Modernist design brought the term “Truth to Materials” into the lexicon of designers. It means that the true nature of a material should be celebrated not hidden or doctored. If you are building a structure out of concrete, don’t mold it to look like bricks, but rather accentuate its innate attributes. This thinking can lead to design icons, like the Eames DCM chair (right) which uses industrial materials and process in a way that doesn’t attempt to mask either. Compare that to the more traditional chair on the left and “Truth to Materials” becomes clear.
Photo Credits: http://bit.ly/bXmyT8 & http://bit.ly/bMaYVe
The evolution of 3D printing has not been in the modernist tradition. 3D printers are evaluated and purchased largely on their ability to simulate the output of other machines, namely injection molding. The engineers who buy and use them want to replicate traditional plastic molding processes as closely as possible and aren’t so interested in the disruptive potential of “Direct Digital Manufacturing“. They see 3D printing as “Rapid Prototyping”, a way to shorten the product development cycle, not a way to rethink the manufacturing process.
A new project highlighted on the Freedom of Creation blog aims to change this. In conjunction with the London School of Fashion, FOC is creating garments that are produced in final form straight from the 3D Printer. Designers have been making fashion items and jewelry with 3D printers for some time, but they are usually constructed from multiple parts in multiple materials. These garments are different.
Just as industrial materials ushered in the modernist/minimal age, 3D printers promise a new future. The black dress below hints at the future of where design will go:
Intrinsic features - Look at how the two lapels join at the navel. There are no seams or means of joining the parts. The plunging neckline and materials are joined without the intervention of human hands. This is going to allow design features that would too time consuming or not within the potential of the material now.
No waste - In fashion based industries there is a lot of waste. Major clothing stores scrap 40% of their inventory. Even more is lost in manufacturing where the pieces used to construct the clothing are cut from larger pieces of fabric.
New Materials - Comments about these clothes on other sites have derided plastic as a clothing material probably not considering the lycra and polyester clothing they already own. The gauge of chain mail on exhibit is probably too extreme, but what if it was 4X smaller? It is light, breathes well, could hang in interesting ways. Perhaps not in clothing, but upholstery? In any case it shows that old materials will be reimagined in exciting ways.
I don’t think fuchsia plastic chain mail is going to replace the inventory of Banana Republic any time soon, but this project is exciting. These are high quality visualizations of whats to come in fashion and other product categories.
