A University of Kentucky researcher is redefining textiles through digital knitting, using it as a research tool that connects design thinking and material science across fields.
Jennifer Meakins, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UK College of Design, uses the robotic knitting machine to develop complex weaved materials. Her research focuses on craft and textiles and she teaches through the act of making. The digital knitting machine plays a central role in this approach.
"The digital knitting machine is unique - it's capable of shaping a textile," Meakins said. "It's not just producing a square of fabric necessarily. You can create things to a shape."
Unlike traditional textile production, digital knitting allows for both creative exploration and technical precision. The machine's flexibility enables researchers to work with a wide range of materials, from everyday fibers to advanced industrial yarns.
"That also means that we can use highly technical yarns," Meakins said. "While knitting a scarf with wool, you can also be highly technical."
Meakins approaches the digital knitting machine not simply as a fabrication tool, but as a central component of the research process itself.
"I'm doing everything from start to finish in a production facility," Meakins said. "A lot of times that process is broken up by a designer where you might pass it off. I think what's important about the way I was taught and also in the way I practice, is that this machine is the research tool."
The knitting machine is especially valuable for experimentation and customization, allowing ideas to move quickly from concept to physical form.
Meakins' research philosophy extends directly into the classroom, where students from a wide range of disciplines are encouraged to rethink what design looks like and where it belongs.
"I'm teaching a seminar right now called, 'Soft Space,'" Meakins said. "My students' final project is just teaching themselves or learning how to sew on a sewing machine. A few of them have gone to their grandmothers and they're teaching them."
For Meakins, those moments of learning and connection highlight how textile-based practices challenge narrow definitions of design and elevate skills that are often overlooked.
"It's a valuable skill that isn't just about mending or that sort of typical thinking of quilting. It's actually a valuable way of thinking and approaching the world."
Meakins received a $35,000 research infrastructure development grant from NASA Kentucky EPSCoR for a new project. She'll explore knitting multilayer textiles for thermal protection applications.
"The grounding of my research practice in craft and textile knowledge enables these incredible connections across disciplines, scales and applied content," Meakins said.
This research was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) award number 80NSSC22M0034 to the University of Kentucky. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
