A DAY OF SWATCHING
PROCESS
Our forth event started with great presentations of the possible form. Number of participants came up with interesting and unique concepts that would accommodate the electronic function of the garment. With a rich visual aid in form of mood boards we all started to have a better idea of what kind of garment we’re going to construct. The term symbiosis was a popular choice for the secondary inspiration and a chunk of the visual inspiration was taken from the flora and fauna kingdom. Dave gave us a run through the number of various electronics that we ordered for the experimentation and explained to the group how they need to be put together. It was very helpful and informative for the fashion designers and dressmakers to see and understand how the electronic elements need to function within the garment. Mia brought a few textile swatching sketchbooks from her students to give us an idea of what the swatch is, how can it be made and what is it purpose. This part of the design process is very important especially within this project as we are combining various materials. Rhona came up with a number of interesting ideas how to use static electricity from touch to generate movement of some nylon materials. This is a very interesting idea that could be introduced in the garment. We had a selection of fabrics, ribbons, sequences and beads ready for experimentation and we were able to try out numerous techniques. We also had the laser cutter at the ready and Mariel created possible patterns on how to manipulate light. Over the coming days we will create more textile swatches so we can combine them with electronics at our next event.
FINDINGS
During the day it was clear that our group has a very strong and professional dynamic. If a problem or an issue arised we were able to find a possible solution very quickly. Also it was the first event where we started physically making things and it was a great experience. There is still a lot to do with textile experimentation but most of this work will have to be done outside of the workshops as it is very time consuming. However we had time to go through some of the typical and suitable techniques like pleating, honeycomb pleating, knitting, combining materials, embroidery and laser cutting. We compared and evaluate the materials that we have and planned some swatches together. We will bring all the swatches done outside the workshop along on Thursday evening where we will add on some 3D printed elements to our portfolio.