Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - The Looming Loom

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

Conan talks to Julia from Ithaca, NY about weaving with a loom, big-name weaving celebrities, and engineering textiles for biomedical devices. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: teamcoco.com/apply

Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Wanna talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan. Okay, let's get started. Hello. Hi, Julia, welcome. Oh my God. Oh, hello, Julia.

How are you? Hi, this is crazy. I'm freaking out a little bit. No, I think we're the ones experiencing the craziness because we can see you, for anyone listening right now, we actually, we the craziness because we can see you. For anyone listening right now, we actually have a screen and we can see what's behind you. And are those looms behind you?

There's a massive, massive wooden loom behind you that looks like it could be 800 years old. It's literally looming. Yeah, it's looming. Thank you. I think that's where looming comes from. It must be. Yeah. So what's going on, thank you. I think that's where looming comes from. I appreciate that. It must be.

Yeah, so what's going on, Julio? Who are you, where are you, why are you, and when are you? Hello. Where are you coming from? My name is Julio. I'm calling from Ithaca, New York, which is kind of random. I moved here from LA, and I have this studio, and I actually have two looms

behind me, so it's two big looms that are looming right now. Okay, it's funny because I know so little about looms that it just looks like one giant loom. I can't see where one loom starts and the other one begins but it's very impressive and very cool looking. Thank you, yeah, I'm a little obsessive about weaving. I love weaving, which is kind of insane. It's very, it's a lot of equipment though that you need on this level. Okay, let me ask a couple of

questions quickly. So you use the loom, you're, what would you call yourself? You wouldn't say I'm a weaver. What would you call yourself? I't say I'm a weaver. What would you call yourself? I would say I'm a weaver. Okay, all right. I didn't know if you preferred textile technician. I just don't know what terms you prefer and I wanna use the term you prefer.

Yeah, I think weaver is a good term. I would introduce myself as hello, I'm a weaver. Okay. I think a textile technician is more so, because I'm also a textile engineer in my day-to-day normal life. And the technicians are the ones that operate kind of big machines. I do that too. Got it. You do that as well. But this is more, this is more of you in your hobby phase, would you say, because you've got this giant loom behind you

that looks very old school. You're wearing a very beautiful, colorful scarf, I believe, or a blanket. Yeah, a little. Yeah, or poncho, I don't know exactly what it is, but it looks gorgeous. Did you make that? Yeah, I did, thank you.

Yeah, it's a blanket. It's my cozy blanket, it's kind of cold in here. So I got this on, but yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a hobbyist either. I went to school for weaving, for textiles, and I am very, very obsessed about textiles. If I could be successful in this, then this would be my life.

And I wouldn't need the day thing. Well, I think when you describe yourself as obsessed, that is the key to being really good at something. I would hope so. Yeah, so the fact that you're obsessed with weaving probably means you are pretty good at it. And I don't even know, I don't even, I can't even begin to know what goes into setting up a loom

because they look impossibly complicated. The loom behind you, just the idea that you would know how to put the different, you use yarn, is that correct? Okay, see, I know some things. You use different colored yarns and then you have to figure out how they interlock using the loom, is that right? That's the most fun part.

That part is what gets my brain just like so happy. But what's really cool about weaving is that weaving is actually the origin of modern computing. What? What? Yeah, it's so- You can watch pornography on a loom? Oh, Jesus.

Well, I'm sorry. Is there another use for a computer or a loom? Many times I've seen a loom and I've tried. What's going on? And then I get frustrated. This isn't sexy. I'm sorry, Julia, you seem like a cool person and I totally flew this thing into the gutter immediately.

And I not only apologize to you, I apologize to the weaving community and everyone in textiles. Yes. But- We'll accept it. Okay, so what do you mean the loom is the beginning of the computer?

So you, in what you're talking about, how the threads interlock with each other, you either are lifting the thread or lowering the thread, one or zero. So it's binary. Binary. Yeah, the punch card system was invented by a weaver. Actually have this thing right there is essentially a punch card. And this modern technology computing was invented

from the operation of weaving. That's, I mean, I did not know that and it makes perfect sense. It's binary, it's this or that. And then you need a menu, you need something to tell you what the sequence is And you work off of that and I didn't know that the punch card which basically was what I you know when I was a kid You know on the time I'm being born

63 64 65 all computers work off of a punch card until we move beyond that but that's amazing. Yeah, it's so cool I'm like I'm just so obsessed with it. I've been really focused because I'm also, I have a solo show opening in a week from now. So I've just been in here every day, weaving. Oh, let's go. Making fabric. Is it gonna be in Ithaca?

Yeah, you're welcome to come. It is gonna be in Ithaca, yeah. If we get in a car and start now. Oh, we're gonna drive seven days, the three of us. Seven days? What are you talking, that's not seven. That's not seven days. When I drove from LA to Ithaca, it took seven days.

I've done coast to coast in three. No. What? I didn't sleep. I was by myself. I was like 20 something, I was insane. That's crazy. I was a crazy person.

And I talked to myself the whole time. You were by yourself? I was by myself. Oh my God. Yeah, and there were some crimes committed along the route which have never been solved. But okay, so, okay, three was a little much. I'm gonna say it was four.

Oh, okay. It's still not, I drove slow. Oh. Might've been five. You guys are all being too conciliatory here. Just stick to your original not... I drove slow. Oh. Might have been five. You guys are all being too conciliatory here. Just stick to your original stories. I know. I know. We're losing the drama.

Okay. I did it in two days. Okay, that's better. That's better. I did 110 miles an hour, and I hauled illegal beer across state lines as I was being chased by Smokey. You know, you got my number. You bet I do. As played by Smokey, of course,

played by Jackie Gleason. Anyway, Julia, I'm taking you down a bad road You bet I do. As played by Smokey, of course, played by Jackie Gleason. Anyway, Julia, I'm taking you down a bad road and I apologize. You have a show coming up. Is it a competition? Do you have to beat other people? You seem like you'd be very competitive about weaving. You think, is there competitive looming?

I bet there is. Well, actually, yeah, there is, but I wouldn't say my show is competitive. My show is like an art art show I went to I went to art school for weaving so I've been doing that but there are Competitive weaving actually there is a sheep and wool festival where every year they have a sheep to shawl Competition of how fast you can shear sheep, get the wool, spin the yarn, make a shawl.

What? Does anyone ever win really quickly, but then they realize that the sheep is pretty much just wrapped around the person's neck? They just- They didn't fully shear it? They kind of half sheared it, and then this thing, then they'll, and meh, meh. Quiet, quiet, we almost won.

Is there juicing in looming competitions? Yeah, can you juice? Can you inject yourself with something that makes you operate the loom so much faster? Yeah. I don't know, that's a really good question. Do they drug test in looming competitions? I can't answer that question.

Oh, someone sounds pretty guilty. I hope not, she's thinking. Yeah, you know what I noticed? I mean, well, here's the thing. My loom actually, the one in the back has a computer attached to it. So my loom actually is faster than that of the normal weaver. That's okay, that's all right.

Where and when is this sheep to shawl thing? We gotta go. I wanna go, and by we gotta go, I don't think we're going, but when is it? When is the sheep to shawls? So I'll make sure that we're not there. Well, I actually think there are several around the country, but the biggest sheep

and wool festival is in Rhinebeck, New York. I know Rhinebeck, they have an air show. They have an air show there. Well they also have the Sheep and Wolf Festival there. Hey! Is this ever aired on like ESPN 18? ESPN, ESPN 77. Be cool if it did, maybe PBS.

So. Honestly. Let's not be mean now. Or CNN. Don't be mean now. Or CNN. ["The Daily Show Theme"] Hey, so Julia, you get to figure out patterns that you then make into the finished product, right?

Can you work like codes and stuff in there? Can you put secret messages into? Oh my God, yeah. Right? Look at her eyes. I know, that is. She clearly has. East little Easter eggs. Yeah.

So you can put little things in there because I would think if basically what you're making is the result of a program, this binary program. So using different colors, you can probably put subliminal messages into the scarves that you make. Yeah. Well, I don't make scarves, but yeah. Okay. All right. So is the subliminal message you put in there, scarves suck? This is not a scarf.

