Crafted Systems is a wonderful example of a creative project that promotes the art of handicraft and supports local manufacturing through community partnership in Portland, Oregon. By collaborating with the YWCA women’s shelter to create custom-designed felt pieces, Crafted Systems becomes an empowering platform for women-in-transition to develop real-world skills that they can also take pleasure in. The felt vessels are a few of the various products of that collective effort, woven from 100% natural wool felt which are waterjet, diecut, and later hand-assembled.

Industrial designer and founder of Crafted Systems, Aurelie Tu, came up with a series of geometrical ‘modules’ woven together by overlapping the edges to produce the felt vessels. Each basket is unique in texture and dimension due to the hand-crafted quality, and never the smooth and perfectly-chiseled products you get from mass-manufacturing processes.

The bowls, baskets and other products are available for purchase online at Crafted Systems.

Huge thanks to Aurelie Tu for the lovely images!

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small felt diamond bowls

‘teardrop’ felt vases

tall and medium felt baskets

crafting at the YWCA

Polish designer, Małgorzata Mozolewska, created the M Chair made by pleating fabric. When a seater wants a little privacy, simply pull the handles on both edges, and the chair transforms into a partitioned seat. Depending on user preference, the size of the partition can vary by pushing and pulling.

Thanks to Małgorzata for the images!

Mowo Studio of Poland designed the Bufa Chair inspired by the craft of pleating. A two-dimensional felt folds into a seat at the pull of a string on both sides of the fabric.

Material: polyester felt and stainless steel.

Mowo is made up of Monika Elikowska-Opala and Wojciech Opala

The Sessile Handbag by interaction designer Grace Kim is an exploration in merging natural forms with technology. It is hand knitted, felted, and appliqued with ruched cotton “barnacles”. Embroidered into the bag are white surface mount LEDs that alternately fade in and out, creating a gentle, pleasing light.

images courtesy of Grace Kim

Design duo Fox and Freeze, James van Vossel and Tom de Vrieze, produced their first studio collaboration called the ff1 or fox & freeze 1 chair. It is an indoor lounge chair made out of 1 square sheet of synthetic felt which is twisted and tightened in place with a flax rope. Watch the little clip showing just how much the structurally self-supporting chair can withstand the force of a jumping adult.

Click here to view the embedded video.

felt sheet is bent and slotted into place

detail of the slots

The ff1 chair is for sale at the webshop. Thanks to Fox and Freeze for the images.

Designer Janneke Verhoeven loves triangles, and her recent graduate collection at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts speaks of her fascination with the geometry. In Collusion of Angles, Janneke created an interplay between rigidity and softness by utilizing the geometric forms of the tangram puzzle. Recently Janneke took time to show her pieces and answered some questions regarding her design process. The collection was accompanied with shoes designed by Miriam van Weeghel, and were developed with wooden structures inspired by the Kapla principle.

What is the title, and concept behind your most recent collection?: The title of my collection is ‘a collusion of angles’.
 Searching for a way to integrate structures in my work, I used the geometric forms of the tangram puzzle. Shapes are created around the body with either flowing or rigid forms. Flowing lines are interrupted or disturbed by angles, by inserting triangles from stiff leather into fluent fabrics. They make parts of the garments protrude from the body, creating unexpected shapes with a renewed elegance. Another take on using the geometric forms is by using triangle-shaped pieces of fabric, which I folded around the body. This way I start a pattern from a really abstract form, and just with little adjustments I try to make a real wearable garment.

What are your inspirations for the collection/ how did you begin the design process?: I get most of my inspirations from things that I notice around me, this time it started with work of the artist Andreas Gursky, which is a lot about structures. Then I found an image of a tangram puzzle, which intrigued me, since it’s a really basic principle of creating something new, by structuring the pieces. So this is how tangram became the main inspiration. (continue below)

(cont’d) I began the design with the mannequin, and start folding and shaping fabric around the form. This mostly ends up in piles and piles of pictures. And in the end I only use around 5 principles for the real collection. I make collages of these and this way I try to create a certain image/feel. Through the whole process it’s a constant development of the collection, also with the inspiration, but also the designs keep developing. I find it very important to keep open minded during the process, and not stick to a very first idea.

What kinds of materials and main techniques used for the collection?: One of the techniques I used in this collection, was making groups of stiff leather triangles and fuse fluent fabrics with these groups. When I drape this around a body, the stiff triangles disturb the fluent lines, this creates stiff forms that protrude from the body. The materials I used in the collection are a combination of natural fabrics such as felt wools, silks, laser-cut leather. But also in contrast synthetic materials, like a blue sheer polyester and high shine polished leathers.

