A-POC
The machine itself is amazing: Computer-controlled levers move the warp threads into the up or down position according to the digitized pattern instructions, and an automated shuttle pulls the weft thread through a dizzying 200 times a minute. Your eyes can hardly follow the shuttles as they fly back and forth, accompanied by the pounding of an army of needles. Brilliant yellow and pink threads - 12,280 strands - run from an oversize spool toward the needles, which bob up and down like marionettes. And Miyake has figured out how to use it to weave finished clothes instead of fabric. The key to the whole process is the digital Jacquard machine overhead, a loom attachment that automates the weaving of patterns. Instead of using the machine as it was intended, the A-POC team co-opted it to create the embedded seams that make its clothing possible. In addition, the Miyake studio employs the Jacquard to produce more complex designs and experiment radically with all of the possible variables: the thickness of the thread, the density of the weave, the shape of the garment. The designers are able to specify the placement of every yarn - to make, say, the cuffs of a shirt more elastic than the neck. These details are specified in the pattern data Miyake sends to Makita, where the 0s and 1s become Miyake’s patented creations.
