3. Circular Open Source Fashion¶
This week is about exploring how to go with less waste and to reuse fabric or use fabric as modules, and make sure to intersect them manually by female and male on fabrication. this method is a sustainable way to go with as the concept behind it to create bag for example from modules part and to choose it today a small bag with less medules but a year later maybe you want it to be a bigger bag so you can add extra modules or you can even replace one of modules without a need to change or put the whole bag in the waste. I will take you step by step through this implementation journey.
Research & Ideation¶
Reading more about this technique, a lot of inspiration I found some inspiration references below .
"During the week i implemented alot of research, explored all work of Alumni of textile academy and had a few ideas but i wanted something has a story behind. I kept searching until i found Habwa"حبوة" , let me introduce you to Habwa it is a Hadrami-yamani tradition habwa has been used in Hadramout- Yaman for years and the concept behind is:
"traditional Yemeni sitting posture that beautifully reflects the culture’s intimacy with the ground — a gesture of rest, reflection, and belonging. It involves sitting with the knees bent and drawn close to the chest, often supported by a strip of fabric or belt wrapped around the legs and back. This gentle tension provides comfort and stability, allowing people to sit for long periods during conversations or gatherings, known locally as majlis."
Analysis & design Concept¶
More research i made on it the less documentation found about it . but what found is ithis Habwa used for more that 4.000 years and it had functional use and mostly used in the past by Men .
Adding to that i tried to look for some e-commerce websites selling habwa and see the primary colored use there .Check this website
Reading more about hadrami and Yamani clothes and colors and symbols in the clothes design i relised the pattern could be combined with islamic pattern as they have diffrent influence on their patterns.
So that i started to think what if i look to redesign habwa and be used as a peice of fashion can females too wear using for it islamic pattern ?
Referances to check :¶
Started to search in depth about islamic pattern that meight be used and here is one of the books that shows samples of islamic patterns used on fabric in most of islamic countries worldwide .
Process and workflow¶
Step1-Design Direction¶
After the research made and decided to mix islamic pattern with habwa re design i searched on islamic patterns ornimentation and it was very inspiring but also extremely complex geometries so it was something i worked on solving on the next step .Check this islamic patterns dwg file
Step2-Islamic Pattern¶
Using a file for islamic patterns but i faced an issue that the islamic pattern i choosed was too detailled and with laser cutting we might have a waste material that is not the approach i want to go with as i prefer to go a sustainable approach with less material waste.
Simplify the Geometry of pattern " was the approach i implement
Understanding the shapes in islamic patterns and try to simplify stars and intersection in the most possiple way as you can see the photo bellow shows the shapes i was intrested in and simplify it.
The out put of simplify geometry module then i multiplied the modules and i adjust it to be suitable as a male- female intersection.
laser cutting preperation¶
I tried two softwares one of them is rhino which i am used to work on and the second is inkskape which rarely to use .
Using Inkskape i upexported the file from rhino as svg format to inkskape and select all the lines to convert them to red color and print it.
And here is rhnio settengs i used for laser cutting based on how machine is programmed to read colors and on the lab machine red color is always for cut and black for engrave .
Step3-Test idea¶
Using filet material was the first test for the idea and see the intersection , However the test shows good support.
**As known if it did not work on felt, it will not work on other materials, and the intersection worked successfully on felt.
Step 4 - material explore¶
My hand goes to Wool material as one of options was in my mind and since the texture and ornments aligned with the tradition so straight to make small test for small part of the material on laser cutting.
WOOL¶
Before cut i adjust the laser bed so that the distance between the machine’s nose (focus) and the bed matches the thickness of the fabric.
This height must be checked and adjusted every time you use the machine or change the material.
Challenge!!
The Fabric was too heavey and the modules were not supported enough wich took me to try second choice as satin which makes it look between modern and heritage .
Satin¶
However, after testing the material, I used fillet and satin to start the work. I took Satin and began to cut the big Satin fabric to be suitable for laser cutting (100cm * 60cm )
The Satin Nesting was both strong and elegant enough to be used as a belt and multi-purpose elegantly.
Habwa modern Belt¶
Here is the nesting bult from the apove photo using female and male for the intersect and extra support with the plus + symbol which extracted from the islamic pattern .
Tools¶
During this project i used adigital and physical tools such as :
1- Rhino is a 2d and 3d software i used to do the pattern and design and adjust as you will see in the documentation the rhino file .
2- 2D inkskape Can be helpful adjusting the file for laser cutting
3- laser cutting machine 4- Textile fabric: Fillet , Satin , Wool