CAD-CAM development in art and craft weaving: Experiences from integration in teaching and training in vocational and university level schools in Norway

Throughout the past five years, the weaving course at the National College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Oslo has been subjected to high-technology research. The traditional handweaving methods have been analyzed, and present needs have been specified. The students have been collaborating in testing prototype software and electronical equipment, being in continuous communication with the system analysists, programmers and technologists. The result is a CAD-CAM package, integrated in various teaching methods, and adaptable in any handweaving studio, whether it is for an industrial free-lance designer, or a textile artist, or a craft weaver with a production line, or at a school. The experiences from this project can be transferred and adapted in a number of other situations, where computers initially were as remote from the end-user's mind, as was the case for handweavers. The system's work was based on the existing working procedures and the built-in logic of the craft, handed down through generations. In this way we acquired a highly user-friendly interface between the ancient craft of weaving, present computer technology, and the new requirements of innovative textile designers and artists.