Implications and Applications¶
strange little bits i call home (also known as a monday)¶
Weekly Assignment
- Document the concept, sketches, references also to artistic and scientific publications
- Create an Ultra-personalised product service systems (UPPSS) for your final project
- Map the potential stakeholders
- Explore personalisation at all the different levels
- EXTRA POINT: Interview your potential users/ target group about your concept, quantify results
What You'll Need
- Your BRAIN. Kidding. But really.. an open mind!
Questions Presented During Lecture¶
What role do materials play in your project? What new role can they take on?
How can you explore form through generative design?
How can you reimagine machines for textiles? How can these machines support transformation, revision, or creation of a craft?
How can you rethinking shape/fit/production?
How can you rethink current aesthetics with various fabrication methodologies and what new insights does that bring?
How can design be influenced when you design in the first person?
The moment you put something on your body, how do you change, how does your relation to people and your surroundings change?
The moment you put something on, how does it become social and political?
These were just a few questions posited to us by our lecturer Oscar Tomico this week.
It really made me think and think and think. Here's the results of that! :)
The Weeks that Most Interested Me¶
Since the start of Fabricademy I've been contemplating what my project would be. I have to say I genuinely found every week challenging in its own way but I loved it. But if I could distill down where my interests really lie its e-textiles, wearables, computational couture, and biofabricating materials.
Crafts of Interest¶
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Weaving Weaving is a craft that spans centuries. Its history is rich and impactful. Weaving might honestly be one of the most important crafts especially given its inspiration for the modern day computer. I've woven before but not on a traditional loom. On a handheld loom, one that I designed and lasercut. I've also woven on an industrial circular loom at unspun, a 3D weaving company based in the Bay Area in California, but it's not the same as weaving on a manual tabletop loom or a floor loom.
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Parametric Design When I learned about computational couture, I was floored. 3D printing on fabric?? I never thought of it. Taking inspiration from Architecture as well, we were invited to create design parametrically, with repeating shapes and geometries. I learned you could essentially make your own clothes, cut patterns on a laser cutter, and 3D print designs on your fabric, and either design fasteners that holds your garment together or sewing it. It just opened me up to a new world.
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Paper Making During the Biofabricating Materials week, we were introduced an option to make paper. I took it on and loved it. I made a paper from some cardstock paper I cut pieces out of, wool scraps, and tea bags and found the process both stressful and rewarding. I don't have a blender that adequately blends paper and so forth but I loved the result. So, this is certainly a process I enjoyed quite a bit. Enough to think, "Hm, could I bring this into a final project?" Origami, which I've become increasingly fascinated with, also has an intimate relationship with paper.
Past Work + Navigating Ideas¶
Before Fabricademy came along, I did projects in soft robotics, interactive synthesizers, and data visualization.
In some sense, I'd like to continue exploring one of those projects in a different form this time around.
Now, I've always struggled with project ideation. But I remember reading a book called the Art of Noticing. One point in particular stood out to me: Pay attention to what you pay attention to. I tried doing just that by making note of what fascinates me.
What Fascinates Me
The [weaving] work by the Navajo is done on vertical looms, with warp yarns set vertically on a wooden frame and then the weft interwoven between them by hand, before being pushed down. It's also considered taboo for Navajo to plan the design - because it is meant to be an intuitive, spontaneous expression. So nothing is even sketched in the sand: the blanket just develops as the weaver works. Find out more about the Navajo weaving method here!
Aside from that, I'm fascinated by indigenous healing practices or shamanism. Shamanism is a sacred practice, passed down to family members that requires extensive training. The latter is true for shaman traditions with the Navajo people but shamans exist in many cultures across the world.
Space exploration and developments in the aerospace world no doubt inspire me. But as a whole, space/the universe is inspiring in and of itself. The universe and people in it depend on very balanced math and chemistry. We rely on that consistency to live. It's amazing, truly. And something that goes hand in hand with that is nature and how patterns form in nature. There is a very complex and beautiful science behind it. Feel free to read more about it in this article!
Inspiring Papers/Projects
- Wifi Tapestry by Richard Vijgen
- The Embroidered Computer by Irene Posch
- Everyday Materials for Physical Interactive Systems by Prof. Clement Zhang
- Bakermee by Tsujio Ippei
- Sustainable Interactive Surface by Adriana Cabrera
- MorphingCircuit: An Integrated Design, Simulation, and Fabrication Workflow for Self-morphing Electronics by Morphing Matter Lab
Honorable Mentions
- Light Object by Lachlan Turczan
- Playtron by Playtronica
TLDR; Themes of Interest¶
- Making and Unmaking
- Preservation and Obsolescence
- What is "home"?
- Spiritual connections to the environment, each other, and something larger than ourselves
- Storytelling
- Life after death
- Designing with generosity - giving vs. taking
- Space Exploration
The direction I decided to take¶
I had several ideas for the final project. I settled on making a modular synthesizer that takes various datasets in its either woven or folded structure. These structures will allow people to interact with them and make electronic music based on the datasets represented. It then becomes a synthesizer that:
- Has patches that become modular building blocks: reproducible or personalizable.
- People can explore their own histories, patterns, or emotions.
- Work stays open-ended.
- Participants/reviewers will understand the system logic, not just the artifact.
My Ideas Summarized¶
State of the trimester
- What assignment(s) did you like?
Computational Couture, OS Circular Fashion, Open Source Hardware, E-Textiles, BioFabricating Materials
- What assignment(s) is a struggle for you?
BioChromes, OS Circular Fashion, Computational Couture, Skin Electronics
- Which assignment(s) would you like to explore more?
E-Textiles, BioFabricating Materials, Computational Couture, OS Circular Fasion
Your project idea(s)
- A moodboard with 5 solid references and how they relate to your project
References are listed in this page above! :)
- What are you going to do: a product, a tool, a machine, a service, a process...
I'm doing explorations, not a product per se, but I anticipate having a functional prototype that can be revised, re-examined, and continually explored into the future.
- For who (who is your public/consumer)
Designers, musicians, but also the common public!
- With who: any collaborators? stakeholders of the project?
Louise recommended I get in touch with the Intelligent Instruments Lab in Reykjavik, Passepartout Duo, and Emma Shannon, Fabricademy alumnus. I'll have to see how I can get in touch with out there in the world or another current Fabricademy student.
- Why do you do this project? what does it make sense now?
Data, especially in the U.S., is under fire. Facts are disregarded. So I'm trying to manifest data in the form of patterns that can then produce music. Which hopefully is a poetic way to approach this tumultuous time here.
- How does this project relate to fabricademy?
Combines things I've further learned within Fabricademy: e-textiles, paper making, biodyeing, parametric design, interactive design, etc.
Planning
What are the requirements for this project?
- What materials, tools, resources are you planning to use
Numerous electronics, mold and deckle for papermaking, table loom, lasercutter, yarn, conductive yarn, etc.
- What do you already have experience with?
Electronics, Novice papermaking and weaving skills but I'm determined!
- What will you need to learn to achieve it?
Weaving! And being a rather proficient paper maker and folder.