In the previous post we looked at how fashion presentations changed with Coronavirus, but the pandemic has prompted us to think also about the fashion and health connection. In the last few years there have been quite a few designers who developed projects and garments that can help people recovering after an illness or facilitate the rehabilitation process.
Industrial designer Lisa Marks, whose researches combine traditional crafts with algorithmic design, developed for example in 2018 an algorithmic lace bra. The designer worked on this idea throughout 2018 and 2019 with a few experiments in parametrically designed algorithmic and logarithmic lace. The bra designed by Marks is not your average piece of lingerie, but it is designed to fit the form of a woman's body after a mastectomy surgery.
Marks studied the post-mastectomy data and found out that many women who have had breast tissue removed during cancer treatment don't have a reconstruction and mainly wear a bra that can hold a prosthetic, but there isn't a support that fits their post-surgery shape.
Marks' bra doesn't have any underwire, but it looks like a net-like soft structure that fits the body, giving the illusion of symmetry and curves. The designer created it hoping it can be used by wearers on special occasions and intimate moments and help women in the post-surgery stage to regain their self-esteem.
Though you may think this is a highly technological project, Marks actually moved from traditional crafts – the starting point for this project is indeed bobbin lace (also known as pillow lacemaking) and in particular Croatian lacemaking. In this ancient craft (already well-known in the 14th century), artisans employ a series of bobbins with a groove at the top, a silk, cotton or linen thread and a print with a pattern to copy.
The print with the pattern is pinned to a cylindrical pillow which is usually lined with dark fabric and then work begins anchoring the threads around the bobbins on the pins and reproducing in this way with the lace the pattern on the print. Once completed the lace is freed from the pins and removed from the pillow and, according to its size, it can be incorporated into bed sheets, towels, curtains, tablecloths, dresses or bridal wear or used for other decorative purposes or to make small accessories.
Marks introduced in this craft a key change: while this technique is mainly employed to produce flat lace pieces, thanks to computer modelling, the designer gave a three-dimensional quality to the final piece. By moving from traditional crafts, she tried to sustain artisans and take this technique into the future.
To make the bra Marks followed a process that is indeed part artisanal and part high-tech: the first stage is a 3D body scan of the wearer, then a bust shape (that will be used by the artisan to work in 3D) is cut into foam with a CNC router.
In the meantime, an algorithm, employing for its calculations a 3D body-scan and a set of points that can be altered as needed, works out which pattern will guarantee symmetry and depth on this particular shape.
Once the pattern is produced, it is mapped and printed onto the foam bust and the artisans then make the bra. So the process combines human and machine skills, a perfect balance that, Marks hopes, will help sustain communities as well.
algorithmic lace morphing from Lisa Marks on Vimeo.
Marks won the Lexus Design Award 2019 in Milan with this project and she is currently one of the finalists of the Dezeen Design Award 2020. Last year, after Marks won the Lexus prize in Milan, designer and technologist John Maeda, one of the award judges stated, "When we think of algorithms, we usually think of computers and the high-tech industry. But the textile industry is where algorithms were first deployed as a means to realize new aesthetic choices in fabrics during the 19th century. Lisa Marks 'Algorithmic Lace' project not only feeds on that rich history, but goes even further back in time to incorporate a 16th century technique for weaving complex lace patterns. Marks uses this ancient process together with advanced three-dimensional modeling to handcraft bespoke bras for breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomy surgery. The result is a combination of function and beauty that positively impacts the survivor's body aesthetic while also providing fully customized structural comfort."
Marks is currently progressing on her researches combining traditions and technology and has recently developed experiments (showcased as part of the digital edition of the Bridges 2020 Art Exhibition) inspired by mathematical variation with semi-rigid materials, such as laser-cut bamboo veneer knitted by hand, using a hybrid process to generate a dynamic composition (stitch variation is achieved via visual scripting that allows the designer to write the algorithm for a single stitch).
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