In\asense¶
what is the concept¶
This project aims to expand the five senses within the fashion industry by creating an interactive relationship between the garments, the person wearing them and even those around them.
The goal is to design two looks, each consisting of multiple garments and/or accessories that complement each other in translating two sensory experiences of an anonymous participant. This participant volunteered for the project, allowing me to work with a perspective and life experience different from my own.
These sensory experiences are represented on a graph inspired by Jinsop Lee's TED talk, "Design for All 5 Senses", where an experience can be evaluated through the five senses—sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste.
(left to right) Jinsop Lee's The 5 Senses Graph / Adapted graph and questionnaire example by me
To gather more detailed data, I included a small questionnaire that allowed the participant to answer deeper questions about their experience. One of the most important questions was, "Can you describe and adjectivize the most dominant sense you felt during the experience?" This question helps me filter the data in a more personal and tangible way, enabling me to translate those feelings and sensory responses into interactions or forms.
Once the garments are fabricated, the plan is to host a gathering of friends and colleagues, offering them the opportunity to share their sensory experiences when interacting with the garments. Using Jinsop Lee’s “5 Senses Graph,” the same tool used by the anonymous participant to evaluate their experiences that inspired the creation of these garments, attendees will fill out the graph themselves. The objective of this data collection is to explore how individuals from diverse backgrounds and regions perceive and engage with the final sensory garments.
material catalog
The concept also includes the creation of a catalog that showcases all the textiles explored throughout the fabrication process, highlighting the research conducted in addition to the primary focus on the sensory aspect. The materiality plays a crucial role in the project, fostering more sustainable practices, honoring the resources nature provides, and merging craftsmanship with technology.
short fashion film
Collaborations are integral to this project, including a short fashion film produced by dissecadu, with sound produced by unpsii. In this film, the relationship between the garments and the sensory experience is conveyed through a surrealist narrative, focusing on subtle details that further emphasize this union, as a whole. The film also aims to illustrate the connection between the two looks, which stem from the same personal perspective and background, creating a sense of harmony in their interrelationship.
why (context)¶
The senses emerged as a compelling area of research for me midway through the Fabricademy program. Immersed in a whirlwind of assignments, adapting to life in a different country, and engaging with cultures and processes vastly different from what I was accustomed to, I found myself in a state of constant overstimulation. Particularly in the early stages of new experiences, heightened awareness takes over—you notice the intricate details of your surroundings, smells become sharper, sounds more pronounced, and all your senses feel amplified. This heightened sensitivity naturally led me to reflect more deeply on the role of the senses.
How do sensory experiences shape our perception? Conversely, how does our perception influence the way we process sensory input?
These questions fueled my curiosity, but they also posed a challenge: How could I translate such ephemeral emotions and sensory experiences into garments? Fashion is inherently universal, a medium through which everyone can find self-expression and identity. Much like our senses, fashion serves as both a personal statement and a tool for interpreting the world around us. It is a deeply individual experience, seen differently by everyone.
Exploring interactive methods of expressing these ideas feels like an exciting way to delve deeper into this subject and make it open source. By designing garments that evoke unconscious and conscious emotions, I aim to create sensory experiences that transcend the traditional boundaries of fashion, inviting people to engage with their feelings and perceptions in new, meaningful ways.
With this project, I aim to advocate for alternative processes in the textile industry by exploring innovative approaches, such as grown, bio-based, and organic materials. This involves researching and developing new methods to integrate sound, scents, and textures into textiles, blending advanced technology with traditional craftsmanship to create a more sustainable and sensory-rich future for fashion.
inspiration¶
References and useful links:
smell¶
REMINIscent by Pallavi Padukone.
Reinterpreting the fragrance industry, Reminiscent is an experimental sensorial collection that uses natural ways to integrate and infuse scents into handmade textiles through weaving, embroidery, and fragrant embellishments.
The sense of smell is a powerful catalyst to trigger memories and feelings of calm and comfort. Reminiscent explores the concept of scents for wellness and how fragrances can be expressed visually through color, patterns, and textures. It is a system of using textiles as aromatherapy to condense time and distance and create an immersive experience to reconnect with nature, nostalgia, home, and identity.
- Jasmine I - 52" x 34" - Embroidery (Silk, jasmine-scented cotton dyed with beetroot, indigo, and turmeric).
- Rose - Handwoven (Pre-dyed handspun recycled sari silk and rose scented wax beads dyed with beetroot, hibiscus, chili and cutch)
- Jasmine II - 41” x 44” (Un dyed silk organza, jasmine buds/ Accessible pockets to replace buds).
Herbal Kneipp Textiles by Alexandra Stück, on Dutch Design Week 2014.
Inspired by the alternative therapies developed by 19th century German monk Sebastian Kneipp, Stück worked with five scents that are claimed to have certain health benefits: germanium and valerian root to provide comfort and strength after psychological trauma, lemon balm to balance the cardiac cycle, peppermint to promote concentration and focus, pine for blood pressure and rosemary to restore libido and sexual function.
"The scent molecules reach your olfactory organ and create a certain instruction in the brain, like, decrease stress, increase concentration, lower blood pressure, balance the cardiac cycle, depending on each plant and its remedies," Stück told Dezeen.
Taking the essential oils from each plant, she developed a liquid "scent dye" that can be hand-washed into natural linen and fixed for up to six months by ironing the fabric.
"The textiles are organic linens so they're not coated or chemically processed. I rubbed them to make them shiny and have a nice finish, but I didn't use any chemicals, so they still have the ability to open up in warm water – something linen does naturally. Both the scents and the fabric originate from plants so they work together."
BreaZea room divider created from scented bioplastic by Design studios Crafting Plastics and Office MMK.
"We were wondering, together with the German architect Moritz Maria Karl of Office MMK, how to bring a new identity to bioplastics, since normally you perceive these materials through their visuality and structure, not through their smell."
The bioplastic used for BreaZea is made from cornstarch and sugar and when it's heated up, it has a "starchy, sweet, baking-bread like smell" which the studio says is unique for starch and sugar-based biopolymer blends.
To create the scented room divider, the studio is experimenting with both oil-based and water-based scents, which are added either to the bioplastic material itself before it it is 3D-printed or to the finished product.
"We're 3D-printing it and putting the scent onto the finished material, while another option is to encapsulate scents into the material," Kubušová said.
sound¶
Real-Time Soundscapes Using Soft Interfaces for Dung Dkar Cloak project.
Interactive installation combining digital jacquard weaving, sound synthesis, fractal geometry, and algorithmic thinking to unfold matter into the visual and sonic domain. Designed by EJTECH, Judit Eszter Kárpáti, and Esteban de la Torre, the hybrid augmented textiles provide a multi-sensory experience as haptic interactions when the jacquard woven fractal patterns are sonified in real-time via soundscapes.
The two jacquard woven fractal interfaces contain visual cues where interaction areas are embedded, seamlessly woven into the textile. Touch sensitive soft interfaces discern between touch and no touch to trigger sounds, but Dung Dkar Cloaks also sense the amount of touch, allowing for expressive gestures of interaction with the soft musical interface. The depth of the gestures controls the amount within signalflow – a system that allows for high control resolution of parameters (ie. filter cutoff).