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6. Computational Couture

Let’s talk Computational Couture.

To be honest, my relationship with this week has been… complicated. Maybe even toxic.

I joined Fabricademy with zero experience in 3D modeling—no Rhino, no Fusion, nothing. For a long time, I avoided this week completely. It felt intimidating, distant, like a foreign language.

But eventually, I had to face it.

Because if you don’t face your fears, you carry them around forever—and I’m not here for that. When I began The Archive of Emotions, my final project, the idea of incorporating 3D printed elements terrified me. But guess what? I did it—and it was amazing.

Now, after finishing the full project, I'm revisiting and reimagining this assignment with clarity, courage, and creativity.

This week is about translating code and computation into form and fashion. It’s about using digital tools to build physical, wearable expressions. And for me—it’s about reclaiming something I once feared and making it mine.

I’m going into this with zero expectations—just curiosity, chaos, and a whole lot of intuition.

The only thing I do know? I’ll be using a lot of black and grey.

So if you’re here for bright colors and rainbow explosions, you might want to exit now before the monochrome takes over. This will be dark, muted, possibly dramatic—and very, very me. Let’s see where it takes us.

Get to Know the Software

Before we dive in, let’s talk software—these tools will be our best friends (or worst enemies) this week:

Rhino is powerful for precision 3D modeling, popular in architecture, industrial design, and fashion prototyping.

Grasshopper is a visual programming plugin within Rhino. Perfect for parametric and generative designs—it looks intimidating but feels like digital poetry once you get comfortable.

Fusion 360 is excellent for refining designs, especially preparing models for fabrication like 3D printing or laser cutting.

Stage Tools / Software
3D Modeling Rhino + Grasshopper, Fusion 360
Slicing Cura (Ultimaker S5), Bambu Studio (A1)
Fabrication Bambu Lab A1, Ultimaker S5, PLA, TPU
Assembly Tulle Mesh, Magnets, Clips

Stained Glass Experimentation

I’ve always been fascinated by Oscar de la Renta’s stained glass gowns—delicate yet structured, capturing light, shape, and it's truly unique! Like a modern day Belle!

I wondered: could I recreate that feeling through 3D printing? Not copying it, but reimagining it in my own style. No promises, just curiosity, experimentation, and my obsession with texture and contrast.

Let’s see what happens.

Grasshopper Research: Stained Glass Inspiration

My research began with this Grasshopper tutorial exploring circle-based geometry inspired by stained glass.

The concept is super dreamy: using circle grids to generate delicate, organic patterns—kind of like the flower of life.

The concept uses overlapping circles to create organic patterns reminiscent of stained glass. The idea is to build layered forms that mimic the beauty of stained glass, where every circle overlaps and blooms into unexpected symmetry.
I’m really drawn to the duality of control and chaos in this process.

Baking Geometry in Grasshopper

Once satisfied with the geometry, I baked the it in Grasshopper. Baking converts dynamic, parametric geometry into fixed Rhino objects—something tangible for exporting and fabricating.

In Grasshopper, “baking” means turning your dynamic, parametric geometry into a fixed object inside Rhino—something you can actually export, fabricate, or 3D print.

This tutorial explains it:
How to Bake Geometry in Grasshopper – Hopific

From Surface to Solid

Now that the geometry is baked, we’re left with a bunch of flat surfaces.

But here’s the issue! Surfaces don’t have any thickness. And we can’t 3D print something that doesn’t exist in the real world!
So to make it printable, we need to give it thickness.

To Create a thickness you will need to extrude the Surfaces!

  • Select surfaces, grab blue Z-axis arrow, drag upwards.
  • Type 0.6mm for precise extrusion.

Now it's a real, printable 3D object!

Exporting the STL

Exporting from Rhino for printing:

  1. Select geometry.
  2. File → Export Selected → STL.
  3. Choose Binary format.
  4. Save and proceed to slicing.

Slicing & Preparing the Print

I used the Bambu Lab A1 with Bambu Studio, which is intuitive and visual.

