The Year of the Loom

Praxis’s Digital Weaving Lab is located in the house adjacent to the main workshop

At our opening board meeting in February, the Praxis Fiber Workshop Board of Directors agreed, “It’s the year of the loom!” It has been the year of the loom indeed, despite all of the twists and turns we’ve faced getting to this point.

Since 2018, Praxis has been planning the opening of the Digital Weaving Lab. Located in the house adjacent to Praxis, the Digital Weaving Lab houses three computer-assisted looms and will soon be the home of a TC2 Jacquard Loom. The TC2 (thread controller 2) loom is a sophisticated machine that allows the handweaver to have control over every intersection of warp and weft in the cloth, in turn expanding the possibilities for pattern and design.

The TC2 loom will not only complete the Digital Weaving Lab, it will draw weavers from all over the world to Praxis and to Cleveland. Currently, there are no facilities in North America outside of universities where weavers can rent independent time on a TC2. By introducing the TC2 to the Midwest region, and offering time and instruction in jacquard weaving to our vibrant community of artists and designers, we will activate the huge interdisciplinary potential of the technology.

When the pandemic shutdown began in March 2020, our goal of purchasing a TC2 felt distant at best. However, with an incredible fundraising campaign and the support of our community near and far, we successfully purchased the loom and are preparing for its arrival and installation later this year. We are now accepting applications for residencies in the Digital Weaving Lab in 2021, and look forward to sharing more upcoming news soon!

PRAXIS FIBER WORKSHOP

15301 Waterloo Road

Cleveland, Ohio 44110

praxisfiberworkshop.org