From Tradition to Innovation: The Application of Ancient Wood Plank Stitching Techniques in Contemporary Product Design

Stitching techniques are primarily used to join flexible materials and are widely employed in apparel manufacturing and surgical practice. By contrast, joints between rigid materials typically rely on mature processes such as welding, riveting, and adhesive bonding. Nevertheless, stitching between rigid materials offers distinctive advantages, including the ability to conform to curved surfaces, to enable airflow through interfacial gaps, and to preserve a controlled degree of relative movement between components; it continues to be used in certain specialized domains. Research on this topic remains limited in both academic and industrial contexts. Drawing on historical sources in shipbuilding, this paper examines sewn-plank construction, in which natural-fiber cordage is used to stitch planks to form a hull, and analyzes its processes, performance characteristics, and scope of application. It investigates applications of stitching techniques for rigid-material joints in modern design, integrating current industrial capabilities with recent advances in materials and technologies. Guided by these insights, a design experiment was conducted using a computer-generated Voronoi diagram to define panel geometries, resulting in a bespoke stitched handbag. The research process and outcomes indicate that, amid rapid advances in materials and fiber technologies, ancient sewn-plank techniques continue to offer valuable inspiration for contemporary design innovation.