3. Circular Open Source Fashion¶
Research & Ideation¶
"This week was spent learning about modular and zero waste designs impact on the fashion industry. The project we were challanged with involved creating our own samples of tesselations and modular designs that were to be finalized and laser cut on a fabric of our choice."
"I am brand new to the world of coding, this is my first week learning, so as a refrence to my favorite student website I was inspired by Pauline Gamore's simple layout linked below."
* [Pauline Gamore](https://class.textile-academy.org/2020/pauline.gamore/assignments/week03/) _TextileLab Lyon 2019-20_
References & Inspiration¶
Tessellations
A tessellation is a shape that can be repeated endless times on a plane without making any gaps or overlaps. Many designers have played with this idea to create seamless garments. Examples and links are listed below of some of my favorite designers and artists who have explored this concept.
Kosuke Tsumura https://www.kosuketsumura.com/puzzle
Galya Rosenfeld http://www.galyarosenfeld.com/modular-series.html
Ensuk Hur https://www.eunsukhur.com/
- Image references:
Tools¶
- [2D/3D modelling Rhino3D](http://class.textile-academy.org)
Process and workflow¶
To create my module I started with some hand sketching on a piece of paper with a few different shapes. I cut them out and worked on how the male and female connectors (the negative and positive slits at the edge of the shape that allow for the module to stick together like a puzzle piece) would form a full plane of fabric together. After some trial and error I finally came up with a tessellation I was happy with because the shape produced zero waste. The tessellation reminded me a bit of a herringbone pattern, an arrowhead or a fish scale. It took time for me to find a way to connect them and finally I decided they would be brought together by the tips of the arrowhead and woven together by an additional piece of straight rectangular fabric to create a unique linear pattern on the back. Below is an example of my starting shape and the paper cut outs after being woven and pieced together.
Step¶
Rhino 3D
This was my first time experimenting and using the software Rhino 3D for a project. This software was used to digitally document our tessellations in order to transfer their data into a laser cutting machine.
Below are images of my notes and steps used to start creating shapes on Rhino 3D.
Attatched below is an image of what my pattern looked like for my seamless modular design on Rhino3D. I had created a 10x10 cut out for my main shape. The left and right female and male connectors bring the modules together from the sides while the upper and lower female cut outs are for the rectangular piece of fabric to be woven into to create the unique design effect and add to the strength of the fabric.
Step¶
Laser Cutting:
This project was also my first time using a laser cutter. Below are images of my step by step notes to using the machine.
The fabric that was used were left over samples of pink and gray Neoprene. After trying different settings on the fabric for Speed and Power, (120 speed +80 power, 120 speed + 60 power, 120 speed + 40 power) I found that 120 speed with 60 power were the perfect units to use on the fabric in order to not burn it but cut all the way through in a clean manner.
Step¶
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Final Swatch:
Finally after cutting all of my pieces out on the laser machine I was able to piece my modules together by hand. Below is the final result. After creating this swatch I realized the fabric was not very strong. In the future I would make the female connectors smaller in length and place them closer to the middle of the body on the module so that the male connectors had more to hold on to. All together I like the visual design of the front and back portions of the swatch and could see a stronger version of this fabric being used to create a fun jacket.
Assembly videos¶
learn how to add video of tutorials or time-lapse of the assembly, etc
From Vimeo¶
Sound Waves from George Gally (Radarboy) on Vimeo.