CAD/CAM in the woven textiles industry

Weaving is one of the oldest crafts known to man. Fragments of woven cloth have been dated to the Neolithic/Eneolothic period [1]. The woven fabric has been regarded as possessing mystical qualities: woven rags are offered as part of the prayers in some Buddhist shrines, form the requisite set of ceremonial accoutrements for many different religions’ prayer settings, and as observed by Kramrisch [1a] “in the Rig Veda and the Upanishads, the universe is envisioned as a fabric woven by the gods. The cosmos, the ordered universe, is one continuous fabric; the uncut fabric is a symbol of totality and integrity” (Kramrisch [1a, pp. 67–68]). Knowledge and mastery of the skill has long been a matter of intellectual pride – as illustrated by the Greek myth of the weaving competition between the goddess Athena and the human Arachnida. Arachnida won the competition but her demonstration of pride in winning was punished by Athena who turned Arachnida into a spider and cursed her to forever spin and weave. To understand and be knowledgeable about woven design is a matter of mastering weaving techniques and mathematics and the competitive environment within which the textiles industry operates requires computer-aided design and manufacture (CAD/CAM) skills to develop new products and new textiles applications