RESEARCH · 03 HERITAGE LOGIC

Latent Heritage:
Industrial Muse

An instrumented AI pipeline for transferring Chinese craft logic into new design directions.

StatusOngoing international collaboration

InstitutionsDonghua University × HAW Hamburg

My roleLoRA training · ComfyUI workflows · Generation runs · Method development

CollaboratorsProf. Peter Kabel — HAW Hamburg
Aimee Zhang — Donghua University

Generated design direction.

Craft source.

Research thesis

Transfer functional logic—not decorative motif.

Research question

What new design possibilities emerge when AI learns how Chinese crafts work—not merely how they look?

Latent Heritage studies around thirty Chinese crafts—from bamboo weaving to Miao silverwork—as operational grammars: folding, weaving, locking and suspension. These principles enter an AI image system through four controlled channels—material, structure, form and language—to produce unfamiliar designs without decorative clichés. Every source image, dataset and generation run remains traceable, grounding experimentation in provenance and respect for craft communities.

01 · Knowledge foundation

A governed corpus turns cultural provenance into part of the research method.

2,170+corpus images ingested

30crafts catalogued by functional logic

8+LoRA training runs across four craft instruments

24versioned grammar sketch sheets

Team-level evidence.

Each image carries source, licence and provenance records. Each new craft follows the same route: corpus → curated set → LoRA + grammar maps → registered runs.

02 · Generation architecture

Four controlled channels assign different responsibilities inside one generation run.

Miao batik material channel reference — Trained LoRA carries material signature, relief and grounding.

Open weaving grammar sketch for structure channel — Grammar sketch + ControlNet carries construction logic.

Target silhouette for form channel — Target silhouette or depth constrains object form.

04 · Prompt · Live input

{ material,
structure,
form, object,
context, intent }

A structured concept brief binds the roles without pretending that text alone is the pipeline.

03 · Controlled evidence

Same seed, same brief—the instruments reveal what actually changes.

Vehicle generation with LoRA switched off — LoRA off · a lattice sits on the panel.

Vehicle generation with bamboo LoRA switched on — LoRA on · lashed joints and load paths shape the object.

The comparison asks whether the model merely applies a surface pattern or begins to reorganise the object through a craft-derived logic.

Seed-locked ablations, strength ladders and material swaps keep the change attributable and inspectable.

Miao embroidery LoRA generation — Miao embroidery · material-heavy.

Miao batik LoRA generation — Miao batik · emergent form.

Bamboo structure transferred to stainless steel — Bamboo → steel · structure-heavy.

04 · First end-to-end run

A first test of material, structure and prompt together—not yet a proof.

Dense vertical weaving structure map — Flat Herringbone weave grammar.

Open vertical weaving structure map — Pre-projected Herringbone weave grammar.

Radial weaving structure map — Pre-projected Radial grammar.

Baseline basket with structure map switched off — Map off · baseline.

Generation with a flat grammar map — Flat map · pattern remains planar.

Generation with a pre-projected grammar map — Pre-projected map · structure bends around the wall.

Generated tray using pre-projected structure map — On the tray, structure begins to build the object.

05 · Traceability infrastructure

Every source, dataset and generation run remains inspectable.

Latent Heritage generation system and visual generation register — The research system connects four input channels, generation, provenance-aware storage, internal review and a controlled external layer.

Internal Latent Heritage source database and dataset export interface — **Source database.** Records provenance and usage permission, generates training annotations and exports datasets. Internal access while the research is ongoing.

Internal experiment gallery showing parameters, comparison matrices and generation records — **Experiment register.** Connects parameters, inputs, outputs and findings for every formal run. Internal access while the research is ongoing.

Selection of Latent Heritage experiments across garments, lighting, furniture and spatial design — A curated cross-domain field of current experiments; selected here as evidence of transfer rather than as a complete gallery.

Research boundary and next phase

Novelty remains human, governed and culturally situated.

The project is non-commercial research. Publication-grade or commercial reuse requires renewed licence review, and minority-craft work requires cultural-advisory participation rather than technical validation alone.

Next: complete structure and form channels, conduct Chinese–Western reception research, develop pairwise human curation and formalise cultural-advisory review.