With the opening line “Visionaries know that the cutting edge of technology is not sharp, but sensuous and soft” Bradley Quinn, in his latest book, “Textile Futures” poetically echoes the very sentiment that makes you either love or hate wearable technology. “Textile Futures” is an exhaustive journey through the diverse fields of electronic textiles and wearable technology. Quinn covers a range of topics from the expected “emotive interfaces’ to the more obscure subject of “robotic exoskeletons.” The book is chockfull of examples and is even sprinkled with artist interviews throughout. Quinn’s survey of wearable technology and electronic textiles will satiate the appetite of any student, architect or designer interested in learning what has been created to date (well up to 2008 at least) but it fails to place the work in any sort of context. It is indeed a survey and reads like a survey. The tragic weakness of the book is the lack of color photography. To be accurate, there is a middle section of 20+ pages of color photos but the majority of the examples throughout the book are pictured in black and white. I personally find it peculiar that a book on fashion and textiles would ever be printed in B&W only. Overall the book is the only wearable tech bible to date so get it for your library! Highly Recommended Book Contents General Introduction PART ONE: ‘BODY’ Introduction to Part One Chapter 1. Body Technology Chapter 2. Synthesised Skins Chapter 3. Structured Surfaces Chapter 4. Vital Signs Chapter 5. Transformations PART TWO: ‘SPACE’ Introduction to Part Two Chapter 6. Interior Tectonics Chapter 7. Fluid Architecture Chapter 8. Textile Techniques Chapter 9. Surface and Structure Chapter 10. Ocean to Orbit Chapter 11. Geotextiles PART THREE: ‘SUBSTANCE’ Introduction to Part Three Chapter 12. Energy Chapter 13. Vacuums and Volumetrics Chapter 14. Liquid Textiles Chapter 15. Micro-machines Chapter 16. Hybrid Organisms
