OFFCUTERIAL
University Project
October 2022 - December 2022
The brief
You wake up in a hopeful 2030. You are a product designer working for the studio Morrama and re-designing an object from your GIGA-map through SUBTRACTION. You will design it out. This might be with fewer elements, it might become service, it might be made with a new material or not exist at all.
Final Product
December 2022
The final render shows a retro-futuristic machine that has a funnel for the textile waste to go into. The user inputs prompts on the screen such as the thread colour and embroidery options. Then the machine 'prints' out the final piece of material. This is a speculative product.
Why?
After researching about circular fashion for my thesis and creating a GIGAMAP around knitwear, I was made aware of the size of the textile waste problem. From the large amount of waste created by fast fashion trends putting an 'expiry' date on clothing, to the smaller yet still significant waste that is produced through slow fashion knitted garments. I wanted to play with the idea that textile waste can be restructured into usable material.
To answer the brief and correlate with my interest in direction, I subtracted the ability to produce new fabric from the year 2030 as the World pledged to protect the earths finite resources. This forced us to look at textile waste as an opportunity to create new material from old resources.
How?
After experimenting with different ways to adhere scraps of wool together, I found the most efficient ways were sewing and felting. I decided to explore the felting technique further by producing my own electric needle felting tool. Alongside this, I explored a speculative concept for a machine that transforms fabric scraps into new textile sheets by binding the waste material together through an automated sewing process.
Scroll to see my design process
Research
October 2022
To be able to find interconnections within my topic area of knitwear, I made a GIGAMAP. I chose to research deeper into the social, economic, technological and ecological paths from my topic.
Exploration
October 2022
This stage focused on experimenting with ways to combine yarn scraps. Using water-soluble fabric, I sewed the scraps into place, then dissolved the backing to form a new piece of fabric. I also experimented with needle-felting the scraps onto felt.
Sketching
November 2022
I sketched a few form ideas for the needle felting tool and the speculative sewing machine.
Ideation
November 2022
I explored a few of these ideas further and made digital models of them on Fusion 360.
Prototypes
November 2022
I made several iterations of an electric needle felting machine, later integrating the mechanism into a 3D printed form. I also created a quick prototype of the speculative machine using materials found in the studio.
Final Model
December 2022
While the needle-felting machine had exciting potential, developing it fully would have required more time. With the two-month brief running alongside other university modules, I chose to focus on the speculative machine for the final renders, allowing me to fully realise and communicate that concept.
Show
December 2022
I displayed the work for this project at our Product Design WIP Show.