What are the most important things you have learned from your teachers and mentors?: I think I had really great teachers, Goran Pejkoski of Maison Martin Margiela and Lilian Driessen of Viktor & Rolf, who taught me how to structure my design process, to start early with making choices. I also learned to keep an open mind, and not be afraid to ‘kill your darlings’, which can be hard of course.

What is your current fascination (can be fashion, art, design, current issues, books, etc.)?: One of my main fascinations at the moment is still structures, and I don’t know exactly what it is about the triangle, but it’s a shape that keeps me really intrigued, so I want to find out what that is with the triangle

Check out the video of the collection here.

Editorial Photography by Bob van Rooijen

Runway Photography by Sanne Peper

The Tetra Chair is designed by Julia Göransdotter who is currently studying at the Swedish School of Textiles. Conceived as a ‘transformable coal’, the chair’s malleability comes from its folding facets which allow the user to adjust his or her seating position. The Tetra Chair was exhibited at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2010.

Thanks to cousin Tim Lui who brought this chair to attention!

Material: recyclable polyester felt over foam

Re:cover chairs by Swedish designer Fredrik Färg are a series of re-used chairs upgraded with folded felt backrests. Fredrik removes the backs of old chairs collected from flea markets, and re-dresses each one with a textile structure made from recyclable polyester felt.

The chair design was influenced by the classic tailoring of garments such as suits and jackets. The felt backrests can be taken off and shaped into fashion accessories.

images via designboom + Fredrik Färg

Designer Leanne Marshall recently unveiled her Fall/Winter 2010 collection with plenty of textural goodness. Inspired by topography, Leanne incorporate undulating layers similar to landscape contours on a map, which also give shape to her garments.

Photographs: Getty Images

via coutorture

Korean Designers Sangmin Bae and ID+IM Design Lab. Members conceived the Love Pot – a non-electric humidifier plus aroma dispenser. Its floral-shaped, honeycombed tissue ball is made from laminated wool felt to maximize evaporation in limited volume. It also absorbs water fast, and launders well. The pot is sold for $30 for the charitable Nanum project, where 100% of the profits go to provide educational scholarships to impoverished children.

via yanko design

Made by folding and gluing layers of industrial felt, Elephant Seating, designed by architect Ben Ryuki Miyagi uses the idea of folding to pay homage to traditional Japanese origami. The choice of material was inspired by works of the late-twentieth-century German artist Josef Beuys, who used felt in many of his conceptual objects and installations.  The sofa was designed intentionally to expose its construction technique as the form. Here, the act of folding synthesizes the technological construction as well as the cultural construction of a sofa.

Elephant Seating is aptly named due to its resemblance to an elephant in terms of its color, texture, and ear-like elements that act as armrests.

Since the sofa is soft, it can be shipped without the risk of being damaged. No assembly is required by the user.  The seat area is structurally stabilized by the vertical folding and layering of the felt sheets. The ear-like pieces hanging from the armrests provide lateral stability. They are folded out from the seating. There is a piece of a plywood embedded in each armrest to maintain the shape. This prototype was made by the architect himself in his studio. Because it involves nothing more than a dense layering of fabric, folded and glued in calculated ways, it does not require elaborate tools or specialised factory processes to manufacture. Each felt sheet needs to be cut to a precise shape, but the process of folding and gluing them can be done relatively easily and quickly in a space about the size of a bedroom.

images via ben ryuki miyagi

]]> http://www.pleatfarm.com/2010/01/02/origami-inspired-elephant-seating-couch/feed/ 0 http://www.pleatfarm.com/2009/12/02/textile-works-mia-cullin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=textile-works-mia-cullin http://www.pleatfarm.com/2009/12/02/textile-works-mia-cullin/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:12:32 +0000 pleatfarmer http://www.pleatfarm.com/?p=2089

I simply adore Swedish designer Mia Cullin‘s textiles with an emphasis on handcrafted construction and geometric assemblies inspired by folding and origami.

Flake wall screen

photo credit: Sameli Rantanen

Cabbage foldable bowls

photo credit: Mathias Nero

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Polygon cushion cover

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Lily cushion cover detail

photo credit: Mathias Nero

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Flower wall screen

photo credit: Sameli Rantanen

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Loop wall screen

photo credit: Mathias Nero

via Mia Cullin

Central Saint Martins grad and textile designer, Eunsuk Hur, conceived this amazing series of interchangeable modular system of textile pieces as a response to our temporal identities and constantly transformative human nature. Called the Nomadic Wonderland, each garment can be pieced together in numerous ways, giving the user freedom to design and manipulate into a variety outfits and interior accessories.

