This website is both an active course taught in the Design + Technology program at Parsons The New School for Design and an open-source resource for anyone curious to learn or teach about electronic textiles. Each spring semester, I remove links to all sessions and add them back in by week. If you see a resource that is no longer up, this is likely why. Please email me and I’ll be happy to send it to you: lizastark[at]gmail.com
Why textiles? This course has take many forms over the 10+ years I have taught it. In the beginning, I focused on craft broadly (hence computational craft), but it became clear after different instructional permutations that one material type was best suited to the constraints of the course. Textiles have layered histories, diverse sociocultural contexts, and political and economic undercurrents. When combined with the materials, functionality, and semiotics of physical computing, the hybrid texture opens new perspectives into archetypal questions.
Course Description
[2026 Syllabus] The evolution of digital technology, craft, computation, and textiles are deeply interwoven across their histories across social, cultural, economic, and material dimensions. However, each has a set of affordances and inscribed cultural values that often prevent us from placing them in direct dialogue. This making-focused course seeks to remove these artificial barriers to explore new opportunities for interactivity and novel interfaces.
You will learn how to work with smart materials including conductive thread, yarns, tapes, and fabrics; build and deploy custom textile sensors at different scales using Arduino and ESP32; build flexible circuits using different craft and fabrication techniques; design interactive “soft” systems for the body or in situated environments; and experiment with alternative actuators including thermochromic ink, soft speakers, shape memory alloys, and DIY motors.
In addition to developing technical skills, we will investigate themes of hybridity, the body and embodiment, the social nature of textiles, and expanding/rethinking traditional ideas of interfaces through discussions, assignments, and projects. Throughout the course you will be expected to develop strong documentation practices.
If you seek a respite from the screen, a desire to craft with your hands or machines, to explore new materials and interfaces, and/or to strengthen your knowledge of physical computing concepts, this is great course for you. No prior knowledge is necessary.
Acknowledgements
The material in this course threads and builds on work from many incredible practitioners including: Adrian Freed, Admar Schoonen, Afroditi Psarra, Anastasia Pistofidou, Becca Rose, Becky Stern, Becky Stewart, Cedric Honnet, Ebru Kurbak, Hannah Perner-Wilson (Kobakant), Helen Leigh, Ingo Randolf, Irene Posch, Jie Qi, Jingwen Zhu, Joanna Berzowska, Kaho Abe, Kari Love, Kate Hartman, Kit McDermott, Kylie Peppler, Lara Grant, Leah Buechley, Madison Maxey, Maggie Orth, Martin de Bie, Maurin Donneaud, Meg Grant, Mika Satomi (Kobakant), Rachel Freire, Sasha deKoninck, Valerie Lamontagne, Yasmin Kafai, Victoria Manganiello, Zoe Romano