Embroidery is traditionally an art of handcraft – an articulation of lines through the layering of thread on a specific medium. Much like the traditional art of hand drawing, embroidery has experienced an overhaul in technique, as computer numerical control (CNC) machines automate embroidery stitches in a faster and more precise way. The open source platform called Processing was developed to handle this new way of seeing the potentials of digital drawing – a form that doesn’t just mimic the techniques and outputs of hand drawing, but is able to add more to that interface – pushing drawing into a form of complex visual language that has never before existed. At a time when the techniques of embroidery have shifted from analog to digital, what new potentials might we be able to realize?
Impromptu Redux is an exploration on this theme, utilizing drawing techniques in Processing as an interface to digital embroidery software and hardware to push the limits of embroidery production.