>>FF> DesignInquirers DIers, including myself, were overcome by a strange fad/mania after I introduced the idea of a workshop that hits the pause button, allowing participants to reflect on a sense of lost and found time and to play with the experience of real time and slow time. I was surprised and pleased by the success of the hands-on part of the activity, as a young scholar and new teacher I’m still finding my place in my chosen discipline of material culture. The small weavings confirmed my belief that process is important, even to those of who work with materials in our own practice. Sometimes simplicity is best when it comes to projects, and small tapestries are really some of the simplest textile projects one can create. The process of weaving in this case seemed to tap into some deeper need for participants, and inspire textile weavings, paper weavings, and even weavings made of grass and plastic.
While I haven’t yet connected this work to my own larger projects (beyond my general interest in DIY craft), I hope that I will be able to do this in the future. In the meantime, because of my current coursework, my interest is focusing around the food at DI and the food landscape DesignInquirers create together. Food is as much of a process as weaving, and is even older, so it isn’t as much of a stretch as one might think. The process of cooking is just as absorbing as weaving can be, and creates a different kind of outcome. I am hoping to create a project that delves deeper into the ways DesignInquirers create collaborative food landscapes, drawing on the history of the place itself and on interviews with other Inquirers.
