ATELIER

Atelier was the first big project I worked on at AMFI. The idea was that through experimentation with shape, drape, color, and print eventually a garment should be made. The key was that it was not supposed to resemble a ‘normal-looking' piece of clothing. 

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Through this experimentation, first with paper and later with fabric, I found my main source of inspiration: liquidity. Specifically: the liquid inside a lava lamp. The way this liquid is free to move around without any restrictions of gravity gives an interesting shape. 

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It was hard to capture this shape using fabric. I worked a lot on CLO to figure out how to create a shape that would do the lava justice but would also work in real life. This took me some trial and error. However, it also taught me a lot about the drape of different types of fabric as well as how to work with the program CLO. 

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For the print, I had a different inspiration, namely the rings of trees. I was mesmerized by the fact that they hold a visual history of their lives inside of them. I tried out different ideas of how to capture this in a print and compared them to my shape design. In my final design, I let the rings of the trees move with the shape of the garment, to give the round shape more strength. 

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For the actual technique of printing, I used sublimation. This was kind of hard since I had to calculate beforehand where the print would be put before stitching the entire garment. I printed each pattern piece individually and then constructed the garment. 

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I really enjoyed the experimentation with different, new techniques during this project. What I did realize, is that I prefer to work with actual garments rather than shapes. The storytelling, through garments, is what I really enjoy and therefore I also really enjoyed researching my concept.