The feast of Epiphany (today) officially closes the Christmas celebrations, remembering the Magi, who followed the eastern star to carry their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Baby Jesus. According to traditions and legends they were scholars and were identified in the Western Christian church with the names Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior.
In yesterday's post we mentioned Evangelion and in this saga there is a computer system called Magi with three distinct bio-computer cores, Melchior-1, Balthasar-2, and Casper-3, modelled on three aspects (scientist, mother and woman) of its developer, Naoko Akagi. In a way the Three Kings who visited Jesus represent tradition, while the Magi supercomputers introduce the innovation aspect.
As seen also in other previous posts, a sound balance between tradition and innovation is the key to the future of fashion. The problem is that many companies still struggle to take this concept seriously, being too attached to the fast production rhythms that are destroying creativity and are not allowing us all to take more time to develop new manufacturing systems or advanced products.
There is actually one initiative that has been trying to work along these lines and develop interesting partnerships and ideas - the Worth Project. Initiated and supported by the European Commission, the Worth Pilot Project was launched in 2013 by the French Institute of Fashion (IFM), in partnership with the London College of Fashion, the Italian confederation of artisanry and SMEs, and Euratex, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation.
The project takes its name from designer Charles F. Worth, traditionally considered as the father of Haute Couture, since in 1858 he created the first Couture House in Paris, in partnership with Otto Bobergh from Sweden.
The Worth Project aims indeed at triggering innovation in European creative industries via three collaborative platforms: designer-led (a design talent or expert promoting a product concept), manufacturer-led (a manufacturer or maker or craftsman) and technology-oriented projects (a digital and/or technology company collaborating where possible with a designer).
Another key point of this intitiative is the fact that participants are encouraged to take part in cross border designer and manufacturer collaborations, maximising in this way assets derived from the resource and skills base of all Europe.
Last year over 80 companies from 13 countries across Europe were involved in the project: the companies developed 34 unique partnerships and produced prototypes, including garments and accessories (eyewear, jewellery and footwear), furniture, leather and textiles.
Most of these pieces were the result of a sound dichotomy that combined tradition and invention, craft and technology, hand and machine. Ideas included bespoke 3D printed prosthetic limb covers; glue bonded jeans and fabrics made by laser cutting and bonding lace with latex; headphones capable of lulling the wearer and help people with disturbed sleep; shoes with hard-wearing and environmentally sound soles with a milk taken from the Hevea tree in South America and light emitting garments made by weaving wearable organic light emitting devices (OLED) into elastic.
In some cases one craft product was recreated employing a different material and a cutting-edge technique: Samuel Gassmann's "Double" wedding ring was 3D printed in precious metals with the collaboration of Italian 3D printing mavericks Nuovi Gioielli.
In other cases artisans, designers and innovators from various countries put their know-how together to manufacture one exclusive line of products: British fashion illustrator Emma Shipley created a range of bags that featured her illustrations turned into fabrics by Venice-based Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua. The fabrics were then applied to handmade metal frames by Marven and Shipley's designs were also transformed into fine leather etched pieces by Turkish leather manufacturer Desi Dera.
A few partnerships revolved around social projects: German enterprise Abury produced handmade cushions and stools with leather workers and embroiderers from Romania introduced to them via the Mihai Eminiescu Trust, while the musical multi-tech shoes developed by Dutch fashion tech research and development studio Popkalab with French music and technology start-up Phonotonic and French footwear manufacturer Stéphane Gontard, create sound through movement and democratise the creation of music, enabling anyone to produce sounds that are broadcast through an inbuilt speaker, synchronised with foot movements.
While some of these projects may have to be refined or taken to the next level before being launched on the market, they all prove that an efficient approach to linking companies and talents and a balanced fusion between traditions and modern design/technologies is definitely the path to the future.
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