Anna Davies is a designer with strong technical skills, who challenges what is possible within technical limitations to create something new and innovative. She is a well organized and highly social person who uses her skills and knowledge of textiles as a method of problem solving in places where others might not have seen textiles as a solution. And within this process I always aim for designs to be aesthetically pleasing but also for it to trigger curiosity about the craft.
Anna Davies
RE-DEFINE // INTERLOOPED
In my research I have been looking at how people perceive and interpret knit and how that has changed over time. Recognizing that our image of knit is unchallenged and mostly based on the archetypes of knit, like scarfs, socks, and chunky knitted jumper, I decided to deconstruct what our perception of a knit is to be able to make a change in our perception of what a knit could be. Doing this by identifying, understanding, questioning and redefining what the definition of knit is to be able to create a new contemporary perspective on what knit could be.
With INTERLOOPED I try not to teach yet to grasp attention and create interest and curiosity in the knitted objects that are perceived by the observer, providing knit a platform for appreciation that it -in my opinion- truly deserves.
![[untitled]](https://res.cloudinary.com/rca2020/image/upload/f_webp,h_2138,w_1920,c_fill,g_auto,q_auto/v1/rca2021/60c5d956a98c7847e5e55295-497291?_a=AXAH4S10)
I started with an experimental research looking for ways to create 3 dimensional shapes by adding hard materials to pieces of knitted fabric either during the knitting process, afterwards, or a combination of both. On reflection it seemed that in some samples coming out of this experimental research the knitted pieces would completely loose some of it’s characteristics. Therefore I wanted to take a closer look at the relationship between a knitted piece and hard materials.
Researching how to fix the relationship between hard materials and a knit. Finding a combination of yarns to create a knit that when introduced to the hard material stays happy. Meaning that it would still show the characteristics that make it curious and intriguing. Further explore what would be possible within the technical limitations of adding hard materials during the knitting process on the machine. Searching for shapes that would build a good relationship with the knit when brought together in the knitting process, as well as finding shapes that would be complemented by the shape fitting characteristic of the knit.
![[untitled]](https://res.cloudinary.com/rca2020/image/upload/f_webp,h_785,w_1920,c_fill,g_auto,q_auto/v1/rca2021/60c5e44ba98c7847e51912c4-666680?_a=AXAH4S10)
![[untitled]](https://res.cloudinary.com/rca2020/image/upload/f_webp,h_960,w_1920,c_fill,g_auto,q_auto/v1/rca2021/60c5e44ba98c7847e51912c4-258786?_a=AXAH4S10)
Tackling the conception of a knit needing to be made of a yarn and it needing to create fabric. This I did by creating a yarn out of a hard material that is pre shaped into loops for every other row. With the space to use a knitted tubular yarn to interloop the remaining rows. To through the combination of interlooping hard and soft material create a knit still showing the characteristics that makes it curios and recognizable.