Bringing quantum physics to textiles.

A New Dimension.

My previous work has been about sustainable design which I found very challenging and exciting. Designing chicken leather and up-cycling discarded waste into beautiful functional things I have found is a very sustainable way to reduce waste and recycle.

At the beginning of my MA course I have been very torn between continuing my previous projects which I feel still needs further development and starting something new and interesting.

Whilst ruminating for ideas, I gathered some conkers and acorns, which I wanted to make into something but wasn’t sure what it would be. Then I saw a documentary on the BBC by Professor Jim Al Khalil called “Everything and Nothing”. He was talking about quantum physics theory and how what we deem as a void or emptiness is not really so. He gave examples of an empty glass and postulated that there is some kind of life in what seems to us to be empty then went from the microcosm of the glass to an empty room and then the macrocosm of the universe. This was very thought provoking as I had always thought humans were a result of the earthly conditions that were favourable to life. Could there be some other forms of life that are abound around us that are not visible to us? When we are in an empty room, are we alone?

He went further to conduct some experiments using a straw and a half-filled glass of water, sucked up the fluid and then withdrew the straw from the glass and trapped the fluid in the straw by capping one end with his thumb. The fluid stayed in the straw halfway suggesting that the vacuum created from trapping the air was indeed tangible and had its own weight. When the straw was uncapped the fluid flowed out freely, then sealing the bottom end sucked on the straw strenuously until the walls collapsed in on themselves.

Now, this simple experiment gave me the idea of making a textile made from nothingness, using a clear membrane-like material that would be doubled up filled with some sort of fluid which I don’t know yet what it might be. But the idea is that the fluid or gel-like substance would be stained with clouds of colour pigments to make it opaque or translucent, probably also highlighting patterns printed with nano solution on the inside. The other feature would be that the aqueous substance should be able to react to moderate and extreme degrees of temperature and react to heat by cooling down or to cold by heating up. Therefore the warmer it gets the cooler it becomes and the colder it gets the warmer it becomes. The purpose of this kind of textile would be for application in fashion and also industrial uses like the fire fighting industry.

With regard to fashion, this could be a sustainable way of keeping warm in the winter without having to use up lots of energy resources to keep us warm and can be used industrially in places where there is lots of heat like in a bakery for instance. Firemen need not feel the intensity of the heat when they are combating fires either and yet, it will be a lightweight material.