material Connexion

POKYPAPER by Supornwutthiphat

This material stuck out to me because it reminds me of paper I used to make at summer camp. The description says it’s made up of receipts, calendars, and lottery tickets, and I like the idea of the stories embedded within.

No website listed or easily found online, but they listed a phone number, email address, and the name of an executive at the company.

pokypaper.official@gmail.com

LIGNEAH by Mymantra srl

This material is interesting to me because of it’s soft-ish form that contradicts its composition (layer of wood with wood veneer). They scored the material to create flexible forms that are also tough. I like this material because it’s something I could make with the resources we have at ITP. It’s no longer available commercially, and their website is no longer active.

LEL (LOOMIA Electronic Layer) 4 Wire Bus Sample

The description says this is a “smart textile system” made with a textile base, metal conductors, and TPU insulation. The textile base is stretchy and the conductive “thread” doesn’t feel any different from the non-conductive fabric, which was intriguing. LOOMIA is based in New York and has a great website with lots of resources. I submitted a message through their contact form asking for a sample, and mentioned that my thesis incorporates e-textiles.. They got back to me super quick!

Store Visit: Michaels Craft Store

This wire was fun to play with - although it looks like it *should* be hard, it was fairly malleable.

Immietely grabbed my attention, just had to squeeze it. Also, it said "marshmallow scented" which made me think about softness in combination with other senses...

I like that these macreme hangers use the qualities of metal and rope to create these structures, with a hard ring to create the base, then hung and draped with rope.

This keychain was fun to play with. I'm not sure what exactly about it kept me there, but the rubber texture was satisfying. I could see this used in a lot of toys.

This trim stood out to because of the combination of rough twine with softer ribbon to create an interesting visual and tactile experience.

I like this wired ribbon because you can achieve some structure with a typically flexible material. It's usually used for gift wrapping, but I could see this being used to create a woven fabric of some kind.

This stood out to be because it looks like it should be soft but it's actually made of metal. It uses the visual properties of inflatable materials to achieve this.

These sponges are typically used to create texture with paint, but they got me thinking about how they can be used in a mechanical sculpture / tool to create bounce.

I hadn't seen this kind of yarn before - it's meant to be used to make cleaning supplies. I don't know what else I would make with this, but I am curious how it would work in use with another kind of yarn, something softer.