LOUISE PERMIIN

Design researcher, educator and consultancy

What if embodied explorations of cotton can alter human empathy on consumption behaviours?


Bodily ways of knowing in fashion – Design research, 2020

Bodily ways of knowing in fashion: connectedness between clothing and the body is a research- and design-based exploration that examines methodological approaches that might help us in developing new ways of designing.

Initially, the project explored the potential of “touch” as a counterpole to the overtly visually-centric focus in fashion. Curious about how we can (re-)think and do the relational entanglements between designers, uses of and knowledge about material resources and the human body, our exploration was guided by the question of how we might study embodied knowledge in relation to garments and thereby find spaces for bodily ways of knowing to explore our relationships with resources and garments in new ways.  In our research, we have dived into use-abilities by combining a concrete garment with a more abstract yet personal reference, creating a space to recognise the attachments connected to embodied knowledge. Analysing our exploration, we developed a diagram to further understand and thicken the seemingly mundane encounters between clothing and the body, based on the three levels of product, use-abilities and connectedness. 

We understand bodily ways of knowing as approaches toward knowledge production that emphasize and explore the body and its sensual capacities. We argue that designers and design researchers could become engaged with bodily ways of knowing by embracing more than human worlds in their design practice, approaching alternative and anarchistic design methodologies.  With the learnings brought forward in this video article, we want to challenge the human exceptionalism dominating the existing fashion system and explore which methodologies might help us come closer to an understanding of relational entanglements – whether it’s the larger picture of care for resources and the planet or the closer relations of care for the garments in our wardrobe. Find the link to the videoartcle at the Journal of Embodied Research here


Design

Design; diagram ‘Bodily ways of knowing‘. 1.Product, 2.Use-ability and 3.Connectedness. Illustration by Permiin, 2020.
  1. Product: relates to our body and physical senses of touch, smell and sight related to garments, its materials and the aesthetics of it. 
  2. Use-ability: this level connects the embodied knowledge of wearing with personal experiences, of using clothes, that we carry with us. At this level we look closer into the embodied knowledge related to wearing and using clothes that may further unfold the connectedness between clothes and the body. 
  3. Connectedness: holds (new) understandings of care and connectedness, which underline the importance of taking time to unfold the complexity of the many encounters between clothing and the body which we touched upon and discussed during the design experiment.
Design; Method, Screenshot from our developed embodied method ‘becoming a sock‘ examined in a joined seminar ‘Living with others’ between research groups at Linneaus, Aalto and Designschool Kolding, a zoom meeting in 2020.

“The choreography is an interesting way of approaching more-than-human perspectives, and it would be interesting to add all the cultural layers attached to the industry of a cotton sock“

– Professor in Design Mathilda Tham


Project management by

Supervised by

Collaboration

Funded by

  • Design school Kolding, Lab for sustainability and design

Publication