do textiles change the way we think?

I had the opportunity to give an overview of Andean textiles to some students this week. It was a lot of fun. I love to talk about textiles, and the techniques from the Andes are amazing. Living in isolation from other ancient civilizations, they independently invented just about every weaving structure known, as well as several found nowhere else. Their techniques of knotting, netting, sprang, twining and looping are similarly remarkable. The civilizations of the Andes never developed writing texts on a flat surface (they did have means of non-verbal long-distance communication, a long and involved topic). I think this may be because they have so few flat surfaces-- their world is desperately vertical. Why would you invent a wheel if there's no smooth place for it to roll? Why would you invent something which takes place on a planar surface, when you don't have much experience of planes?

Be that as it may, I think it is clear that some of the most sophisticated thinking of ancient times went into these textiles. Not just the structural techniques, but the placement of pattern, a clear understanding of the yarn required for a certain effect. Textiles were the intellectual tools they had.

Do a culture's textile techniques affect the way they think?

How might you think of the world differently if you didn't have pencil and paper, only yarn to work with?

What would your world be like if everyone you met knew the weave or knit structure of every visible article of clothing you wore? And understood the connotations?

How would you record ideas if yarn were your primary medium?

Comments

[claudia]

A world of yarn? Sounds pretty good.