Enlace — A \ L – sketchbook

ENLACE

Enlace is a work that connects algorithmic weaving with the traditional craft of weaving in cane. We are collaborating with Trame and Maison Louis Drucker to craft physical objects from the generative output. Each generative token can be used by the collector to redeem a unique chair or a woven canvas from Maison Louis Drucker, the historic Parisian chair manufacturer. Enlace was released as part of the Bright Moments Paris Collection on February 20, 2024. Production for redeeming token is limited to December 31st, 2024.

PHYSICALS BY TRAME & MAISON LOUIS DRUCKER

There are 100 digital outputs (or tokens) of Enlace. Each token can be used to redeem physical objects from Maison Drucker, a woven chair and/or woven canvas. There are no limitations on supply. Working in collaboration with Trame and Maision Drucker, the Enlace algorithm is customized to the weaving constraints of this historic house of craft. The “features” of the Enlace algorithm are in fact the physical weaving constraints to ensure viability with Maison Drucker’s in-house techniques. When token holders acquire a unique woven chair or woven canvas of their token weave, they can be assured that the weaving color, type, and material are Maison Drucker specifications.

For ordering chairs or woven canvases, please email info@trameparis.com.

Maison Louis Drucker weaver

This project is about bringing together the algorithmic and on-chain potential of the digital token with the time-honored craft of weaving in cane as exemplified by Maison Louis Drucker. Enlace uses digital tools to open a co-creative process with a historic house of craft. New technology and traditional craft are not in conflict. Enlace claims the opposite, that the deep and time-honored traditions of craft use generative processes as part of their making and heritage.

Woven Prototypes courtesy of Maison Louis Drucker

HERITAGE CRAFT

Enlace is an English and French word with subtle variations in meaning. “Enlace” in English refers to the act of linking or intertwining, both in physical and abstract senses, and often used to describe weaving in thread. In French, “enlace” translates to an embrace or hug, emphasizing the physical human connection. Both words come from the Latin root “laceare,” meaning “to entwine,” sharing the root idea of bringing separate things together.

Francis Goodrich, credited for the weaving revival in the late 19th century, was inspired by the weaving draft as much as the coverlets, “a long strip of paper covered with figures very mysterious.”

WEAVING DRAFT

Enlace is visually expressed using the format of the weaving draft, a conventional template that conveys the minimal and necessary information for weavers to carry out a woven pattern, no matter its size and complexity. It is a graphic language to make a weave, one thread at a time. Visually, this project abstracts this language as the basis for novel generative outputs, altering its representation slightly from convention, while keeping its inherent utility intact. In other words, any weaver, human or machine, will know how to read Enlace as a set of weaving instructions. In this sense, Enlace is not about making a final product, but rather using the token as means to something else; the minimum instructions needed to make either a woven chair or woven canvas.

STRUCTURE OF THE WEAVING DRAFT

A weaving draft is recognizable by its characteristic four-part structure:

Threading on the top row
Treadling on the right column
Tie-up pattern in the top right corner
The resultant Weave in the main quadrant.

Weaving Drafts are a way communities of weavers can document, share, and disseminate their artistic work. Often the weaving draft is painstakingly rendered in an artistic manner to serve as very clear instructions and as a result, becomes a work of art in itself.

ENLACE OUTPUTS

The following are some test outputs:

0x11e94151d5a95fc2c3ad9b786ea9b1ee0e2b791cc51bec8c5ac39dbc536d70ae

0xd816a1f4284846feaf8f59bde2c67a65908077c81715e38b811ba4eefc41840d

0xf7fcaea6731444f47046dc18b3787e4f3c1700135d4421d050cb5825dbb6e7b9

0xf7f5548ebd6a8f8c05e4dd541fb857ac3d5efde7c9cdf893d9c1dc92c6a6c86c

0xf3ba8f55fb886de6a3a7851edf35d3249000008c510588182566d82292108a65

0xd7b0049b3c09dc8c4f21cbbb47e01ccea51800e227dfd0d0c2636efdc70c1bfe

0x74b5c48772e4b66b2bb8c558209fe0a3a925336c34f25843b1a9a9880770ef95

0x61acc58b1bb9ff525df497f53b038ab2c45029e939091bcb09ccbf48b49ff0db

0x48da6cf028769d89a819a725004e642beb7b8f75568f1a9e050fc89705056ea9

0x42fd2cf4e2fe98d9e9e644c8c617c7582a773830ca3013e6ca14ab27f1593a28

0x38ae591107cca814bb897d6dcfbd55054783da4f1bc80e01003c7536b489207e

0x25c104aa092da61ff031868e73ebe8bb5e264a2a67a1462194604b8f86fdec27

0x7f04c70adefb13dfb999441f3ca7ca2f7e982c9563ce20b0674fa853f7534ce2

0x7da38886e45c41f39c6111e1c13577199b14a08ce91f536ebd915067f0dc0ab5

0x7d76471c5ff0f1b4637808fed47cea54d3d564fed62a7ea3ac8e0b0f12bc21dc

0x7a424d75254351ab045ba0b06eab0b80c6da63c078d8088d78b075a4035d8cd4

0x3eb008a381aa8b416e45b81c1a3eab4d1953ddd0b2ebd2295c2fb73bc8f24e9e

0x2d80b67e83438b840e3b3a8fcc7c97c5c0957e28c235422897c6db2801e2a959

0x1f386e1eb8e05ea9fafff608c3261bb8e51945bb104fe9f599b05815bac69c6f

0x0ec9cafff250b305925ededfb02afe95dbb55b1e0bca1bba805130fc041a9bf8

0x0ccc0ccd2aea834501d6dfadbd6173309bdcedb798c94fdbf6db30b4be6e63a8

Cafe De Flore, Paris

CAFE CHAIR HISTORY

Established in 1885, Maison Drucker created one of the iconic chair designs popularized in French cafes. As a choice for creating a physical weave from a digital token, the Maison Drucker cafe chair offers a unique history and perspective on the generative genre. It is an object that represents a moment of social and technological upheaval. First and foremost, weaving was translated into a mechanical device, the Jacquard Loom, widely referred to as the first computer. In this sense, weaving is a foundational digital language, a warp and weft, that would translate later into today’s computer using the transistor. Beyond its computational history, the café chair offers another insight into the contemporary moment. Originally made of steam-bent wood and woven cane, the classic cafe chair was an industrial feat of the late nineteenth century mass production. It led the way, long before Ford’s Model T, of displacing craftwork from the home and onto assembly line within a factory setting. The cafe chair symbolized a new technology and a new artistic culture, a piece of furniture synonymous with intellectual curiosity. No single object better represented the emergence of a new economic class, and indeed a new kind of society, than the café chair. It captured the ideals of urban life and mass production at once.

Aranda\Lasch

Every project at Aranda\Lasch looks to the material histories of the generative medium to create new work. Inspired by the deep and rich histories of craft and traditional culture, Aranda\Lasch looks to create works that reconnect new digital technologies with time-honored methods of making.