Transforming traditional craft techniques into contemporary design

Stepping inside the McLaughlin Library will look different this semester thanks to an exhibit installation of CrossCraft Pattern Systems, an ongoing research-creation project that explores how traditional craft techniques can be transformed into contemporary designs.

Highlighting the relationship between source and outcome

The exhibit includes a series of tufted rugs, alongside a handmade craft reference piece, like a quilt block or a macramé panel. “By pairing these objects, the exhibit shows how the logic within each craft practice can be carried across materials and reinterpreted in another form,” said Jennifer Marvin, librarian, Research & Scholarship, and maker of one of the craft squares. “At the core of the project is the idea that traditional crafts contain their own systems of repetition, structure, and pattern-making,” said Marvin.

Each rug in the series draws on the key pattern elements of a craft, including quilting, embroidery, knitting, and macramé. “When visitors compare the rug to its reference piece, they can clearly see how the design grows out of the underlying craft technique, providing an accessible introduction to craft processes and a way to understand how making can serve as a method of inquiry,” said Marvin.

Connecting makers from multiple Canadian institutions

CrossCraft Systems brought together researchers and makers from four Canadian institutions. Each created their own craft piece, which inspired the design of the rugs on display. Steven Pong, assistant professor in the School of Industrial Design, at Carleton University, and adjunct scientist, Kite Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, created the rugs, and led the project. “This work began as an exploration of craft as a method for investigating design-research questions, rather than simply producing finished artifacts,” said Pong. “Craft offers an inclusive way to engage people whose expertise is grounded in long-term making practices – knowledge that is essential to this kind of inquiry but is not typically centered in research settings. The work is intentionally open-ended, allowing it to grow through new collaborations, materials, and ways of using making to ask and answer questions.”

Pong was joined by Jennifer Johnson, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University; Iris Levine, KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network; Jennifer Marvin, McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph; and Mackenzie Wallich, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary.

The exhibit will be on display on the first floor of the McLaughlin Library for the duration of the Winter 2026 semester.

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