Smart Textile Services

Smart Textile Services (STS) was a collaborative project within the CRISP Program. The project created an ‘inspirational test-bed’: a platform of methods, tools, materials, multiple partners, and many prototypes through which the creative industries explored the opportunities and challenges of joining their expertise towards designing smart textile product service systems.
The methodological drivers for STS were the three phases of the ‘Growth Plan’ that were based on earlier projects within Ambient Intelligence system design, and the strong ID attitude towards prototyping and research through design (RtD). STS went well beyond the earlier RtD paradigm of one design-one designer-one context.

The main research challenge was to develop the tools and methods to design for smart textile services. This challenge branched out in several directions, such as crafting communities, craft qualities for STS, and the role of prototypes for embodied STS.

The final portfolio of STS contained eleven design projects targeting multiple user groups, such as the elderly, parents and children, and dementia patients, their partners and therapists. Four of the eleven concepts went through multiple iterations: TexTales, Vigour, Tactile Dialogues and Vibing. These iterations went well beyond fuzzy front-end, actually following the full growth plan, from initial incubation via nursery into adoption, introducing the new class of smart textile product service systems.
Finally, the project sparked new research projects: one NWO project ‘Crafting Wearables’, which already started during the project, and a European Program ArchInTex, which is currently continued in an STW project on Ultra-Personalized Products and Services.