Portfolio of Loose Ends

Abstract

Digital Craftsmanship, and other explorative design research practices using digital fabrication, depend on sample making and material exploration. Rather than describing a method of making use of the information present in samples co-inhabiting a timeline, this pictorial reports on the loose ends that may emerge out of the main journey, when taking a traveler's approach to making. By loose ends, we mean successful samples that are not suitable to the main inquiry of the present design research process, but that under certain circumstances can become starting points for new investigation lines. We describe four examples of such loose ends and introduce the concept of fellow travelers as a metaphor for describing the process of co-inhabiting a timeline and a journey while ultimately having diverging goals and outcomes.