Graphic Design Computers

Paris was the European centre for Tapestry Art up until 1337, when the Hundred Year War drove many weavers north, to the south Netherlands. Although Tapestry production did continue, although not to such a scale as before, many of the Tapestries were destroyed. During this period, Tapestries would be taken into battle, they provided warmth and were also used as a display of wealth and status. However, if the noblemans army lost, his Tapestries were lost with him. Once the war had finally ended, in 1453, the Tapestry industry began to flourish once more. That was, until the French Revolution began in 1789. Once again, France was subjected to the turmoil of war, and during the revolution, many Tapestries were destroyed, to retrieve the precious threads they contained, or sold.

Shortly after, around 1804, there would also be a revolution within the Tapestry industry, thanks to the ingenuity of Joseph Marie Charles, known to his friends as Jacquard. Before the invention of his weaving machine, the Jacquard Loom, Tapestry Art was laborious. The Tapestries being painstakingly woven by hand. The Jacquard Loom used punch cards, which, ultimately, made the production of Tapestry Art faster and easier. Therefore, Tapestries became more affordable. Today, the basic principles of the Jacquard Loom continue to be used within the Tapestry Art industry. As you would expect, the machines of today are bigger and faster. However, they continue to be referred to as Jacquard Looms, and the weaving process itself is also known as, Jacquard Weaving.

The Jacquard Loom was the first to rely on controlled sequencing. Of course, there was no computation involved, as in the sense of the word, as we know it today. However, the computing punch cards, and the Jacquard Loom, are considered to be significant moves forward. With regards to the development of computer hardware and programming. As well as having a huge impact on the mass production of Tapestry Art. It was the concept behind the ability to alter the weave pattern, of the Tapestry, simply by swapping the cards, which acted as a catalyst, or conceptual precursor, for the creation of computer programming. The famous mathematician Charles Babbage, intended to use the controlled sequencing principle, of the Jacquard Loom punch cards, to store programs in what Babbage referred to as, his Analytical Engine. The Babbage Engine is considered to be the first ever computer, and was developed from 1837, right up until his death, in 1871. Most modern commercial Tapestry Art workshops use the Jacquard Loom and rely on computer technology, to transcribe original artworks, accurately, into Tapestry Art.

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