3D Printed Fashion Show In Malaysia
When Belgium-based 3D printing innovators Materialise approached avante-garde award-winning Malaysian fashion designer Melinda Looi with an offer to collaborate on a 3D printed collection for the runway, Looi was thrilled with the opportunity. The collection involved a team of six to eight people, including three 3D modelers, two engineers, and Looi’s own design team. Each piece took months to design and convert into 3D files. They were then printed at Materialise headquarters in Belgium. The theme of the show was “Birds” and featured avian designs inspired by nature (check out the rib cage-shaped harness design on the Open Wings piece pictured below).
Looi comments:
This project was challenging because it involved coordinating efforts and technical expertise. On the other hand, it was also great fun to be able to work with such an innovative technology. Creating fashion with technology has always been something I wanted to do, so when Materialise approached me with this opportunity, it was like a dream come true! The collaborative effort involving people from different fields and backgrounds truly reminded me that exciting and beautiful things happen when art and technology meet! It is truly a great honour to be the first Asian fashion designer to design a collection using AM technology.
Like much of what hits a fashion runway, the pieces in the collection are clearly not meant to be practical garments, rather visionary pieces of art framed on the human form.
Materialise produced a video that gives a synopsis of the design and production process involved:
