Retro by Means or by Ends?

I have been thinking about "retro technology" and thinking about what that means to my art. As a weaver who works almost exclusively doing hand pick up, my technology is ancient. More ancient than the oldest letterpress out there.
Looms haven't changed much over the years.

My own loom was made by LeClerc sometime around the 1930's but LeClerc came up with this particular loom design about 125 years ago.

I'm wondering how retro applies to my own life and experience. If an NES console is "retro" because it carries childhood memories and is from the recent past, where on the spectrum is a loom? I can't imagine that there are any new weave structures out there to be discovered, so by using say, "Gothic Cross" threading am I necessarily referencing the time period that created that particular weave? Does it depend more on how I use it?

I think that the ends are more important than the means when it comes to "retro," but it is the means that influenced my decision to use the loom as a drawing tool. I love the slowness of it. The contemplation involved. The initial planing that devolves into spontaneity with each shot of weft. The finished product, no doubt influenced by the likes of Lenore Tawney, Anni Albers and countless others, occupies it's own territory, but I wouldn't say it is deviant.

I am still trying to work out the meaning of this word. I usually find that finding ways to apply what I am learning to my previous experience helps to illuminate things for me, but it this case it seems to be bringing up more confusion. Is it simpler than I am allowing it to be?