Nithikul Nimkulrat
Artists
Nithikul Nimkulrat
Textile Artist, Associate Professor of Material Art and Design
Faculty of Design, OCAD University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Statement
Since 2004, hand knotting has been the main technique for creating my textile artworks, all made of white paper string. The knotting process had always followed my intuition and/or a rough sketch until I encountered mathematical knot diagrams and knot theory in 2013. Since then the diagrammatic method has been adopted to my practice so that I am able to create two-tone knotted paper sculptures and various forms of knotted textiles using other materials than paper string.
Artworks
Black & White Striped Knots
50 x 80 x 20 cm
paper string, hand knotting
2015
Through the application of the characteristics of mathematical knot diagrams (e.g., broken lines depicting strands’ positions), two new knot patterns have emerged, showing a possibility of using more than one strand color to create two-tone knot patterns. The use of color in the diagram makes explicit the positions and roles of strands in a knotted structure, and leads to an exploration of knotted pattern designs that may not have occurred otherwise. This work shows one of the two knot patterns that emerged in this process.