This is not a scarf? Okay. Well, yes, I've made one scarf, but you can actually. I mean, I was actually thinking about that the other day, of like how could I take a coded message and somehow like translate it through the code of my loom and make something with it? I would love, yeah. Definitely possible. Something that maybe promoted our podcast subliminally. No, no.

No, that's a good idea. No, a blank. Translate it into one to zero. Yeah, and then look, these things last forever. These things get passed on from generation to generation. Right? I mean, theoretically, this could be around hundreds of years from now and someone finds it and for some reason they're just like,

I really need to check out this, you know, Conan O'Brien needs a fan. And it's just because they've inherited this sweater that's been passed down for hundreds of years, and it has this faint message. What do you think? I could try. I'd be down for the challenge. There are so many better things. Julia, I'm going to need you to calm down.

You're way too giddy. You're way too pumped up. Loomers are fucking crazy, these guys. They are. Dude, it's a badass world. See? All the weavers I know are pretty badass. Do you ever talk shit about other weavers?

Well, I mean, I try to be a good person. I know, I know. Weave it into the coat of your scarf. Is it a small community? Is this weaving community small? Do you guys all know each other? I would say it's larger than people think it is. Like, there are a lot more weavers out there than you think.

Can I say something? Yeah, you make it sound like, we're out there. Yeah. Anyone you know could be. Eduardo's over there. He has a little loom underneath the table, and he's looming right now. He's weaving and looming.

Secret sign. But Julia, this fascinates me because I think you can't escape it in any profession. And I'm not asking you to name names or anything, but I'm asking you to confirm my suspicion that even you, this lovely, gentle, intelligent weaver, sometimes you see another weaver walking down the street and you're like, heck.

Yeah. I saw that serape they made. Yes. Yeah. It's called bullshit. Sell out. Sell out, you know, oh yeah, checks. We haven't seen checks in a while.

Nice. Oh yeah, the old double drop loop. Like that hasn't been done. Did I just make something up with a double drop loop? Actually, there is double weave. Yes! No, that's not what you said. You said double drop.

She's trying to make you feel better about yourself. You've got one word that's commonly used in any industry. I see. You're right. I wonder if there's those weavers who walk into a room and people are like, oh shit, that guy's here. Who is the shit in your energy and in your industry? And Julia, it might be you.

Right. And be honest, if it's you, you can say. You can say. Okay, so I did go to digital weaving conference last year and there are some weavers that walked in and I was like, holy shit, that's crazy. Like they're here, this person's here. That's Mortimer Chillings.

That's Mortimer Chillings. I would say I'm working towards that status. I think you're getting there. I'm really trying. I think you're getting there fast. And actually, I think this interview is going to give you a little nudge. Yeah, do you have like a big social media presence with your weaving and stuff? Yeah, where can we see it?

I'm trying. It's U-L-I-A-K-W, it's my Instagram. But I mean, I'm really just trying to like, yeah, I think that when it comes to the competitive part, I am pretty competitive. Good, I can sense that. I want to make fabric. I wanna make fabric that the best weaver

that I could imagine wouldn't be able to figure out how I made the fabric. So you want the best weaver, let's say the Oppenheimer of weavers. This Mortimer guy you're talking about. Mortimer. Mortimer Chillings. You want him, you want to make something where Mortimer, Mort to his fans, Mort Chillings comes in,

and you've made it, and he picks it up, and he's like, what? Impossible. But how? Yeah. and he picks it up and he's like, what? Impossible. But how? I don't see the... It's switching from double, triple, half stitch to multi drop stitch within two parsecs.

Is that... You want to do that, right? Yeah, I kind of do. It's like a little embarrassing because I want to support people weaving, but then I also want to do that, right? Yeah, I kinda do. It's like a little embarrassing because I want to support people leaving, but then I also want to be like, four harnesses, okay. You can support and be the best at the same time.

Julia, there is nothing wrong with a burning ambition to be the very best at what you do and to blow people away and be it. There's nothing wrong with that. That is the fuel. It should ruin all your relationships and leave a scorched-earth policy. Yes.

