This spring, BRAVE/Architecture participated in the IIDA’s fundraising event Product Runway and was recognized with the Best New Arrival Award! B/A’s design challenge and art movement for this year was Kinetic Art and Alexander Calder. Our concept designs, which began in February, can be seen in previous blog entries. The final design is a lenticular abstraction of Calder’s mobile with a layering of pleats, allowing the rigid structure of the pleats to move more freely to the human form. The concept can be seen best through movement, specifically a slow turn.
Minor experiments were started a couple of months before garment judging, but the work required to pull off this concept was unpredictable. The labor intensive technique of calculating, stenciling and pleating the material was not fully understood until we received the material just a few weeks before garment judging. Once we had the pleats constructed, maintaining the structure of the pleats and the strategy to connect the layers of pleats together was the next unexpected challenge.
Everyone at B/A pitched in for this project from concept design, poster design, bring tools, making matching jewelry, to painting and constructing the dress. A special thanks to Robert and his team at Full Blown Dry Bar for the wonderfully complementing hair style. In the end, the final product performed well. The dress made a strong statement in which everyone at Brave can take pride in.