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3. Circular Open Source Fashion

Research & Ideation

During the lecture, I was inspired by the idea of creating a seamless pattern, and my thoughts immediately went to chain mail. I wanted to explore the concept of integrating chain mail into my design, and as part of my research, I looked into the work of Paco Rabanne. His innovative use of chain mail in fashion, blending futuristic design with traditional techniques, sparked ideas for how I could incorporate a similar approach into my project. I plan to build on this by experimenting with both the structure and fluidity of chain mail, potentially developing a pattern inspired by the concept.

get inspired!

Check out and research alumni pages to better understand how to document and get inspired

References & Inspiration

For this week's project, I was particularly inspired by the natural patterns found in scales, especially those of dragons, crocodiles, and reptiles. I had been working on a digital model of a dragon in the previous week, which guided my focus on scales. My design aims to incorporate scale mail, mimicking the layered structure of reptilian scales, and translating that into a functional and aesthetic form for my project.

  • Paco Rabanne Unwearable dresses


  • Image reference

Gold Dragon Scales

Tools

Process and workflow

I did some research to find a way to create chain mail without having to assemble many different parts. I found inspiration from I found inspiration from this video, which showed an alternative method. I started designing different scales in Illustrator, experimenting with various shapes and layouts. After finalizing a few designs, I printed them to prototype on paper, allowing me to visualize how they would come together.

Next, I explored sustainable textile options. The FabLab suggested using leather, but I wanted to work with something more sustainable. I thought of Impuzu, a fabric we use at work, which aligns with my values around sustainability. This will also give the project a personal and unique touch.

Paper Prototype

This module 1 was obtained by..

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describe what you see in this image Paper proto Front Paper proto Back Paper proto

Step

The laser cut nesting 2 was created using..

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Step

...

My hand drawn sketches are ...

This model 1 was obtained by..

The laser cut nesting 2 was created using..

footnote fabrication files

Fabrication files are a necessary element for evaluation. You can add the fabrication files at the bottom of the page and simply link them as a footnote. This was your work stays organised and files will be all together at the bottom of the page. Footnotes are created using [ ^ 1 ] (without spaces, and referenced as you see at the last chapter of this page) You can reference the fabrication files to multiple places on your page as you see for footnote nr. 2 also present in the Gallery.

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.

From Youtube

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Fabrication files

  1. File: Modules ↩↩

  2. File: Laser cut sheets ↩↩