The art of contemporary Jok Textiles : the integration between craft and creative desing

Abstract

This research was a Practice based Research combined with Applied Research. In the research, note taking, tape recording, interviewing, observing, photographing, video recording and questionnaire surveying were applied to primarily identify the concept of “Contemporary Jok Textile”. The purposes of this research were to sustain and create Jok textile art through new perspectives that represent a relationship between traditional crafts and contemporary design. This research was a combination of unconventional concepts and Art form inspired by “The beauty of Imperfection and the Flow”. Nowadays, Technological advancements, social value and economic change impacts on Jok textile regarded as invaluable heritage of Tai Yuan. That is, the role of Jok textile is continually decreasing. In the past, people wove Jok textile for household and religious uses. Recently, in contrast, the purpose of weaving Jok textile has shifted from weaving for domestic use to weaving for sale. However, the development cannot reach to the fullest because it is encountering several shortcomings such as a lack of professional weavers, a lack of various materials and weaving equipment and a lack of comprehensive understanding on its own identity. These result is unable to make local textiles unique and decreasing their aesthetic values. The hypotheses of this study were to present new perspectives of contemporary Jok textile design, to create new Jok motifs and promulgate them to the public and to present new image of contemporary Jok textile which is more international and suitable for current trends. The findings of the study revealed that the alternative weaving tool or the “Vertical Floor Loom” invented by the researcher was the significant factor which enabled weavers to create new and attractive woven textile structures. The researcher believes that this research study would be useful for creative people who place great importance on the value of art work such as artists, interior designers and contemporary art collectors and be great inspiration for the development of Jok textile in the future.

This research was a Practice based Research combined with Applied Research.in this research, note taking, tape recording, Interviewing, observing, photographing, video recording and questionnaire surveying were applied to primarily identify the concept of “Contemporary Jok Textile “ The purposes of this research were to sustain and create jok textile art through new perspectives that represent a relationship between traditional crafts and contemporary design, This research was a combination of unconventional concepts and Art form inspired by “ The beauty of Imperfection and the Flow “ Nowadays Technological advancements, social value and economic change impacts on jok textile regarded an invaluable heritage of Tai Yuan. That is, the role of jok textile is continually decreasing. In the past, people wove jok textile for household and religious uses. Recently, In contrast, the purpose of weaving jok textile has shifted from weaving for domestic use to weaving for sale. However, the development cannot reach to the fullest because it is encountering several shortcomings such as a lack of professional weavers, a lack of various materials and weaving equipment and a lack of comprehensive understanding on its own identity. These result is unable to make local textiles unique and decreasing their aesthetic values. The hypotheses of this study were to present new perspectives of contemporary jok textile design, to create new jok motifs and promulgate them to the public and to present new image of contemporary jok textile which is more international and suitable for current trends. The findings of the study revealed that the alternative weaving tool or the “Vertical Floor Loom” invented by the researcher was the significant factor which enabled weavers to create new and attractive woven textile structures. The researcher believes that this research study would be useful for creative people who place great importance on the value of art work such as artists, interior designers and contemporary art collectors and be great inspiration for the development of jok textile in the future