Among the engineering techniques for curing concrete, that is stopping freshly poured concrete from drying out too quickly, there is laying a plastic sheet on top of the concrete slap after wetting its surface. The sheet applied to stop the evaporation process creates visually interesting effects since it gives raw concrete a smooth appearance.
Unbeknownst to her, Chun San (Francesca) Chin, one of the finalists of the "Feel the Yarn" 2013 competition, obtained in some of her designs the same visual effects you can see when people working in the construction industry cure concrete with a plastic sheeting or membrane.
A student from the Institute of Textiles and Clothing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chin employed Lanificio Dell'Olivo yarns in the three designs she entered for the "Feel the Yarn" competition: one of them, a grey sweater featured a three-dimensional embossed image that could have been borrowed from a baroque bas-relief or a detail of a fountain; in her dresses she instead played with surface effects, trying to give knitwear a new tactile feeling through interesting textures and visual contrasts achieved employing different techniques.
How did the selection process to take part in the "Feel the Yarn" competition work for you?
Francesca Chin: I've studied knitwear design with technology and I've just graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Our lecturers selected Wai Kit Wan and I from our class based on the collections we showed during our graduation show. This is not my first time at the Pitti Filati, actually: last year I won a scholarship for a summer course in Milan and was offered a study tour as well, so my first stop was the Pitti Filati.
Where does the inspiration for the three designs you entered in the competition come from?
Francesca Chin: My inspiration comes from a picture, an image of a naked body wrapped in translucent techno-films. I wanted to make something different from ordinary or formal knitwear, while retaining a certain degree of simplicity. For the sweater I was inspired by the architectures and buildings I saw while travelling throughout Italy last year. The architecture impressed me a lot and I decided to use these elements in my designs working around 3D shapes. I created the knitted fabric, ironed it with plastic coatings and made a mould that was then used with a vacuum forming machine at my university that impressed the design on the sweater. I employed this technique also for the outfits in my graduation show. Apart from that I also employed other techniques such as felting and foil printing on the dresses and I applied the fringe decoration by hand, crocheting it. I wanted to employ more than just one technique. For example I tried to reproduce in one dress the brush strokes used in oil paintings. Though there are different techniques in all the designs, my shapes are not complicated, they are simple and therefore wearable and commercial.
In which ways can technology help a knitwear designer?
Francesca Chin: Computerised knitting machines are faster and you can create more complicated stitches like jacquard through them. At our university we used computers to simplify some manufacturing processes, but also to inject innovative patterns into our designs.
What plans do you have for the future?
Francesca Chin: It would be great to find a job in the fashion industry to understand where I fit in and gain more experience, even though, I may go back to study in a few years' time to improve my knowledge.
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