Oluwaseyi Sosanya, a Nigerian American student at London’s Royal College of Art, produced an amazing technique for 3D weaving, computer-controlled weavers to produce stable, three dimensional topologies.
The threads are wound so that they maintain tension even when removed from the machine, making a spongy, strong, flexible material out of regular fibers like cotton, which are then dipped in silicone to finish and protect them.
“I looked at a few different machines when designing this one and got most inspiration from a sewing machine and an industrial knitting machine,” said Sosanya. “Both of these machines allow thread to move freely through the mechanics using springs and guiding to hold the tension.”
“With the 3D Weaver, once the first row is layered, the thread maintains its tension, due to guide tubes and a initial winding of the thread programmed to run before the weaving of each structure. I coded a bit of software that allows any solid geometry to be split into layers and woven.”
Oluwaseyi Sosanya invents
3D-weaving machine [Dezeen]
(via Beyond the Beyond)
(Images: Guillaume Couche)