14. Casting-off

~ If a creator starts his or her own unique way of expression, and if he or she is really good and original, he or she is involved in a constant fight against society ~ Kazuko Koike 75

Casting off!

Undoubtedly, writing this dissertation has elevated my line of thought in the field of textile design. To the best of my abilities, I have delineated my thoughts, trials and tribulations that could propel my studio work and prove useful to society in the end. As I proceed with the research done for this paper, I hypothesise that experimental psychology would play a role in the design development of ‘deficient’ knitted fabric. 76

To get a ‘tactile idea’ on how or what people interpret the concept of wabi-sabi as, I will knit fabric swatches with defects (on purpose). After which I will conduct focus groups of knitters and nonknitters questioning them about their idea of imperfection, and then ask them to mend the swatches in their own ways with any materials available to them. With knitted outcomes as mediums, I will ask knitters and non-knitters to take control over the hands-on design process.

An introduction will be given to the non-knitters to provide them with a general idea about the knitting process. The idea being : - How knitters and non-knitters react to defects in the fabric. - The ways they mend the defects/change them or - If they want the defects to be covered up at all (and if not, question their choice to understand more on how/why they are able to embrace the concept of imperfection)

To me, a knitted garment’s surface is a ground for feelings, thoughts and sentiments. I want to make clothes that reflect the realities of an often unhappy(?) world chasing after immaculateness. Knitting chooses to be silently disruptive and it is the perfect medium for me to express my thoughts - opinionated apparel. Unlike darning where the defects in the fabric are completely covered; using the concept of wabi-sabi, I work around them. It serves as a metaphor for a way of being; the main message I wish to communicate with this dissertation and my work here at the Royal College of Art namely - working your way around imperfection and finding peace with it.

I view the faults as human beings, We are not perfect; we stumble along the way, We are erroneous Torn Broken Dropped But in the end with a little repairing around the edges, we are alright.

I leave you with this quote from Yamamoto:

"I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see the scars, failure, disorder, distortion. If I can feel those things in work by others, then I like them. Perfection is a kind of order, like overall harmony, and so on. These are things someone forces onto something. A free human doesn’t desire such things.” 77

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75 Koren, New Fashion Japan, p.15. 76 Experimental psychologists employ human participants to study many topics, including sensation & perception, memory, cognition, learning, motivation, emotion; developmental processes and social psychology.