Bambu Studio 101

Filament: Galaxy Matte Black PLA

Category Setting Value
Quality Layer height 0.2 mm
Initial layer height 0.2 mm
Top/Bottom Shells Top surface pattern Monotonic line
Top shell layers 5
Top shell thickness 1 mm
Top paint penetration layers 5
Bottom surface pattern Monotonic
Bottom shell layers 3
Bottom shell thickness 0 mm
Bottom paint penetration layers 3
Internal solid infill pattern Rectilinear
Infill & Strength Sparse infill density 30%
Sparse infill pattern Grid
Length of sparse infill anchor 400%
Maximum length of sparse infill anchor 20 mm/%
Infill/Wall overlap 15%
Infill direction 45°
Bridge direction 0°
Minimum sparse infill threshold 15 mm²
Filament & Temperature Recommended nozzle temperature Min 210°C / Max 220°C
Textured PEI Plate 65°C
Nozzle temperature 220°C

Adding Fabric: Pausing Mid-Print

We are printing on textile right? we hack the machine to embede the fabric into a print so that's why we create a mid-print pause!

How to add a pause in Bambu Studio:

  1. Found insertion layer in preview.
  2. Right-clicked → "Add Pause."
  3. Confirmed pause in timeline.
  4. Slice Again.
  5. Print Plate and send to the printer.

Printing Time!

Now you sit back and watch the show! There’s something so fascinating—and honestly addicting—about watching the 3D printing process. Like, wow. It’s literally creating an object out of thin air!

Thanks to the Bambu Lab A1’s smart and user-friendly design, once you send the sliced file to the printer, the rest is basically history.

That said, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the first layer. If it doesn’t stick well to the plate, the whole print could fail—so make sure that adhesion is solid before letting it run.

Adding Fabric Mid-Print

To embed fabric into the 3D print, I added a pause at Layer 2 using Bambu Studio. When the printer reaches this point, it automatically pauses and waits for you to resume. Here’s how I did it:

Step-by-Step:

  1. Prepare your fabric:
    Cut a piece of mesh fabric around 250mm x 250mm. Choose a material with holes (like tulle or organza) so the filament can fuse with it easily.

  1. Get your magnets ready:
    You’ll need small, flat magnets to hold the fabric tightly to the print bed without bulking up or moving.

  2. Wait for the pause notification:
    The printer will stop and notify you when it reaches the pause layer.

  3. Place the fabric on the bed:
    Carefully lay the fabric flat over the printed base. Make sure it’s tensioned evenly.

  4. Secure the fabric with magnets:
    Place magnets along the edges—avoid placing them anywhere near the center or nozzle path.

  5. Double-check everything:
    Ensure the fabric is flat, the magnets are secure, and there’s no risk of the nozzle hitting anything.

  6. Resume the print:
    Once you're confident it’s safe, press resume. The printer will continue, embedding the fabric into the next layers.

⚠️ Warning:
Make sure the magnets are far from the nozzle path. If the nozzle crashes into a magnet, it can damage your printer, ruin the print, or dislodge the fabric mid-print.

The Result? Honestly… Breathtaking!!

The pattern, the black filament, the textured finish from the Bambu Lab build plate—everything came together beautifully. I loved every part of it!

And honestly? Creating such a clean result from the very first try... I was sooo proud of myself!!

Next, I’ll be exploring the same stained glass concept, but with different patterns and variations.

Fabrication files

Rose Window! Some Urban Gloom

While developing the stained glass design, I noticed something really special! it started to resemble a rose window, which is something very dear to my heart. and I if you know me! you know how much I just love architecture!

Funnily enough, rose windows were actually the inspiration behind Urban Gloom! a collection I once developed for Ash Studio!

I'll include the moodboard here, and I’d love to share the collection with you too—just in case you'd like to check it out or show a little support!!

Design Development

Using the first algorithm I developed earlier, I simply kept adjusting the sliders in Grasshopper until I landed on a pattern I really liked. To bring out the rose window effect, I baked the geometry and then manually fine-tuned it—deleting specific parts of the pattern to give it that classic, iconic feel.

Then, just like before, I scaled the geometry, extruded it to give it thickness, and sent it to the slicer—ready for 3D printing!

