The Opposite Puntuzko Jantzien Bilduma

Press Kit

Unique Properties

"The Opposite", a unisex fashion knitwear collection, aims to create a new concept of modern garments with multiple wearing methods. It features the zero-cut, zero-waste, highly adaptable, flexible wearability and longevity of the design through highlighting sustainable design thinking and digital design attributes. The stylish items in the two outfits can be easily interchanged and matched. Rather than focusing on providing a figurative silhouette or identity, the collection is more concerned with the inclusion of the product to the user. It intends to explore the process of confrontation and cooperation between contradictory elements through the development of flexible knitted structures and changeable garment constructions, questioning the common notions of men's and women's wear, and Eastern and Western clothing.

Dimensions & Packaging

This garment is an all-size design and will fit most people of average build.

Tags

Fashion Design, Knitwear, Multiple Wearing Methods, Unisex Design, Digital Knitting, Sustainable Design, Zero-waste, Zero-cut, Adaptative Design

Production Technology

This project was essentially completed in Hong Kong, China in 2019. Relevant research for design development has been published in Science Citation Index journals and obtained a China Utility Model Patent. The collection has been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum, in San Francisco, USA. Research related to the design project is being continued.

Design Challenge

The special three-dimensional knitted structure shows a unique surface texture effect and deformation ability, but it also creates a problem for the composition and relative stability of the garment structure. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. This flexible and versatile nature provides unlimited possibilities for the continuous development of this design.

Research

This design research is exploratory and practice-led in nature. The proposed design offers a new approach to innovative fashion that integrates surface design and construction design through a digital knitting process, which bridges the gap between modern knitting technology and fashion design. Textile structural research-led design allows clothing design to be no longer limited by the inherent framework, i.e., gender, identity, etc., but rather to look back at the matter of wearing itself, i.e. the interaction between clothing and the body. Both objective and subjective evaluation were involved. The results of a series of performance tests have evolved into serval formulas and a design database that provide quantifiable and predicate criteria for upcoming designs.

Inspiration

The inspiration comes from the visiting experience of the AUDIO ARCHITECTURE exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo, Japan. There was one unique exhibit in the exhibition a special song. The song's lyrics present various contradictory words, such as structure and surface, chaos and order, sound and silence, to discuss the dynamic relationship between audio and architecture. It inspires me that, many items seem the opposite, such as artificial and natural, body and soul, or, knit and purl, however, are they opposites? Or are they an ultimate whole? As a Chinese idiom says "Seek common ground while reserving differences". This point of view may offer one possible approach for global humanity to face the contemporary dilemma of the post-epidemic era.

Project Duration

This project was essentially completed in Hong Kong, China in 2019. Relevant research for design development has been published in Science Citation Index journals and obtained a China Utility Model Patent. The collection has been exhibited at the Asian Art Museum, in San Francisco, USA.

Operation Flow

The identity of both the designer and the user in this design is fluid. The designer plays as also a researcher and an engineer, involved in all aspects of design, development, and production. Meanwhile, the stylish items of the collection can be easily interchanged and re-matched, thus the user is encouraged to re-generate his/her style continuously. The essential concept determines the interaction of this design is always in a dynamic process of development and innovation.

Image Credits

Image #1-5: Photographer: Joseph, Raysee Media/ Model: Sofia Korobova