Garnish: Transposable Fauna
2021
Garnish: Transposable Fauna is a collection of 2 textile sculptures and 11 swatches. This project revisits previous explorations in Garnish: Transposable Flora, which reimagined embellishment for a circular fashion system. Expanding on Flora’s consideration of end of life and focus on biodegradable materials, Fauna introduces recyclable components – polyester fabric and metal wire. The natural dye pigment drawn from blue and green algae forms the foundation of the design work in this project, due to the focus on materials that can be safely composted or recycled. These pigments also draw a fundamental connection to the project’s oceanic animal inspiration.
Victorian collars served as examples of removable ornament as earlier work established the separation of embellishment from a garment extends its lifetime. A tie and loop system was developed for the sculptures to accommodate for a range of heights or placements.
The accompanying swatches demonstrate that a wide range of tactile and implied textures can be created through sustainable means. Starch-based bioplastic has been piped into sequins, scrapped across textiles as stiffener and shaped in molds. Fauna’s fabrics have also been embellished with pleats, and embroidery culminating in playful otherworldly textile-scapes.
Theme and Palette
The oceans are home to incredible and bizarre life forms. Animals such as sea slugs, pufferfish and thorny oysters provided inspiration for colourful interpretations of fish skins painted in food-based inks, set in palette of delicate mint, soft pinks and deep inky blues that are punctuated with vibrant cobalt, golden yellow, and brilliant orange.
Food Dyes and Inks
Fully Home Compostable
Beetroot • Turmeric• Green and Blue Spirulina Algae • Butterfly Pea Flower • Davidson Plumb • Salt
Materials
Biodegradable and Recyclable
Silk • Cotton • Starch-Based Bioplastic • Polyester • Gold Plated Steel
Methods
Component Building
Hand Painting • Natural Dying • Digital Printing • Cooking • Piping • Coating • Molding • Embedding
Hole-Punching • Pleating • Heat Setting • Punch Needle • Hand Stitching
Assembly
Hand Stitching • Hand Cutting • Gluing with Bioplastic
Collection
Artifacts and Swatches
Artifact 1 Digitally printed cotton, bioplastic sequins and coating, pleated, hand stitched Muli length loop options allow for a waist tie to be threaded through to hold collar in place for a wide range of heights.
Swatch 11 Digitally printed cotton
Artifact 1 Digitally printed cotton, bioplastic sequins and coating, pleated, hand stitched Muli length loop options allow for a waist tie to be threaded through to hold collar in place for a wide range of heights.
Northey