Fashion Industry Studies graduate student, Camila Cordeiro Valle, offers a glimpse into the future of fashion with her current exhibit in the Design Innovation Hub’s MuseLab.
Valle’s “Exploring 3D Print Waste in Fashion” is a graduate student thesis that seeks to challenge industry standards. Elegant garments dot the room as part of a timeline that takes the viewer on a journey of initial curiosity to full-scale application of 3D print waste in textile design and co-creation.
“I went to the DI Hub and was like, ‘Hey, what do you have that’s trash?’” Valle said. “I started collecting a bunch of materials and I just started playing with it.”
After initial experimentation, Valle hosted a series of workshops at DI where she taught others how to use the would-be-wasted filament on items like tote bags and t-shirts. These workshops, she said, were invaluable to her creative process.
“A lot of times in the industry, we just think that we need to do stuff by ourselves and that's not how we evolve as a society,” Valle said.
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries and the transition to sustainable materials will prove to be a challenge for the designers of today. By getting a head start with experimentation of biodegradable materials such as PLA filament, Valle said she hopes to broaden the approach to sustainability.
“It’s not an option to be sustainable anymore,” she said. “It’s a tool as a designer.”
Visit the "Exploring 3D Print Waste in Fashion" exhibit in the DI HUB though Friday, March 10 located in the MuseLab (2nd floor, Room 231).