TOPIC: Embodied Fabrication

Instructors:

Dr Joëlle Bitton
Verena Ziegler
Aurelian Ammon

Guest contributions:
Laetitia Frost & Naomi Bulliard, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, UAL
Guests bios:

Naomi Bulliard

Naomi is linguist and multilingual educator with expertise in participatory design, cultures of sustainability and intercultural collaborations. She has worked in academic and professional roles in education across locations and generations, and has created professional development courses and awards in intercultural and inclusive working practices.

As Head of Strategy at Centre for Sustainable Fashion, one of University of the Arts’ Research Centres, Naomi oversees strategic activities across Research, Education and Knowledge Exchange, and the development of sustainability literacy and strategies. She has worked on a number of international cross-sector collaborations centred around experiential learning, displacement, diversity and inclusion, and design for sustainability.

Laetitia Frost

Laetitia is a multi-technique textile designer whose practice explores the tension between technical challenges and creativity in sustainable design for textiles. Laetitia trained as a textile designer at ENSAD Paris before working as a freelance textile designer for fashion, interiors and consulting in eco-design. She carried out her PhD research on the subject of textile design for disassembly in relation to recycling challenges at the Centre for Circular Design at Chelsea College of Arts. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher on two UAL research projects: the Business of Fashion Textiles and Technology (BFTT) project with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, and HEREWEAR with the Centre for Circular Design.

Office hours by appointment

The course runs from 16.11.21 - 24.12.21, from 9.00 - 17.00. See Timetable for more detailed hours.

Overview and Objectives

The course proposes an examination and speculation of technologies as they related to Embodied Interaction (ie. mobile computing, wearable interfaces, location-based interactions and digital fabrication...).
This examination covers societal, ethical and social influences.

This year, the course puts an emphasis on 'Embodied Fabrication', where digital fabrication is approached from the perspective of embodiment.
With more flexible and more accessible modes of fabrication, and with social aspects of fabrication emerging in recent years, we have the opportunity to investigate ways that we can transform our physical selves and environments.

During this module, we'll uncover some of these possibilities by designing and informing our bodily environment with personal data. By group work, you'll propose such form of body extension.
Design factors may include:
• material intimacy
• processes of fabrication / physical interactions that impact digital fabrication
• data tracking & mapping
• wearability
• performative aspects

Your work will encounter some of these research questions:

What does interaction Design bring to the topic of Digital Fabrication?

How can the theory of embodied interaction influence digital fabrication processes?

Can the outcome of the fabrication reflect the theory of embodiment?

What tools/technology can be used to facilitate this process?

How can data be materialised in physical form? Can the data be understood, or is it a purely aesthetic output?

Expectations and Gradings

Grades will be based on group presentations and exercises, class participation, documentation (journal) and final work.
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation.
Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Final work 50%

Group exercises/presentations 20%

Journal Documentation 20%

Class participation 10%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.

Deliverables

Kickoff Exercise: Analogue Data Collection
Look for sources of your personal body data in the real world. What traces do we leave behind that give us indications about our movements, vital signs or emotions?
Be aware of the data you're collecting without intention. Or are you currently collecting data intentionally?
Record videos or take photos to indicate and attempt to extract the data or reflect on it.
Represent that data in a performative way.
Presentation/performance: max 2 minutes
Individual work
Weekly progress reviews
Booklet 1st concept, prototype & inspirations
Friday Workshop
- Tutorials for scraping Instagram, scraping Tinder, using database from Google Location History in kml format in Processing, using Real Time location with GYROSC, and using socket.io with localhost.run to connect web sockets are here::: Tutorials_scraping_gps_and_more_avt.pdf
Final Project and Presentation: Wearable designed from personal data
Use Data-Collection, Generative Design Methods and Digital Fabrication to create a Data Driven Wearable (fashion item, prosthesis, orthesis, prosthetics, implant, etc).
Questions to consider in your process:
- What drives the design? (example: is it functional, speculation or critique)
- Where could the data come from? (example: sensors)
- How do you map the data to a geometry? (example: using a metaphor)
- Or is the form making process inspired by existing models? (example: fungus, cell division, mathematical geometry,…)
- What is the fabrication process?
In groups of four or five students
Presentation Format: Exhibition of Experiments & Performance with Final Prototypes together with an oral presentation.
Presentation on: 23.12.21
Documentation
- A 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the course. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):
  - The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
  - The lecture notes, including annotations, are stored
  - Notes, sketches for each lesson should be included as well
- Final Documentation per usual guidelines: hi-res pics, PDF with text, video documentation (see Wiki)

Course outline

Timetable 2021

Student Teams & Journals

Sonia, Nemo, Celina, Andreas
- Notion
Aathmigan, Baran, Gian, Kilian
- Notion
- Medium
Kimon, Nicola, Tim
- Medium
Lydia, Alec, David
- Notion
- Figma
Alessia, Mai, Ramona, Daniela
- Notion

Journals Readings

Embodied Interaction: Exploring the Foundations of a New Approach to HCI

http://acadia.org/papers

Creating physical visualizations with makervis

Supporting the design and fabrication of physical visualizations

https://issuu.com/pabloherrera/docs/algorithmicmodelling

Related Projects (small selection)

Visualisation

Magnetic Movie

Technorama Building (analog wind visualization)

Experimental study of apparent behavior

Study for Fifteen Points

Parametric design and Digital Fabrication for Inflatables

Fashion context

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/336573772141747181/

http://behnazfarahi.com/bodyscape/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/564779609510964664/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/563794447076862696/

http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/miura-ori-skin/

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/288511919858286303/

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/rottlace/overview/

Tools and Software

Rhino 6.0 Trial for Windows or Rhino 5.2 for Mac (90 Day test license) including Grasshopper
https://shiftr.io/
Skanect (3d scanning with kinect)
Meshmixer (editing meshes)

Tools available: 3D printer (Ultimaker, Delta, Cetus, Single-line), laser cutter, foam cutter, wire bender, photogrammetry....