Lounging around in a rocking chair for an hour or two might make you feel lazy – but what if, as you were rocking, you were actually a low-tech, one-person hat knitting factory? Rocking-Knit by Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex modifies a rocking chair to offer “productive moments of relaxation.”
The rocking motion of the chair causes gears to turn, pulling yarn from a spool at the base up into the top area where it’s slowly knitted into a red beanie cap. Over time the knitted creation begins to drop down toward the user’s face.
ECAL Low-Tech Factory/Rocking-Knit from ECAL on Vimeo.
The machine is currently being shown in the Ruckstuhl Building as part of the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL) Low-Tech Factory exhibition in Langenthal, Switzerland. The theme requires students to reinterpret the idea of the manufacturing process.
Other devices on display include ‘Oncle Sam’, a machine that processes grains of popcorn one at a time so you can enjoy the spectacle, and ‘Swing’, a punch that cuts designs into a tarp with the movement of the user.
