Hand Loom Weaving: The Threading of Kairos and Phronesis

This article draws on a 2017 paper in TEXTILE which reports on a project on live coding and ancient weaving, entitled Weaving Codes/Coding Weaves (WC/CW). The 2017 paper introduces the concept of Kairos, which has widespread cultural and social applications. Kairos as articulated in WC/CW can illuminate practitioner knowledge and understanding in any creative practice. The article first discusses the research project and draws implications for other practices. The next section moves into the relevance of WC/CW to education, in its fundamental cultural role, and to teaching in particular. This leads to a discussion of the nature of practice. The last section draws out themes and implications, particularly on how Kairos might yield insights into the discussion of practice-based knowledge and understanding made by such thinkers as Dewey, Schön and Eraut. Kairos is a concept which together with Phronesis is particularly pertinent in the analysis of the epistemology of practice.