Iris van Herpen showcased her five new architectural looks alongside her previous pieces for the Haute Couture collection, combining 3D printing with hand-made processes. The result is a remarkable overview of Iris’s works that featured her profound craftsmanship and her skillful grasp of the materials in relation to the body. I look forward to more!

Photos courtesy of Iris van Herpen

What happens when your filing cabinet is bursting at the seams from years of storage? Take cues from artist Nava Lubelski who used tax returns, rejection letters, and other collected waste paper and  rolled them into these breathtaking sculptures.

Artist statement:
Shredded paper sculptures, such as the Tax Files, reconfigure a mass of paper that has been grouped and saved due to written content, into slabs reminiscent of tree cross-sections where the climate of a given year, and the tree’s overall age are visible in a single slice. Historical information is revealed in the colors of deposit slips, pay stubs, receipts and tax forms. The cellular coils spiral outward, mimicking biological growth, as they are glued together into flat rounds, which suggest lichen, doilies or disease. The re-use of paper, as well as the attempted “repair” of the long-lost original tree, is an examination of feelings of despair about waste and unsustainability while simultaneously responding to the shadow impulse to hoard and keep what is no longer needed.

Tax Files

Rejection Letters

Flotilla by French artist Etienne Cliquet features a series of paper origami measuring two to three centimeters in length which   folds in or out in response to the capillary (absorptive) action when in contact with water. Watch the video for the (un)folding magic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Paper engineer Matt Shlian has produced his latest series of paper pieces replete with intricate geometric patterns. Check out the Process series which are made of layered sheets of paper.

……..

Process series

Images courtesy of Matt Shlian

Currently on display at the Biologiska Museum is the Rhubarb series of lamps made of folded polypropylene. French-born and Sweden-based designer, Emma Marga Blanche, likens it to an ‘elegant “rhubarb” that grows directly out of earth’. The organic-looking lamps are staged around the Museum’s famous interiors which showcase the fantastic diorama of Sweden’s natural landscape. You can catch the exhibition until February 12 as part of Stockholm Design Week 2011.

photo above: Patrik Engström/Plaza Deco

About BIOLOGISKA MUSEUM:
The “Biologiska museet” is situated at Djurgården and was built in 1893. The architecture is inspired by the medieval Norwegian stave churches.

The pioneering educational aspect of the museum was the use of the diorama for the first time on a grand scale in order to present the natural habitat. The perspective of the diorama unites foreground and background. The large, painted backgrounds are the work of Bruno Liljefors who is famous for his dramatic painting of birds and animals.

The vast diorama, which can be viewed from two levels, presents the different types of landscape from inland Sweden as well as from the coast.

About 20 Designers at Biologiska:
An exhibition that is about evolution, diversity, and universality, where contemporary design, art and light is housed in an unexpected context. A magical place of historical and emotional value that creates a dialogue between the stationary, artificial scenery, and the always variable design stage. Curated by Fredrik Färg, Emma Marga Blanche and Hanna Nova Beatrice.

Images courtesy of Biologiska

I’m currently fighting a head cold but couldn’t resist posting about this pretty cool light installation by Berlin-based SAQ. If you bear with me, I would have to partially rely on the designers’ own account of the project, and will do my best to describe the assembly:

SAQ has developed a reactive modular lighting system which propagates like cloud structures mimicking the complexity of weather patterns. This project is an extension of the exploration of architectural pluralism SAQ first began in their Bikini Berlin project, which began construction in January 2011. BotoxCloud’s’ design and physical orientation has a futuristic touch, which explores the idea of pluralistic or probabilistic architecture. In other words, the installation yields various possible structural manifestations. For example, when the light comes through the paper models, its physicality changes.

UPDATE as of March 25 ’11: New video of the installation featuring its responses to human presence

Click here to view the embedded video.

Built to respond to human presence, the lighting system consists of modular variants of papercuts which are folded and pieced together. Currently on view at Zirkumflex till February 26. More info on the project here.

Images via zirkumflex + designboom

Danish architecture student, Rasmus Svingel, has created a model with movable surfaces as part of an architectural study on space and program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The concept is a structure which, depending on needs, climate, etc. can unfold and contract. The model consists of unhardened metal rods that are soldered together and then covered with coarse paper. The moving joints are made by the use of brass tubings. The movement is controlled by pulling carbon wires after which rubber bands resets the entire operation back to the starting position.

via dagens design

Inspired by big-head models seen in video games, Canadian artist Eric Testroete, with the help of Bert Simons and Haywan Chiu, created a self-portrait, faceted paper head mask for his Halloween costume.

