Knit link

New forms of local manufacture in knit are emerging in the Nordics, through the spread of digital design and manufacturing.

The textile industry researches and develops 3d-knit as an efficient way to produce intricate materials with integrated details and properties. Varying material properties, multi-layered materials, and three-dimensional products are examples, all produced in a single-thread system.

The C omplete Garment Knitting (C GK) technology creates completely new opportunities for interdisciplinary work. The technology consists of the fact that a computer-controlled knitting machine, through completely new technology, can knit an entire garment in a thread system without manual assembly. This is revolutionary as it is possible to create three-dimensional shapes directly in knitting production - a textile equivalent to 3D printers.

Despite that, textiles are almost unexplored as a construction material. Perhaps because textiles already have an obvious place in architecture (carpets, draperies, curtains, furniture) they are almost completely overlooked as a building material or something to be used in the building processes. From the construction world's
perspective, there are several advantages to textile materials and production techniques. A high degree of digitization, fast manufacturing cycles, and low production costs make it easy to work with, at scales that relate to both spaces and buildings.

Textiles in general and 3D knitting in particular, are based on industrial and material principles that have great potential to take on current and future challenges in architecture, construction, and urbanism, both in new and existing contexts. Textiles have low weight and a large variety of properties that can be designed and can be
produced in processes with relatively low energy consumption and minimal residual products.

We want to connect the industrial processes of the textile industry with needs in the construction industry, architecture, and urbanism. To be specific, it is about connecting digital architectural design with a digital production chain in the textile industry. In that way, we can bring in textiles as a possible solution to the challenges of the built environment - where form, technology, aesthetics, and economy can go hand in hand.