GEMS

Best Material Exploration

2016

Material: Gefjon fabric by Kvadrat (100% silk).

As a part of collaboration with one of the leading European textile company, Kvadrat, I was honoured to get the opportunity to use some of the discontinued fabrics provided by Kvadrat. The project is called Soft Materiality Explorations, and the main idea is to give a new life to these discontinued fabrics by using the 2D materials to create 3D products. After six weeks, the final products were judged by few judges such as Melissa Liu Poulsen from Kvadrat Singapore, Sabrina Long as the dean of NAFA, design journalist Lim Fong Wei, and designer Pann Lim of K+ Curratorial Space. The selected products were awarded with 5 different awards from best exploration to most innovative, and also showcased at the Kvadrat office for a few days.  

With some fashion techniques learned from our fellow fashion department, I learned about the Shibori technique. The Shibori technique works with objects tied on to the fabrics and put into boiling water. It allows the fabric to memorise the shape and form of the objects used. Inspired by the facets on the gems, I redesigned and 3D printed some "new" gems to recreate it on Kvadrat fabrics. The idea is really to recreate how the scarf seems to hold objects inside, even though it is empty.