Slicing & Preparing the Print

The slicing process is very similar to the first one but what's different here that I used PET+PEO 3D Printer Build Plate Sheet for Bambu Lab which reqiures slower and more mindfull settings because it is smooth. so I tweaked the slicing settings so give the best results, I decided to use this plate because I wanted to have the same finish, relfection and color changing of the stained glass and rose windows and man I was sooo amazed by the result!

Filament: Bambu Lab PLA Basic Gradient
Build Plate: Smooth PEI / High Temp Plate (PET+PEO)

Category Setting Value
Quality Layer height 0.2 mm
Initial layer height 0.2 mm
Line Widths Default 0.6 mm
Initial layer 0.6 mm
Outer wall 0.6 mm
Inner wall 0.45 mm
Top surface 0.42 mm
Sparse infill 0.45 mm
Internal solid infill 0.42 mm
Top/Bottom Shells Top surface pattern Monotonic line
Top shell layers 1
Top shell thickness 1 mm
Top paint penetration layers 5
Bottom surface pattern Concentric
Bottom shell layers 1
Bottom shell thickness 0 mm
Bottom paint penetration layers 3
Internal solid infill pattern Concentric
Infill & Strength Sparse infill density 0%
Infill/Wall overlap 15%
Infill direction 45°
Bridge direction 0°
Detect narrow internal solid infill ✓
Ensure vertical shell thickness Enabled
Detect floating vertical shells ✓
Speed Initial layer 10 mm/s
Initial layer infill 20 mm/s
Outer wall 40 mm/s
Inner wall 40 mm/s
Small perimeters 50%
Sparse infill 200 mm/s
Internal solid infill 250 mm/s
Vertical shell speed 80%
Filament & Temperature Recommended nozzle temperature Min 210°C / Max 220°C
Smooth PEI Plate 65°C → 70°C
Nozzle temperature 220°C

I also added a pause mid-print to embed fabric—just like before. I selected the right layer, paused the print, placed the fabric carefully, secured it with magnets, and resumed the print to continue fusing the filament with the textile.

The Result! A Mother of Pearl Rose Window

Yeah... I’m so proud of this one, I actually dedicated an entire photo album to it!
Because honestly? One photo is never enough for something this magical.

Fabrication Files

Image-Based Stained Glass

After exploring the initial algorithm, I wanted to try something more organic—more intentional, if you will. I didn’t want another purely parametric output; I wanted to create something that felt like a real, organic flower.

While digging around, I stumbled upon this tutorial, which showed how to use the Image Sampler in Grasshopper to generate a Voronoi-based pattern from an image. That stained glass effect? It was exactly what I was looking for!

In order for this method to work well, you need to choose an image with high contrast—that’s key! I selected a high-contrast flower photo from Pexels so Grasshopper could properly read the shapes and define the structure.

After that, of course, I baked the geometry (and prayed my laptop wouldn’t explode—it’s an intense process!). Then I refined it, scaled it, and extruded it. You know the drill by now.

As for the pattern itself, I went in and deleted some of the unwanted surfaces to clean it up. But honestly, it’s also an option to keep those surfaces if you want a more seamless, abstract look. Both versions have their charm.

Slicing & Preparing the Print

For this specific model, I decided to divide it into two parts. The curves were too small to handle easily in one go—and honestly, why not? So I ended up preparing two separate print plates for this design.

I also used this as an opportunity to experiment with surface finishes.
The first half was printed on a textured PEI plate using Galaxy Matte PLA.

while the second half was printed on a smooth PEI plate using the exact same filament.

This allowed me to compare the two finishes side by side—and the difference in texture and light reflection was super satisfying!

As for the settings I have used the same ones I used for the first two experiments

Result? It’s a Flower… If You Look Closely!

This experiment was honestly such a joy to do. I showed it to a bunch of people and asked, “What do you see?”
Some said a bird, others saw leaves, and a few spotted the flower. And you know what? I’m not mad about it at all.

That’s the beauty of design—there’s always room for interpretation.

Fabrication Files

Image Sampler GH

Conclusion

In the end, things worked out—and the thing you once dreaded most might just become your favorite.
This was my take on Computational Couture.

I hope to keep exploring, testing new ideas, and most of all, learning to trust myself a little more.
Because honestly, everything becomes more powerful when you let go and just surrender to the process.

Do you want to recreate it? here you go!