Dr Melanie Miller
Mechanical Drawing - the schiffli project
The schiffli machine is a unique, 100 year old multi-needle machine that stitches repeat patterns or images across a piece of cloth. Manchester School of Art at MMU currently houses the last working schiffli machine in the UK. In order to highlight the creative possibilities of this machine I curated an exhibition of work created on this machine by 15 practitioners: Rowena Ardern, Jill Boyes, Nigel Cheney, Isabel Dibden Wright, Stephen Dixon, Nina Edge, Kate Egan, Rozanne Hawksley, Alice Kettle, Jane McKeating, Melanie Miller, Susan Platt, Sally Morfill, Lynn Setterington, Alison Welsh.The exhibition opened at MMU in November 2007; during 2008 it is touring to The Hub, Sleaford; Farfield Mill, Sedbergh; Macclesfield Silk Museum; and will be exhibited as part of the Knitting and Stitching show at Birmingham, London and Harrogate.
Essentially the images are created on the machine by the use of a pantograph, so the process of using the machine can be seen as a drawing process. Drawing is fundamental to the creative practice of many different art and design disciplines, and the development of a body of work by a range of practitioners invites systematic analysis.
The exhibition has been fully documented in a catalogue 'Mechanical Drawing - the schiffli project', accompanied by a DVD of the machine in operation.
The project was supported by the Arts Council, MIRIAD and the Department of Design at MMU.
Further information, including a link to a video of the schiffli machine in operation, can be found on the website www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/schiffli
 11-11-3 detail of work in progress |
 The Last Schiffli - work in progress |
 Jeans, baseball cap, sweatshirt, jeans, baseball cap, sweatshirt - detail |
 Jeans, baseball cap, sweatshirt, jeans, baseball cap, sweatshirt - detail of work in progress on the schiffli machin |
 11-11-3 detail |
 'The Last Schiffli' detail |
 Schiffli pantograph arm, paper draft of 'The Last Schiffli' |