Towards the Preservation and Dissemination of Historical Silk Weaving Techniques in the Digital Era

Abstract

Historical weaving techniques have evolved in time and space giving as result more or less fabrics with different aesthetical characteristics. These techniques were transferred along the main silk production centers, thanks to the European Silk Road and creating a common European Frame on themes and techniques. These had made it complicated to determine whether a fabric corresponds to one century or another. Moreover, in order to understand their creation, it is necessary to determine the number of weaves and interlacements that each textile has, therefore, mathematical models can be extracted from these layers. In this sense, three dimensional (3D) virtual representations of the internal structure of textiles are of interest for a variety of purposes related to fashion, industry, education or other areas. The aim of this paper is to propose a mathematical modelling of historical weaving techniques by means of matrices in order to be easily mapped to a virtual 3D representation. The work focuses on historical silk textiles, ranging from the 15th to the 19th centuries. We also propose a computer vision-based strategy to extract relevant information from digital imagery, by considering different types of images (textiles, technical drawings and macro images). The work here presented has been carried out in the scope of the SILKNOW project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 769504. The results shown in the paper are preliminary and will be improved in the scope of the project.

From Historical Silk Fabrics to Their Interactive Virtual Representation and 3D Printing

“…It also allows the exporting of the generated models in STL (stereolithography) format, in order to produce 3D printouts. The first release version was described in [16,18] and a work focusing on symmetry is also available at [17]. Therefore, in this section we will focus on addressing the novelties regarding the first version and on showing some results for different weaving techniques.…”

“…), and preserves the tangible and intangible heritage associated with silk [15]. Among others, we have developed "Virtual Loom" (VL), an application that deals with the 3D virtual representation of historical silk fabrics at the yarn level [16][17][18]. We have also investigated how to materialize the generated 3D models by means of 3D printing technology.…”

“…In this paper, we present a review of traditional silk textiles as tackled in the SILKNOW project, from their traditional production, to their 3D representation both virtually (with Virtual Loom) and as printouts, specially focusing on the designs, weaves, and weaving techniques. Although preliminary versions of Virtual Loom have been previously reported [16][17][18], we focus here on the advancements (e.g., improved 3D graphics and integration in ADASilk) and the production of 3D printouts to represent designs and weaving techniques. We also show some results from the project, and discuss their use within different audiences, including the creative industries.…”

El hilo de la historia: del patrimonio mueble al intangible. Rescatando el patrimonio textil sedero

“…En el caso de desarrollarse este Plan Nacional este tipo de iniciativas deberían extenderse a ámbitos más heterogéneos para poner el foco en la pervivencia de técnicas que han perdurado por más de cinco siglos. Al mismo tiempo, gracias a la tecnología, SILKNOW ha desarrollado un "telar virtual" (Gaitán et al, 2019) para reproducir técnicas históricas de tejido, lo que permite a los usuarios descubrir la complejidad, los valores artísticos y artesanales de los textiles de seda antiguos y sus técnicas de tejido, a la vez que preservará para las generaciones futuras el conocimiento artesanal de los saberes tradicionales vinculados a la tejeduría de la seda europea, en claro riesgo de desaparición. El trabajo interdisciplinar de SILKNOW, es un ejemplo de cómo la tecnología resulta fundamental en la preservación y divulgación del patrimonio cultural en el siglo XXI.…”

From Silk to Digital Technologies: A Gateway to New Opportunities for Creative Industries, Traditional Crafts and Designers. The SILKNOW Case

“…In Morocco, the publishing and printing sectors employ 1.8 per cent of the workforce, with a turnover of more than $370 million. In Bangkok (Thailand), the fashion industry alone has led to 20,000 businesses that this heritage does not disappear, it is important to connect it with younger generations, weaving the past to promote the creativity of the future [12].…”