RUTH ZHAO
RESEARCH
CASE STUDY
ART
LivingLoom
Creating post-anthropocentric plant textiles. What does co-existence with living plants look like?
Time
Summer 2024
Genre
Research — Cornell Hybrid Body Lab. Awarded CHI 2025 Best Paper
Skills
Interaction Design, Mechanical Engineering, Concept Iteration
Context
LivingLoom is a design inquiry that proposes a post-anthropocentric approach to fabrication by integrating living plants directly into textiles.
These are our guidelines.
Ideation
We examined the intimacy between humans and plants in textile forms, shedding light on the design potential for the care-based fabrication of e-textiles.
FIG 01. Thumbnail Illustrations for Applications
Form
Our design space focused on dimensionality of interaction. We explored modes of form through wet-spinning bio-degradable yarns that sprout & grow.
1D Form
2D Textile
3D Plant Integration
Fabrication
The plant integrated fibers are created by treating a base solution (01) that is sterilized and vacuumed. Seeds are added and the liquid solution is extruded into a coagulation bath. The thread is allowed to dry into weavable fiber.
Plant property tests
FIG 02. Mung bean growth exploration
FIG 03. Chia seed growth exploration
Application
We developed 3 primary methods of integrating the plant seeds into woven craft, shown below.
FIG 04. Pillowcase
FIG 05. Woven Dress
FIG 06. Rattan Pouch
FIG 07. Substrate Lining
FIG 08. Hybrid Layering
FIG 09. Structure Interlacing
FIG 10. Interaction Diagram
E-textile specific applications
We interwove conductive thread and seed integrated thread to emphasize the human-plant symbiotic relationship through touch.
When the wearer touches the sprouts, they feel haptic feedback from the vibration motor to experience the tactile sense of the plants as an extension of the human body and skin.
FIG 11. Headband
FIG 12. Haptic Feedback Demo
FIG 13. Thread Weaving Reference
Publication & acknowledgmenets
This research presented here was also accepted for the 2025 CHI ACM Conference and received the Best Paper award.
Research under guidance of the Cornell Hybrid Body Lab
Special thanks to Jingwen Zhu, Sam Chang, Professor Cindy Kao
LivingLoom
Creating post-anthropocentric plant textiles. What does co-existence with living plants look like?
Time
Summer 2024
Genre
Research — Cornell Hybrid Body Lab. Awarded CHI 2025 Best Paper
Skills
Interaction Design, Mechanical Engineering, Concept Iteration
Context
LivingLoom is a design inquiry that proposes a post-anthropocentric approach to fabrication by integrating living plants directly into textiles.
These are our guidelines:
Ideation
We examined the intimacy between humans and plants in textile forms, shedding light on the design potential for the care-based fabrication of e-textiles.
FIG 01. Thumbnail Illustrations for Applications
Form
Our design space focused on dimensionality of interaction. We explored modes of form through wet-spinning bio-degradable yarns that sprout & grow.
1D Form
2D Textile
3D Plant Integration
Fabrication
The plant integrated fibers are created by treating a base solution (01) that is sterilized and vacuumed. Seeds are added and the liquid solution is extruded into a coagulation bath. The thread is allowed to dry into weavable fiber.
Plant Property Tests
FIG 02. Mung bean growth exploration
FIG 03. Chia seed growth exploration
Application
We developed 3 primary methods of integrating the plant seeds into woven craft, shown below.
FIG 04. Pillowcase
FIG 05. Woven Dress
FIG 06. Rattan Pouch
FIG 07. Substrate Lining
FIG 08. Hybrid Layering
FIG 09. Structure Interlacing
FIG 10. Interaction Diagram
E-Textile Applications
We interwove conductive thread and seed integrated thread to emphasize the human-plant symbiotic relationship through touch.
When the wearer touches the sprouts, they feel haptic feedback from the vibration motor to experience the tactile sense of the plants as an extension of the human body and skin.
FIG 11. Headband
FIG 12. Haptic Feedback Demo
FIG 13. Thread Weaving Reference
Publication & Acknowledgements
This research presented here was also accepted for the 2025 CHI ACM Conference.
Research under guidance of:
The Cornell Hybrid Body Lab
Special Thanks to:
Jingwen Zhu, Sam Chang, Professor Cindy Kao