Hasta La Ideas

Photo: Christrini

Core77 has had the pleasure of chronicling New Skins, a workshop led by designer Francis Bitonti, which took place from July 22 to August 8 at Pratt’s Digital Arts and Humanities Research Center in Brooklyn, NY. As a pioneer in the digital fashion design space, Bitonti’s practice is primarily concerned with the wearable applications of computationally-based design methodologies and cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. His efforts in the classroom are an extension of his work in the studio, a fast-paced, process-centric approach to new and emerging technologies and their potential to yield never-before-scene results.

We’ve previously published coverage of weeks one and two of the summer intensive, which was sponsored by the Pratt DAHRC, Makerbot and 3D NYC Lab. In addition to the report on the third week and final project, Bitonti has graciously allowed us to present the video documentation of the course as it unfolded this past summer.

By Francis Bitonti Studio

The third week of Francis Bitonti‘s New Skins: Computional Design for Fashion Workshop at Pratt Institute’s Digital Arts and Humanities Research Center brought the students together in the creation of their final garment: the Verlan Dress. All twelve of the students worked together throughout the final week to realize a new design, which integrated different components of the two garments previously selected by the jury at the end of the second week—designer Vito Acconci, fashion designer Jona from INAISCE, and representatives from MakerBot—as chronicled in our Week Two recap.

The students created the geometry for the dress using 3D anatomical models of the human body, then abstracted hidden lines and vectors of the human body (muscles, veins and arteries) into curves that could be manipulated in a 3D modeling environment. The inspiration for turning the body inside out, projecting the interior to the exterior of the body, creating a second skin from what lies underneath led to the name Verlan dress; the French slang word refers to reversing the first and last syllables, turning the word inside out.

Throughout the design process, the students focused on developing a unique formal language that would conform to the body through a procedural algorithm; finding a voice through a new emerging manufacturing paradigm. “We do not want to be teaching technology for the sake of technology,” explains Bitonti. “This isn’t about training technicians or draftsmen. We are trying to teach students to think through the computer as a medium and develop sensibilities for these new virtual materials.”

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