Due in part to globalisation, digitisation, social media, economic and ecological uncertainties, polarisation and alienation are taking over our society. Soft Connection Lab searches for ways to restore our emotional connection with each other, and with the material world that surrounds us.
The starting point of this research project is the traditional maypole dance. As the dancers move in the exact same way as the bobbins of a braiding machine, Soft Connection Lab explores whether ingenious textile techniques can be retransformed into co-creative making practices and healing artefacts.
As conceiving and making have become disconnected in our Western industrialized society, Soft Connection Lab researches ways to re-establish a conjunctive design methodology. By scaling up often forgotten artisanal textile techniques and slowing down creation, Soft Connection Lab wants to offer valuable insights into making. Since the hands function as windows to the mind, hands-on experimental creation is crucial for understanding – and thus innovating – our material world.
Inspired by the social connection of the maypole dancers and the emotional connection of artisans and consumers to their handmade objects, the team investigates transversal creation methods that nourish intangible added value for people and objects, acting as catalysts for sustainability.
