When our cars become textiles

Textiles are of all the revolutions but we too often forget it. Because they are in the very grain of our lives, we take them for granted, so much so that their presence remains most of the time invisible to our minds. But even architects claim it now: tomorrow will be textiles or would not be. The new concept car by BMW, GINA Light Visionary Model, highly illustrates this societal shift toward a textilisation of our everyday. Traditionnally speaking, nothing seems more distant than textiles and the automotive industry, -at the most, fabrics are used as upholstery within the car interior-. But even the car, one of this fabulous icon of masculinity is looking for textiles: this two-seater concept car by BMW left his metallic skin for a a more flexible, virtually seamless one made of a textile fabric and stretched over a metal wire structure enforced with carbon fiber. This gives the owner the flexibility to change the shape of the car, from within and without, all with the touch of a button. It might take a while for this kind of concept to hit our everyday road but it emphasizes how much the 21st century is about a new textile revolution.

Check the video at http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2008/06/12/bmw-s-shape-shifting-car/?tag=mncol;txt