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3. Circular Open Source Fashion

I. Intro

Circular fashion is a design and production approach in the fashion industry that aims to keep materials, garments, and resources in use for as long as possible while minimizing waste. Instead of the traditional make then dispose model, circular fashion focuses on creating closed loops where products are designed to be reused, repaired, resold, upcycled, or recycled at the end of their life.

II. Research & Inspiration

Considering this is my favorite and most inspiring week so far, it took a little extra time as I decided to work and experiment on multiple pieces. The Documentation of Maite Sosa Methol was really inspiring and directed my attention towards the work of Micaela Fregosi whom is an Uruguayan Textile Designer, designing laser-cut, no-stitch bags and purses made of leather and neoprene. In Addition, one of the other interesting works that I came across was Maria Kirk Mikkelsen's artistic reasearch called Tell it All with Leather and Stripes were she experiments the storytelling with materials instead of words through different leather and stripes arrangements, and without the use of stitches. Within this week's assignment I am willing to test the creation of multiple leather garments/bags through using means of joints of the same material.

III. Class Experimentation

Prior to starting the design and the ideation of the products I wanted to produce within this week assignment, I decided to test the jointing systems and assembly of simple shapes like circles and squares which my Instructor Claudia suggested to start with and test on paper and felt prior to proceeding with other materials.

The test process went as follows:

Step 1: 2D Drawing

The PDF test files of the circles and squares were ready done by my Instructor Claudia to test along their interlocking system possibilities, however I will walk it through how they were drawn on Fusion 360:

Step 2: From Paper-Cut to Laser-Cut

Step 3: Testing the Interlocking Possibilities

IV. Design and Ideation (Week Assignments)

1. Olive Stitch Leather Bag

Concept

Pending

Material Choice

I chose leather as the primary material and prototyped the bag in felt, sourcing mostly second-hand and leftover leather pieces.

Process

Pending

Result

2. Bijou

Concept

Pending

Material Choice

Pending

Process

Pending

Result

Pending