Major: Apparel Design
Second Life is a biophilic textile design process that involved gently gathering over two thousand maple seeds from local street gutters and sidewalks and re-purposing them. Instead of becoming refuse, they receive a new life. Each seed was reinforced, hand-sewn, and patterned in a way to reflect movement around the silk organza robe and human form. Each seed invites us to appreciate its organic beauty as “nature’s perfect design”. Simplicity of placement transforms into chaos, as seeds mass towards the trailing sections. The two-piece gown and silk robe are designed using a flat rectangle draping processes with little waste. The gown’s rust polyester fabric is slit and burned to reveal a contrasting gold lining. Its overstitched loose threads mimic the hand-stitched seeds. The three pieces work in tandem to narrate a story about what happens when we blur the boundaries between nature, art, and textile making and revere nature’s gifts.
