Desert
Jacquard and Dobby Wovens / 2016-2018
From Silver City
A collection of wovens inspired by time spent in the Chihuahan Desert of Southern New Mexico. Hazy, disorienting, shimmering effects were explored through double weaves, optical patterns, metallic fibers, and varying reed densities. Interspersed are dramatic, lush areas evoking desert blooms and expansive skylines.
Compound Kirigami and Mapped Folds
Honeycomb Knit / 2020
From Zero-Waste Shaping Research
A traditional kirigami honeycomb folding structure translated into a knit fabric, creating a soft, flexible, collapsible material. When a small amount of pressure is applied to one side or the other, the material can expand, contract, and “breathe,” allowing more or less light in depending on outside conditions. Paper folded, strung models below.
Mapped Folds / 2020
From Zero-Waste Shaping Research
Experimenting with mapping knit structures onto complex forms as a way to create tailored, textured, zero-waste pieces. By combining a folding pleated structure with larger dynamic shapes, complex forms are collapsible right off the machine with no need for after-processing.
Circle Dance
Stoll Knits and Handlinked Cast Metal / 2017
From collaboration with Bruce Li
Five costumes made in collaboration with Bruce Li for an allegorical dance including a lion, a living elephant, a spirit elephant, a hunter, and a tree. The first costume, the hunter, references an abstracted camouflage. The second and fourth costumes, the two elephants, were knit using a translucent, spun nylon to mimic an elephant’s crepey skin, combining sheer areas with a multi-layer spacer knit to create the curving ribs. In the second outfit, these “ribs” are also stuffed with colorful, hand space-dyed nylons that glow through their translucent casing.
The piece above is a hand-linked breastplate of hand-sculpted and cast “bones,” including set crystals.
Shades
Dobby Woven / 2017
From Experiments in transparency
Prototypes for future projects involving curtains and space dividers that change based on environmental conditions. In many light conditions, the fabrics appear solid and muted. But occasionally, when the light is right, hidden layers of texture and color reveal themselves.
Algal FIlms
Films / 2020
From Algae-based material research
Inspired by traditional Inuit raincoats made from seal bladders, which are naturally lightweight, transparent, and water-tight. Selected studies from initial experiments below are all algae-based and biodegradable, using paper pulp, mussel shells, and charcoal to add texture, strength, and color.
The material shown below achieved the goals of being lightweight, water-resistant, transparent, and creasable without being brittle. Initial tests showed it can be sumberged in water for days without degrading, but can be fully dissolved with boiling water. With refinement, the material could be used as a collapsible membrane for things like tenting, or sunshades.
