Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Craft Research
  4. Volume 11, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 11, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2040-4689
  • E-ISSN: 2040-4697

Abstract

Abstract

This article reflects upon a pilot project crafting textile samples/prototypes for people who are visually impaired. It explores the role that sensorial empathy and further understanding of the language of touch play in the textile crafting process for makers working with people who are visually impaired, and that aesthetic and experiential textiles (while important to all) are especially important to people who are visually impaired. The project undertakes craft research in an area that is generally overlooked by textile designers. The makers/participants were sighted second-year undergraduate textile design students at Nottingham Trent University and the end users, who acted as informants, were service users at My Sight Nottinghamshire (a charity in the United Kingdom addressing visual impairment). The project is situated within human-centred design, with a focus on physically intuitive designs crafted for people with visual impairments. The application and usage of the samples/prototypes are aimed at inclusivity, with engagement centred primarily around haptic touch, and so looking at the textiles may not reveal their potential application, which becomes more apparent through physical engagement. The project was inspired by work within sensory studies, including the concept of sensorial empathy, and research relating to the language of touch through tactile encounters with art objects from a visually impaired perspective. The methods used in the project drew upon empathic design processes, which were informed by sensory ethnography – particularly 'emplacement' and the holistic consideration of mind, body and place – and selected aspects of social haptics, particularly 'environmental description'. Recommendations include further development of the language of touch to support textile craft when working with people who are visually impaired and further consideration of 'grounding' as a concept regularly described by the informants.

© Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00015_1
2020-03-01
2024-09-09
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bristow, M.. (2012);, 'Continuity of touch – textile as silent witness'. , in J. Hemmings. (ed.), The Textile Reader, London:: Berg;, pp. 44-52.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Classen, C.. (1997);, 'Foundations for an anthropology of the senses'. , International Social Science Journal, 49:153, pp. 401-12.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Classen, C.. (2002), The Color of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination, London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Classen, C.. (2012), The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch, Chicago, IL:: University of Illinois Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. d'Evie, F., and Kleege, G.. (2018);, 'The gravity, the levity: Let us speak of tactile encounters'. , Disability Studies Quarterly, 38:3, http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/6483/5090. Accessed 9 January 2019 .
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Geurts, K.. (2002), Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community, Berkeley:: University of California Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Geurts, K.. (2005);, 'Consciousness as "Feeling in the Body": A West African theory of embodiment, emotion and the making of mind'. , in D. Howes. (ed.), Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader, Oxford:: Berg;, pp. 164-78.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Giacomin, J.. (2015);, 'What is human centred design?'. , The Design Journal, 17:4, pp. 606-23.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Groth, C.. (2017), Making Sense through Hands: Design and Craft Practice Analysed as Embodied Cognition, Doctoral dissertation, Helsinki:: Aalto Arts Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Haug, K.. (2016);, 'Touching to see: Haptic description and 21st century visuality'. , LXAQ International Art and Culture, 1, http://sfaq.us/2016/10/touching-to-see-haptic-description-and-21st-century-visuality/. Accessed 6 June 2018 .
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hayhoe, S.. (2008), Arts, Culture and Blindness: A Study of Blind Students in the Visual Arts, Youngstown, NY:: Teneo Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Helen Keller National Center (2018);, 'Introduction to haptics'. , Helen Keller National Center, December, https://www.helenkeller.org/hknc/lesson/chapter-1-overview-haptics. Accessed 15 December 2018 .
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hemmings, J. (ed.) (2012), The Textile Reader, London:: Berg;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Heywood, I.. (ed.) (2017), Sensory Arts and Design, London:: Bloomsbury;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Howes, D.. (1991), The Varieties of Sensory Experience: A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses, Toronto:: University of Toronto Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Howes, D.. (2005), Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader, Oxford:: Berg;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Howes, D.. (2006);, 'Charting the sensorial revolution'. , The Senses and Society, 1:1, pp. 113-28.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Howes, D., and Classen, C.. (2014), Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses in Society, London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Hunt, K. J.. (2018);, 'Eyes, sight and the senses on film and in fashion: Crossmodal correspondences and sensorial empathy between Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Johan Ku's "Selma" Collection S/S (2014)'. , Fashion Theory, 22:1, pp. 31-67.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Hunt, K. J.. (2019);, 'LAPVI and LIVE: Reflections on two collaborative projects between my sight and NTU art and design'. , Learning Aesthetics from People who are Visually Impaired (LAPVI) Symposium, My Sight Nottinghamshire City Centre Hub;, Nottingham:, 20 September .
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Jay, M.. (1993), Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought, Berkeley:: University of California Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kleege, G.. (2018), More Than Meets the Eye: What Blindness Brings to Art, Oxford:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Koskinen, I., and Battarbee, K.. (2003);, 'Introduction to user experience and empathic design'. , in I. Koskinen,, K. Battarbee, and T. Mattelmaki. (eds), Empathic Design: User Experience in Product Design, Edita:: IT Press;, pp. 37-50.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Koskinen, I.,, Battarbee, K., and Mattelmaki, T.. (eds) (2003), Empathic Design: User Experience in Product Design, Edita:: IT Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Lahtinen, R.,, Palmer, R., and Lahtinen, M.. (2010), Environmental Description for Visually and Dual Sensory Impaired People, Nottingham:: A1 Management UK;.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Leonard, D., and Rayport, J. F.. (1997);, 'Spark Innovation through empathic design'. , Harvard Business Review, November-December, pp. 103-13.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Lupton, E., and Lipps, A.. (2018), The Senses: Design Beyond Vision, New York:: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Princeton Architectural Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Marks, L. U.. (2000), The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses, Durham and London:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Mattelmaki, T.,, Vaajakallio, K., and Koskinen, I.. (2014);, 'What happened to empathic design?'. , Design Issues, 30:1, pp. 67-77.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Pink, S.. (2015), Doing Sensory Ethnography, , 2nd. ed., London:: Sage;.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Polanyi, M.. (1958), Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy, London:: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd;.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Serres, M.. (2016), The Five Senses: A Philosophy of Mingled Bodies (trans. M. Sankey, and P. Cowley.), London:: Bloomsbury;.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Suri, J. F.. (2003);, 'Empathic design: Informed and inspire by other people's experience'. , in I. Koskinen,, K. Battarbee, and T. Mattelmaki. (eds), Empathic Design: User Experience in Product Design, Edita:: IT Press;, pp. 51-58.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. WHO (2019);, 'Blindness and visual impairment'. , World Health Organisation, 8 October, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment. Accessed 1 November 2019 .
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Hunt, Kevin,, Piper, Anna, and Worker, Georgie. (2020);, 'The importance of sensorial empathy and the language of touch when crafting textiles for people who are visually impaired'. , Craft Research, 11:1, pp. 57-77, https://doi.org/10.1386/crre_00015_1
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00015_1
Loading
The importance of sensorial empathy and the language of touch when crafting textiles for people who are visually impaired
Craft Research 11, 57 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1386/crre_00015_1
/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00015_1
/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00015_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): blindness; craft; empathy; health; senses; textiles; visual impairment; well-being

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error