3. Circular Open Source Fashion¶
Research & Ideation¶
For this week´s assignment I was inspired by various artworks thast work with modules and resemble different nature features. I wanted to take a closer look to some of the artpieces and really understand how this new way of creating works. My main goal was to create a piece of garment that could resemble the nature by using shilouettes that have an organic design. To achieve this kind of project I collected some artwork that could inspire me.
Tools¶
Modules¶
The week started with the investigation on previous works made by Fabricademy alumni in the Basque BioDesign Center. Being able to take a closer look to other projects really helped undesrtand the operation of this assignment. Both my instructors taught and explained us how they approached this project, which was really helpful.
Designing my modules¶
When it came to designing my modules I did not have any clear idea on how to start. So, I started drawing on a piece of paper different shapes. I began by creating floral patterns and organic lines, which was my main inspiration. I folded a piece of paper on four and just cut off a little sketch I had previously made.
I really liked how this form I had just created was looking so I decided to digitalize it and started working on it. I created the first digital versio of it and started a new pattern. Repeating it I found in the negative space another module that could possibly work with together with the initial one. I designed some holes and possible ways of interlocking them and I took it to the laser cutter.
Material: Paper
Thickness: 0,5 mm
CUT
Speed: 600
Min. power: 28
Max. power: 30
After that first attempt, I continued to keep working on Illustrator. I kept changing the size of the holes and how the two modules interlocked.
When I got the perfect match I started combining my modules in different ways, trying to get new forms I could later apply. I found out I could create two different flowers and a new module that could be used for creating a 3D piece.
Preparing materials¶
Felt¶
Thanks to one of my amazing Fabricademy partners, Ailin Sandlien, this week I have had the opportunity to make felt with my own hands. My partner has been workinf this technique several years and she was thrilled to teach us how to make this material form scratch. With just a few materials we were able to make our own textile.
Since we had created this amazing material, I was excited to use it for my assignment. I prepared my document and started with the laser cutter. The result was pretty good and the textile did not get burnt or left any residue.
Material: Handmade felp
Thickness: 8 mm
CUT
Speed: 400
Min. power: 33
Max. power: 35
Unfortunately, this material does not work really good with my modules, The holes are too small for the thickness of the material. What's more, when trying to interlock the modules, the felp jjust starts to fall apart.
Biomaterial¶
As an alternative, my amazing instructor, Paula Franco and I decided to create another material whcho could work with my modules. We prepared a biomaterial based on the eggshell and prepared everything for our recipe.
This biomaterial turned out to work really good. You can check the results on my Final Project.
Final project¶
Garment design¶
The work with modules really reminded me of the pieces the knights used to carry for war, so I made a research on how I could transform that idea into a piece of garment. I found various headpieces made with chains that I found really fascinating. Inspired by these ideas I designed a headpiece that later on I created using some biomaterials.
Document preparation¶
To prepare my document for the laser cutter I had to make a little sketch and try to understand how the garment would fit. I assembled a small piece using some of the felp I had worked on before to get an idea of the proportions. With all data collected I prepared my document.
You can download the document by clicking here
Laser cutting¶
Material: Biomaterial
Thickness: 4 mm
CUT
Speed: 70
Min. power: 30
Max. power: 33
DOUBLE PASS
Assembling¶
Final result¶
I want to add a few comments on the final result. The work with this material was pretty complex. The modules resisted all sorts of pulls and stretches and this kind of module admitted the work with this kind of material. However, the result I was looking for didn´t work as I expected. All in all, I learned a lot with this assignment.