Context and Credits

Context:

Zero-waste design in fashion is an inherently radical practice.

It could be argued that it is anti-capitalistic when placed in the right context. Zero-waste design requires that all hierarchies are levelled. The cutter, machinist, and designer are suddenly working in tandem. The silos holding fashion and textiles separate are broken down and the two practices become one. These are things that are not able to happen in today’s industry due to profit and growth being the driving factors behind design.

In the past, the process of designing through cutting has been proposed by various practitioners. This project builds on this notion by exploring how surface design through print can inform a process of zero-waste cutting for the body.

Design should be driven by investigation and the goal to find new processes rooted in a holistic view of sustainability. Design driven by aesthetic quality feeds into the growth mindset of the industry. Here, print is used as a tool for zero-waste cutting rather than purely as an aesthetic device.

This book showcases a selection of zero-waste techniques used within this investigation.

During the process, boundaries between surface and form are blurred, as are those between the digital and analog approaches taken.

Some prints look as though they were placed on forms digitally, while others look projected.

Some were a combination of all of the above.

Credits:

I would like to thank Holly McQuillan and Timo Rissanen. Although this book is just the start of a never ending process, the context for what I’m exploring wouldn’t exist without the underpinning of the years of research they’ve done in contemporary zero-waste design.

I would like to thank Lewis Simpson for being such a willing model and equally such a good friend.

I would finally like to thank Leo Kerrigan for letting me use his house as a studio every week, for helping with photography, and for always making sure we never went too long without a good laugh.

The Final Outcome

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