The head was modeled in 3d Max based off of his head shots.

the 61 pound matte paper was printed, cut and folded.

Eric and his paper portrait

Reading this post brought back a stream of flashbacks of my days at RISD’s Department of Architecture when Design Principles was (and still is) the first notorious rite of passage for all would-be architects enrolled in the program.

The year-long course presents the fundamentals of design and material performance. Students churned out multitudes of study models using simple materials that vary from year to year (from clay to chipboard and recently, plain paper).

These images showcased the ongoing design explorations by students of professor Gabriel Feld, working under the theme of “Material Operations – from unit to mass”.

a massing representation in charcoal representing the folded unit. (image above)

Interested in learning more about Design Principles? I highly recommend reading this book The Making of Design Principles written by Kyna Leski who is a current professor at RISD Department of Architecture.

via our risd

images via risd2009 Flickr set

Check out the awesome fold-some results of the New York-based design and prototyping workshop, Material Intelligence, held during the week of August 16-20. The workshop was conceived through a collaboration between Studio Mode/modeLab and Tietz-Baccon.

Interested in attending an upcoming modeLab workshop? Get updates on their website.

Material Intelligence Workshop

Brief:
The relationship between the designed object and the forces surrounding that object are always present, perceivable, and tactile. These forces span, among others, material, fabrication, economic, cultural, as well as political domains. In this manner, the object can be thought of as simultaneously existing within a charged field of pressures while adding its own charge back into the field. Contemporary tools (digital fabrication) and technology (associative environments) provide a strategic means for navigating the multitude of forces at play, while the prototype serves as the activating link between material research and design innovation.

Methodology:
This workshop progressed through a series of focused strategies beginning with material testing, followed by the development of prototypes, and arriving at aggregations of a single topological type. Each prototype was created by simple operations, undertaken through a specific disposition, and evaluated for performative potentials. All assemblies were designed in an associative environment (Grasshopper) and iteratively tested utilizing digital fabrication equipment (CNC 3-Axis Mill and CNC High-Force Cutter). The workshop concluded with a reception that exhibited design prototypes and full scale assemblies built by participants over the course of five days.

About Studio Mode/modeLab:

Studio Mode/modeLab is a Brooklyn-based design studio and research collective founded by Ronnie Parsons and Gil Akos. As a studio committed to design as a form of applied research, Mode engages in practices that have a requisite and deep connection to material and the processes by which it is formed and informed.

“While we are interested in intense iterative design processes, we believe the evolution and contextualization of these procedures in a broader social and cultural domain is both our primary objective and the means for embedding interest and significance into design.”

All images courtesy of Studio Mode and Adam Elstein

Swedish graphic designer, Clara von Zweigbergk, was inspired by the geometry of the polyhedra and designed the Themis Mobile for Artecnica. The decor piece consisted of five faceted ornaments with its own distinct palette of color: fluorescent neons, purples and browns. I would love to have one for my workspace!

Big thanks to Clara for the images!

View the video to see how the mobile folds

Recently unveiled at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna is Enzo – a colorful series of outdoor furniture. Jointly conceived by Austria-based creative duo, MN*LS and PPAG Architects, Enzo is an improved fireproof version of a previous outdoor installation called the “Enzis” which were destroyed by a fire in 2009.

The “Enzis” which were previously installed (below)

images courtesy of MN*LS. Bottom image via PPAG Architects

Armed with a fascination for the pentagon, Dutch sculptor and artist, Gerard Caris amassed an extensive portfolio charting the evolution of his geometrical studies in the form of paintings, relief sculptures, 3D sculptures and even architecture. Believing that he has introduced a new chapter in the history of art, he named his artistic pursuit as Pentagonism.

Here are a few exclusive picks of his works:

Large polyhedral net structure rotated to reveal its changing shadows cast on the wall. Made of steelwire, cardboard, linen, paint.

another polyhedral net sculpture

view looking up from below

……………….

Rhombohedra relief sculptures

……………….

dodecahedron sculpture

……………….

Architectural study: modular residential construction

……………….

A painting from the Cosmos series

……………….

