1. State of the art, project management and documentation¶
References & Inspiration¶
A couple of years ago, after yet another failed hunt for the perfect pair of jeans, too long, too short, too tight on the waist, or baggy in all the wrong places, I found myself thinking: aren’t we getting a bit old for this?
In this new age of intelligent and immersive tech, why shouldn’t we be able to customise jeans exactly to our own measurements? Why not bring back the spirit of unique, one-of-a-kind clothing that existed before the Industrial Revolution, but this time powered by clean energy, zero-waste processes, and recycled fibres instead of coal and oil. We may not be able to 3D-print denim yet, but we can already break down fibres and rebuild them into denim-like materials.
At a recent tech demo, I saw L’Oréal’s ModiFace augmented-reality tool: you point your phone, and instantly try on lipstick, eyeshadow, or foundation virtually. If this works for faces, why can’t it work for bodies? Imagine scanning your own shape, capturing perfect measurements, and then choosing fabrics and fits. Voilà!, a pair of custom jeans designed to last a lifetime.
Not long after, as if the universe had been eavesdropping, my feed was suddenly full of “3D printing”, served up like cheese on a cheeseboard. That’s when the spark really lit.
Vision & inspiration¶
I draw deep inspiration from my Irish Druidic roots, where life was centered on harmony with nature and a profound connection to the land and our ancestors. I am endlessly drawn to the natural world, the spiral etched in a seashell, the quiet veins of a leaf, the shifting hues of rocks and trees. These patterns are more than beauty; they are ancient symbols of balance and renewal. In them, I find a gentle harmony, a reminder that nature not only shapes the world around us but also restores the world within us.
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Seaweed as a biodegradable bioplastic
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Symbiotic culture of bacteria, biomaterial-driven design by Emelie Molinder
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Natural dyeing of fabric
- Iris Van Herpen
A sense of urgency lapses at every facet of Sympoiesis, the new collection presented by Iris van Herpen at Paris Haute Couture Week on July 7, 2025. For nearly two decades, the couturier has worked in communion with the primordial rhythm of the organic and the human imperative of the technological. Within Sympoiesis manifests the growing fragility of their interdependence.
Mission 01¶
At the very beginning of our Fabric Academy journey, we were tasked with creating our own personal websites. This meant diving into the unfamiliar world of markdown and the mysterious universe of “coding.” At first, the silence in the room spoke volumes; nobody quite knew where to start. After a couple of focused days, I began to find my footing and build confidence with the help of tutorials and mkdocs.
I had many ideas about the direction I wanted my site to take, so I started gathering inspiration through moodboards and visual references.
I collected and edited photos that felt true to my vision, bringing them to life through creative experimentation. To make it even more personal, I directed and featured in my own photoshoots, turning concepts into something tangible and uniquely mine.
Learning process¶
This is my learning journal where I will document my notes from week to week. Above is a snippet of markdown language cheat codes and tips for making sure everything gets commited.
Inspiration for my website¶
- Pinterest – “Every Glance is a Statement” pin by Ogiwara Aya
- “Proposal / Case Study / Work Examples” design by WEB-DESIGNER & Brand-strategy (vAdYA)
- “RUE | Brand Strategy” by Siteoutsisite
I originally wanted a bold hero page and for my website to stand out. I quickly learnt that this would be tricky to achieve with simple coding. However, I still managed to gather inspiration from this pages. I also admired a pass pupil of Fabric Academy Riley Cox, on her visually pleasing site.
Documentation workflow¶
The name “Anam” is the Irish word for soul. It is pronounced "AH-num".
The logo is a drawing I made a couple of years back, representing a piece of our inner consciousness.
Customising my website:¶
After admitting defeat of a more complex website, I started to focus in on changing what I could. I first began by trying to find the right font using Google fonts. I mixed and matched to find one that matched me. In the end, I decided on the title header to use “Rock 3D”, although I put up a fight with the site not loving this choice of font, we prevailed and won the case.
Initial attempt: I wanted your site title (Anam) in a big bubbly Rock 3D font. I first tried adding the Google Fonts link in mkdocs.yml under extra_css.Result: it didn’t load, so MkDocs fell back to a serif font.
Second attempt I tried applying font-family: 'Rock 3D', cursive; in CSS. But the font still didn’t render, because Material for MkDocs overrides the header styles, and the wrong font weight (700) was used. Rock 3D only ships one style (Regular 400), so any other weight forces a fallback.
Third attempt I moved the font import into extra.css using @import url(...). Applied Rock 3D to .md-header__title, but still inconsistent, because the header title uses multiple nested selectors in Material.
Final fix: Applied the font to all header title selectors used by Material for MkDocs:
For the background, I was inspired by an earthy brown, which is paired nicely with an Amber tone for the writing.
I had an issue where a white shadow box kept appearing under the ToC header & the naviagtion links. With the help of chatgpt and being able to inspect my website to find these links, we were able to get rid of the shadow box.
With more complex CSS styling sheets, such as applying the same colours to the sidebar I asked chat. Below is our conversation.
I struggled to get my photos centered, so I asked Flora who gave me the HTML code, which is below.
I really liked what Asli Aydın Aksan had for her layout of her assignment page, she took this from Diane Wakim's grid layout on her assignments page. So I wanted to replicate it on my page. It requires some knowledge of HTML and CSS coding.
I copied the HTML code on Asli's page in my index.md file under assignments and adapted it to my folder system:
Then I also copied the CSS CODE:
