5th-year Directed Research Thesis Project
Corded Curves is Mia’s fifth-year research project that explores how iterative physical making can shape furniture-scale form through macrame. Starting with small-scale tests of knots, frame shapes, and structural systems, the project evolved into two full-scale prototypes. Drawing from 1960s design and macrame’s roots in the Counterculture and Arts & Crafts movements, the work integrates plywood framing, layered panels, and tensioned string to create responsive, body-conforming surfaces. The second prototype revealed the emotional and spatial potential of macrame, leading to Corded Space, a landscape-bound canopy that proves macrame’s ability to form occupiable environments.
Mia Petrillo 