Gerard Caris in his studio

More artworks on Gerard Caris’s website

Tensor Voting is a skeletal system of iron components conceived by Swiss designer, Giulio Parini. It consists of iron rods in varying lengths which are slotted into fasteners, and in turn are nailed to the wall. Tensor Voting allows the user to play with varying geometrical configurations by rotating the rods and switching the location of the fasteners. It can function as a wall sculpture or a shelving system which can hold up a few items decently, such as paperbacks and CD cases.

- Design process -

According to Giulio, Tensor Voting is a mathematical algorithm to estimate various characteristics, as dimensions and orientations, of geometrical shapes made by clouds of points. The project began as part of a  continuation of a concept based on Giulio’s scenography design which consisted of triangular modules of cardboard (see image below). (continue)

The result is a trapezoidal chair, and with iron as his material choice, Giulio pursued his design while renting an atelier of an iron sculpture artist.

Discovering the bulk and expense that the metal put him through, Giulio later conceived a deconstructed version of the chair which consisted of rods and bars as ‘skeletons’ of the form.

The chair that never was became a fascinating system of irregular members with shifting geometries.

rods slotted into place

The swinging rods

wall system images via Giulio Parini

Thanks to Giulio for a giving us a peek of his sketches!

Part of my formative years as an architecture student was spent fiddling with fabric while making references to fashion to solve issues of space and structure: a process which I truly enjoyed. Hence I was really excited to come across Elizabeth Delfs – a Perth, Australia-based visual artist whose soft sculptures function as fashion with reference to architecture. Her shape-shifting pieces are abound with tectonic qualities, and are crafted with human interaction in mind, forming dynamic shapes when in motion.

Working with materials such as foam, fly wire and plastics applied with repetitive cutting, smocking and printing, Elizabeth Delfs constructed billowing forms that switched between the interior and exterior, structure and surface. When worn, her garments challenged the wearer on the notions of commercial beauty – on what it means to dress up in unconventional forms, and whether the garments are indeed ‘architecture’.

On a recent June day, Elizabeth Delfs took time in answering a few questions, and shared some thoughts on her inspirations and aspirations as an artist with an interest in interdisciplinary works and collaborations. Huge thanks to Elizabeth who graciously provided the images of her wonderful pieces!

P|F:  Could you tell us about your background, and what interest you about working with textiles?
Elizabeth Delfs (ED): I completed my degree in Fashion and Textile Design at Curtin University of Technology. I have worked between fashion, theatre, design, visual arts etc. I am not so much interested in textiles as I am in material culture; being the language of material and how this evolves and is appropriated through process and concepts, and how these outcomes and processes are reflective of individual and collective ideas to do with past, current and hypnotized histories and artifacts. This is what I am interested in; how these disciplines interweave and speak about cultures from an anthropological perspective, acting as sign posts for the time we live in and provoke alternative thinking. Textiles and fashion is of course a very rich terrain to reference, because cloth and garment are so intimately entwined with all aspects if human existence, be it in Western society or hunter-gather tribes.

P|F: What are your sources of inspiration, if any?
ED: I am interested and influenced by a lot of different art, design, fashion and music. I especially love Japanese fashion designers Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Rei Kawakubo. I am also interested in architects Frank Gehry, Diller Scofidio + Renfro,  as well as visual artists such Maria Blaisse, Mary Temple, John Powers, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, Dale Chihuly, Louise Paramor, Matthew Barney, Hiraki Sawa, Ruth Asawa.

P|F: Do you have any current/upcoming projects you are working on?
ED: I just finished working on a collaboration with architect David Barr, creating a set piece for a contemporary dance production for Steps Dance company (view the images below). Barr based a piece of the set on a work of mine and we produced it together which was a great experience. We worked using sheets of powder coated aluminum which we spray painted and applied a folding process. We produced around 50 pieces and arranged them suspended in a fashion that resembled a nest for the Phoenix from which the colour palette was also derived. I am also working CODA Architects on a public art project for a new building in Northbridge, (which is the night life district of Perth, Western Australia), and making new work.

P|F: If you have an artist or person in mind that you would like to collaborate with in the near future, who would it be and why?
ED: I would love to collaborate with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, they have done some amazing projects that are very innovative and move comfortably between a variety of disciplines, and produce projects that are conceptually and materially provocative.

P|F: Elizabeth, I’m definitely excited to see what you’ll come up next! Wishing you all the best in your future projects!