Eunsuk used laser cutting and various printing processes such as sublimation printing on wood, acid printing on wool felt, etching onto leather as well as handcraft techniques. The user is given the choice of color, shape and textiles that can be altered many times, thus creating a durable and sustainable product.

photo credits: Eunsuk Hur

View her complete portfolio here

Thanks to Design Academy Eindhoven grad & designer Laura Boffi for introducing her eco-friendly curtain/air-conditioning unit called Fresco di Lana, made of wool felt moistened by the pumping of water from ceramic tanks to create a cooling effect. By placing the the curtain in front of open windows on hot days, heat passing through the wet honeycomb felt structure would cool as it enters the room. The curtain also acts as a vertical green screen for growing plants. Another ‘green’ bonus is the use of pure wool from the native sheep in Sardinia for the felt structures. Cool!

The curtain/air-conditioner/green wall = triple cool!

functional diagram of the pump and the curtain

the honeycomb structure

Diagram showing the curtain assembly

You can check up Laura’s design activities on her blog

]]> http://www.pleatfarm.com/2009/11/23/fresco-di-lana-laura-boffi/feed/ 0 http://www.pleatfarm.com/2009/11/04/studio-aisslinger-coral-seating-lamp/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=studio-aisslinger-coral-seating-lamp http://www.pleatfarm.com/2009/11/04/studio-aisslinger-coral-seating-lamp/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:00:54 +0000 pleatfarmer http://www.pleatfarm.com/?p=1504

Influenced by the namesake, the CORAL editions by Studio Aisslinger comprise of seating units and suspension lamps, each formed by clustering numerous hexagonal funnels into a porous geodetic structure. Aside from the predominantly-felt lampshade, each funnel shaping the seat is made with a hybrid of felt and polycarbonate, giving it some form of elasticity.

The CORAL suspension lamps can be viewed at the DMY Asia Exhibition Tour

images via studio aisslinger

Displayed at the Designersblock London 2009, Geo-y by Dee McMahon is an awesome geodesic light shade made up of several 3mm thick needle felt templates cutouts . Inspired by traditional furniture joinery, the Perspex pieces are used to secure the folded felt templates. Click for images.

The light glows through the cuts in each of the felt templates, and the interconnecting perspex pieces act as light tunnels.

The perspex pieces and felt template cutouts before assembly

via verydesignersblock

Check out these vintage-inspired 1920s wool felt cloches filled with awesome pleated details by Oaklander Behida Dolić. More detailed images after the jump.

A little biography: Behida Dolić was born in a small village in northern Bosnia in 1982. Due to the dreadful Balkan wars in the 1990s, Behida, along with one of her sisters and her brother, left Bosnia with many other refugees. She studied fine art & conservation for two years in Florence, Italy. It was during this time that Behida first encountered & fell in love with early 20th Century American fashion, and began making hand-draped cloche hats. In 2003 she moved to San Francisco to earn her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She currently lives in Oakland and hopes to open her own shop soon.

Check out her Etsy shop.

Anne Kyyrö Quinn’s studio collaborated with installation artist Francesco Draisci to create a wool felt curtain system. Called the Icework, the curtain’s surface is folded into honeycomb textures to reduce sound levels in a library, and the system also acts as a shielding device for the library’s video and audio equipments when not in use.

images via Anne Kyyrö Quinn

These gorgeous textile wall panels are created by Anne Kyyrö Quinn studio, each cut and sewn by hand, and currently gracing the walls of Swissotel to the Bloomberg Beijing HQ. Using 100% wool felt, each panel is fitted with strips of diagonal twists, creating interesting textures, and also acting as a soundproofing device. More images at a click.

Here is an excerpt of the works from the website:

“Anne Kyyrö Quinn’s sculptural approach has pioneered a new genre of interior textiles based on three-dimensional structure rather than smooth surface ornamentation. Our products are based on a portfolio of eighteen core designs inspired by organic shapes and expressed with Scandinavian simplicity. Whether crafted into cushions, throws, table runners, wall panels or blinds, each design has a tactile feel that appeals to the eye as well as to the hand. As we merge twenty-first century design with textures inspired by the natural world, our products bridge the gulf between the urban interior and the natural landscape, and bring an elegant, unassuming beauty into everyday life.”

images via Anne Kyyrö Quinn

Anything that spits ‘luxury’ and ‘Made in LA’ somehow do not bid me well. Nonetheless, I do want to note these fine ankle boots from LA-based Omelle – the ‘luxury’ footwear brand. Designed by Nicole LaFave who has a background in graphic and knitwear design, each pair is characterized by the wraparound fabric pinned with with a fabric-encased button. The brown high wraparound boots with the string detail is definitely my favorite. More images after the jump.

via Omelle