Cellular
What is a cellular structure?
Cellular describes structures that are composed of cell units.
To a biologist, a cell is the basic structural/ functional unit of all known organisms.
A material scientist understands cellular materials to be characterised by a porous microstructure comprising of solid and void networks also known as foams.
A cell in this context is the smallest repeating unit within the structure. Cells can be closed units forming contained 3D structures or open forming a complex network of interconnected cells.
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Cellular structures in biology
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Cellular structures in textiles
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For a textile designer, cellular fabrics are constructed to have a close and orderly distribution of hollows or holes.
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Although most textiles are cellular materials by nature, the term is used to describe the introduction of voids at a scale range that is distinguishable via simple observation. Honeycomb is a type of woven structure that creates 3D cellular pocket across the surface of the fabric, the same is true of the honeycomb stitch in a knit structure.
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Lace making techniques teach us how to make textiles with holes, pulled or drawn thread embroidery introduce holes into finished woven textiles while dropping stitches introduces holes in knit.
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Additional embellishment techniques such as perforating, embossing, and printing can also result in 3D cellular structures or 2D textiles with regular holes.
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Cellular structures aid
Resource Efficiency
Resource Longevity
Consider the honeybee…
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The honeybee collects pollen from plants to convert into honey and wax for hive building. Wax is an expensive material for a honeybee; a gram of wax requires 26,430 flower visits.
Rather than waste the wax by building a solid mass the bees create a honeycomb which is a closed cell structure. This is created using the least possible amount of wax, optimising storage space and creating the best structural stability.