…………………………………………………..

photographic essay on the ‘space between’ series, with Sydney photographer Helen Eleftheriou and stylist Janai Anselmi

…………………………………………………..

the revolution series

photography: eva fernandez

…………………………………………………..

the collapsible series

photography: Eva Fernandez and Stephen Armistead

…………………………………………………..

installation in collaboration with architect David Barr for Steps Dance company

…………………………………………………..

the space between series

photography: Britt Salt, Christoph Hoppen

images courtesy of Elizabeth Delfs

Old films and cassettes were brought to life by artist Erika Iris Simmons who meticulously shaped the tapes into the likeness of popular figures such as Michael Jackson and John Lennon. The self-taught artist is inspired by a philosophy of how a spirit lives in a body, likening these portraits to ‘ghosts’ dwelling inside the cassette packaging. Love how Erika matched and constructed the tousled locks and frizzies on Marley and MJ with the curls on the tapes. Anyway, these are a few of my favorites:

—

robert smith of the Cure

—

paul griffiths

—

lauryn hill

—

Bon Jovi tribute with “Slippery When Wet” cassette

—

promo for a radio station in conjunction with a German ad agency

left: kungfu cassette.   right: beat boxer

—

the Dude

images via Erika Iris Simmons’ Flickr

Thanks to Lucie Hallenstein, a Fine Arts student at Australia’s RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), who recently sent some images of the Fold and Field exhibition where her lovely paper construction was displayed.

Based on a repeated triangular fold, Lucie’s paper constructions create spaces the viewers can enter, both physically and imaginatively.

Check out these sculptures/wall sconces in the form of origami animal heads created by Chilean designer Veronica Posada of Si Studio and also one-half of Due Amigos. Folded from paper, the lamp sculptures come in the form of a rhinoceros, a deer and a ram. When hung on the wall, the display is reminiscent of hunting trophies in a hunter’s den.

- the ram -

——

- the deer -

——

- the rhino -

images courtesy of Veronica Posada

Dabbling with folding techniques on textiles, Belgian artist/ designer, Tine De Ruysser, has amassed an impressive pleat-goodness of wearable accessories, including her latest batch of vessels. Here are a few selections from her portfolio:

Metalized Folding Textiles

Mirror Bowl. Materials: mirror polyester foil and Tyvek

….

Using a range of folding patterns onto textile composites, Tine created various multi-faceted and flexible containers that often change in shapes and sizes. The bowls are currently on display at the ‘Still Life from Flanders’ exhibition at Gallery Flow in London.

Anemone I & II. Materials: plywood and polyester fabric

…..

close-up of Anemone I

…..

Wave I Copper. Material: copper and polyester fabric

…..

Wave I Plywood. Material: plywood and polyester fabric

…..

———————————

Wearable Metal Origami: Tine’s PhD collection at the Royal College of Art

Shoulder Cape. Material: copper and polyester fabric

…..

folding detail of the shoulder cape

…..

Three bracelets. Materials: copper and polyester, gold plate silver and polyester, silver and polyester

…..

Bracelet turning into bag. Material: copper and polyester

…..

Skirt that changes in length. Material: copper and polyester

———————————

Banknote Jewelry

Linked bracelet made from US dollar bills, turned inside-out.

…..

Tine created the ‘banknote’ collection made by folding paper money as wearable accessories. They can be used as valid currencies by dismantling the jewelry as component banknotes.

6 necklaces from 6 continents.(from inside-out: China, USA, Australia, Europe, South Africa, Argentina,)

…..

Check out Tine’s website for more information.

]]> http://www.pleatfarm.com/2010/03/25/folds-tine-de-ruysser/feed/ 6 http://www.pleatfarm.com/2010/03/19/fat-fringe-layer-design-fix-gallery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fat-fringe-layer-design-fix-gallery http://www.pleatfarm.com/2010/03/19/fat-fringe-layer-design-fix-gallery/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:29:52 +0000 pleatfarmer http://www.pleatfarm.com/?p=4016

Henry Cheung of Los Angeles-based nonprofit research center, Materials and Applications, graciously provided these images of the recent Fat Fringe paper installation at The Fix gallery. The floating paper canopy was built from numerous paper constructions resulted from slicing, punching and folding sheets of paper. Fat Fringe was produced by design office Layer and  Materials and Applications, and built with the help of volunteers. The exhibition is on display until April 8. For more information, check out this link.

Click here to view the embedded video.

paper structures awaiting their fate

Photography: Henry Cheung