Photography by Jerry Burns T he link between computer technology and loom technology dates back to the 1830s, when Charles Babbage invented the Analytical Machine. Although never built, this machine is generally considered the first computer and was designed to operate according to the principles of the jacquard loom. Today, computers and textile design are coming together in imaginative ways. New software generates patterns automatically, creates instructions for weaving and even simulates the look of fabric. But some of the most imaginative work is happening in the studio of Jhane Barnes.
Barnes has two mathematicians on staff who write the programs.
Bill Jones is an applied mathematician with whom Barnes has been working since they met in 1993. Dana Cartwright is a computer scientist who, along with Jones, directed computing for 23 years at Syracuse University. Then, from the computer, Barnes can print out a pattern on paper, create a swatch off a small-scale loom that is in studio or generate a series of instructions for a jacquard loom. All this from someone whose worst subject in high school was math. But I loved it.