Knitting Symposium at AUT

Auckland University's Knitting Symposium was a whole day of presentations on Research in Knitting, held at the new Auckland City Art Gallery. Even for non-knit nerds, it was fascinating!!!: Professor Sandy Black from the London University of Arts spoke on the development of knitting from its origins to present day, and still asserts that "handknitting skills continues to inform the development of new knitting technology."  Ben Schaffer from Nike skype presented from Milan, and told us all about the product development process of the new Nike Flyknit Shoe.  The shoes are on the market now - a pair was passed around to have a look at.  A point was raised that the Nike logo was printed on the shoe, and not knitted in!!  I think they need some knitwear designers on their product development team.  Dr Jenny Underwood from RMIT, spoke about her research project, involving a Copenhagen Bio-Chemistry team for the development of a knitted structure for architecture, and she's certain that one day we will be able to knit a building.  I spoke about the development of the Construction Knitting Pattern product, and the process of creating a product that's designed to reflect our current culture as opposed to nostalgic craft.  A knitting pattern being the object of design ephemera can reposition the notion of knitting and improve it's social value.