These knitted floor-to-ceiling panels demonstrate the vividly textured image-making capabilities of CNC knitting. Inspired by the collaborators’ commitment to environmental sustainability, the knitted panels use discrete white, grey, yellow, blue, and blue-green yarns to construct full-colour images of waves and tree rings. The panels are knitted using an algorithm developed under the Functional Textiles project. This process allows the controlled placement of colors on a stitch-by-stitch basis, creating the illusion of a continuous, wide range of colors. When seen from a distance, viewers perceive a cohesive image but up close, the knit structure and individually dyed yarns can be discerned.

The fabrics use TENCEL™ branded fibers, a cellulosic fiber harvested from sustainable wood sources and manufactured using an environmentally responsible closed loop production process. Yarns that are made from TENCEL™ branded fibers are colored using Matex’s award winning Megafix® dyes, Megafix® ECO, and MegaPro® ECO Sustainable Colors. Their innovative and environmentally friendly textile dyeing process eliminates the need for salt and requires less water, energy, and effluent treatment than conventional reactive dyestuff.

The fabrication of this project was supported by the SUTD-MIT International Design Centre.