I'm a very lonely man in many ways, but I wouldn't change a thing. Because when it comes to dancing like I have invisible strings on my hips in a monologue, I'm the king. King of the world, boss. You did it. Best there ever was, boss.

Yeah, the goat of acting stupid. Hey, Julia, you said that you also... So this is just your... What's your day job? What's your problem? My problem is... I don't really know. Uh... You know what I got thrown by?

As I was asking this question, the red light went on. And I was like, oh, I'm asking a question when the red light went on. And it threw me. And I'll admit it. And you know what? This is me. You can leave it in. I know you like to make me look like a fool.

But that's what happened. I appreciate your honesty. It's nice to see the human side of you, you know? Well, or if you like to make me look like a fool. But that's what happens. I appreciate your honesty. It's nice to see the human side of you. Well, or if you're from upstate New York, human. Why? Julia, there are other applications for your weaving that I'm told that you use. In the scientific community, what would that be?

Yes. So I am a textile engineer for biomedical implantable textile devices. I don't even know what that is. Oh my God. Like, um, you put a sweat, you put a sweater around my heart. Get this man, put the, put a cardigan over this

man's heart stat. A sweater over your heart. You are human. I am human. Yeah. Yeah. But like actually though, like stents, heart valves, bone tethers, meshes, all of that. There's all sorts of like, there's a heart valve that like knitted fabric actually helps kind of accept cells that need to like stabilize

the medical device in your body. And woven fabric really helps to kind of like, if you know, you have a, what is it, the abdominal aortic aneurysm, if you got too much cholesterol or whatever, and you have a vent in your heart, the woven fabric prevents the blood from getting stuck on the walls of the. So my question is, what are you using?

You're obviously not using yarn. That's not gonna go very well in there. But what can you use that the body won't reject? We do use yarn. It's just different yarn. It's not like wool or cotton. A lot of times it's polyester actually. See, polyester is back.

It's cool. It doesn't wrinkle. I like it when my heart valve doesn't wrinkle. Yeah. Straight out of the dryer. Yeah, I can, and stains just brush off. Oh my God.

I like when my stents just as easily cleaned. Julia, you're an impressive person. Yeah. You are. It's very cool that you know how to do all this. And I do not think you should feel any reservation about being competitive and wanting to be the badass weaver in the United States of America first and then the world.

That should be your goal, okay? Okay. And do we know how to check out? I do wanna check out your work. Yeah, we got your Instagram handle. Do you wanna say it one more time? Yeah, say it one more time so people listening can check it out.

Thank you all. My Instagram handle is at ULIAKW. Very cool. I'm gonna check out your stuff. There's probably a lot of photographs there of things. And do you ever sell stuff? I do, yeah. Most of the stuff in my show is gonna be for sale.

Well, you're about to get the Conan bump. Yeah, Conan bump. And I'm in my show is gonna be for sale. Well, you're about to get the Conan bump. Yeah, Conan bump. And I'm gonna buy a bone tether from you. I want a heart sweater. Well, maybe one day you'll need it and then you'll know what you need. All right, let's not be so giddy about it, Julia.

Man, Julia lit up. Hey, you're gonna eat one pretty soon, old man. There's that competitive spirit. There it is. Oh, oh, you don't think you're gonna eat one soon? You look like a guy that's gonna have a massive hemorrhage soon. If anyone's brain is gonna blow, it's me. So yeah, I need a tight, a knit weave around my skull

just to keep it all intact. But Julia, very cool what you're doing. I really like it. And I mean, it's neat that you're an artist and a craftsperson, but you're also working in the medical community. That's a neat, you've pulled off a pretty cool career, I think, you should be proud of yourself.

Thanks, yeah, it's a little weird. Like I went to art school, I did not study engineering, so it was a lot to learn. None of us take necessarily a logical path, I sure didn't, but we figured it out eventually, and eventually I will figure it out. Julia, thank you so much and take care of yourself and good luck at your show.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian and Matt Gourley.

Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Nick Leow and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer

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