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Waterlilies
Individual Project
Year: 2017/18
Pre-consumer waste upcycling
Waterlilies
The collection aims to celebrate pastel colours through an impressionistic colour palette applied onto pre-consumer textile yardage. It brings the delicate waterlilies on the pond straight onto your clothes. This project addresses specifically from a designer’s perspective the challenges to upcycle white 100% polyester textiles. It is commonly known that polyester textiles retain only low amount of dyes, but it does not have to be seen as a property weakness, but instead as a positive outcome. Marvellous pastel colours could be achieved actually.
The pastel dyed polyester textiles are chopped up into small stripes and tied individually onto a mesh framework to form a waterlily pond landscape. The collection is balanced out with pastel coloured end-of-roll organic cotton textiles. Due to the mesh structure it becomes easy to disassemble from cotton as it is hand appliquéd onto it and the polyester stripes can be untied or cut off from the mesh as well.
Opting for the anti-slip underlay opens up endless possibilities to play around with embellishing. It engages easy-to-do handcraft for garment workers avoiding complex embellishment training and the surface designs could be industrialized like cross stitch patterns for duplication. Designers have the flexibility to control the colours and the surface design each time. It brings a new dimension to clothing design because as a designer you can continuously recreate new surface designs even onto the same base mesh, so dead stock can be avoided on the long run. This technique also allows zero wastage as the stripe’s length and width is fitted to use the entire textile.
Endorsing consumers with prearranged dyed colour stripe sets could also be solution to promote longevity and creatively refresh customer’s wardrobe without the purchase of a new item.
Process Work Videos
Vest
Dress
Clutch
Exhibition
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