LINK - Instant Village 2050
This speculative project was looking at life in 2050. The Instant Village project looked investigated the changes in how we are living as humans. Humans are becoming increasingly nomadic and as a future culture will have to address issues of how to live as well as how to live with the environmental mistakes of previous generations.
Instant Village started as a collaborative project and proceeded to inquire into problem solving for threats and opportunities for future generations that are living in 2050. One of those areas identified was waste, specifically textile waste.
Fabric Waste in the United States of America
Fashion is getting faster and the faster it gets, the more it is thrown away. In the USA alone, there has been a 400% increase in the clothing purchased, mostly cheap, low end clothing.
Very few recycle in the USA, recycling facilities are available but they are inconsistent in the materials they recycle. Confusion over what recycles and what does not reigns, apathy reigns and the landfill increases and the quality of our world decreases.
The Problem
As Fashion is getting faster and the faster it gets, the more it is thrown away. In the USA alone. There has been a 400% increase in the clothing purchased, mostly cheap, low end clothing and while low end clothing tends to be less about fashion rather than cheap clothing, there is a definite increase in cities of cheap wear it/throw it ethos.
Very few recycle in the USA, recycling facilities are available but they are inconsistent in the materials they recycle. Confusion over what recycles and what does not reigns, apathy reigns, ignorance to waste being a global issue reigns and in the meantime, the amount of clothing (not including factory textile waste) going to landfill increases and the quality of our world decreases.
Why?
There is no incentive. There is no realisation that there is an issue. Waste isn't on the political agenda or on the doorstep of US citizens. Waste is sanitised, it’s transported away, to disintegrate in our oceans, to very slowly degrade and cause a massive impact on the planet's ecosystems. And yet it doesn't have to be this way. Breakthrough in Finland in being able to recycle viscose based materials into theatre clean fibre, cleanly means that it is possible to reuse a huge amount that is sent to landfill.
A Solution?
What if..
What if there was an incentive to recycle? What if waste was a commodity, had a value to it, what if it could be used freely enhance the recycler's life? What if it could be used to create? What if the user could use and reuse fibre to create their own clothing, their own textiles and create any design they wanted and save the planet at the same time?
That’s LINK
The Link System
Link 1: Waste - Fibre
Fibre is important, it is the basis of all textiles. In 2050, recycling waste using the LINK system will allow users to recycle fabric and viscose materials like paper and wood into virgin fibre. This fibre can be used for weaving, knitting or printing or 3D printing.
The recycling process is just another process in washing machines and results in a hyper clean fibre, drinkable water and butanol that can be used to extend conventional fuels. (See Aalto University)
Using 3D printing technology with cellulose fiber and a natural, soft binder you can print a soft fluid structure that can mimic any fabric. Chiffon to heavy denim. The only constraint is the amount of waste that can be collected.
An incentive to be a keen garbage collector because the recycling process removes any dirt, paint or other element from the fiber returning it to a virgin state clean enough for theater use.
Link: Fibre Store
Fibre can be collected at home or in a local/regional storage unit for use in printing OR as currency in its own right.
Virgin Fibre can be sold, can be used as currency or it can be donated to local or regional centres for the common good.
In 2050, fiber is a valuable commodity, communities have been built with it and collect it.
Villages and towns, oceans are being turned into zero waste areas as fiber is traded as a commodity. Fibre is collected at a household level, local level and regional level.
Homeless, low income earners have the ability to even the economic table and become the new elite.
What If?
What if fiber was a valuable commodity? What if waste could create an income?
What if the fiber you collect could create the life you want, how would that change the society we live in - cleaner, more equitable and environmentally friendly?
That’s LINK
Link2: Clothing Fit/Body Scanning
Landfill is not only full of fast fashion, it is also full of rejected garments. Currently, 33% of online and mail order purchases are returned. 90% is due to poor fit.
Pattern cutting hasn’t evolved much since the mid 70s. Patterns are drafted in 2D for an average, standardised fit, for a 3D body. The human body is unique, at best, for pattern cutting, it can be pared down to 5 different body shapes - and that does not take account of plus, petite or tall sizes and proportions.
Link: Body Scanning
In 2050, body scanning and 3D printing, body measurements are completed on a daily basis, at home. Scanning is part of the normal shower routine, a body scan with new measurements informs the LINK system and the next garment to be printed fits the user's unique and current shape.
With 3D printing, there are no traditional cut and make shapes, the output is based on the body shape so the fit is perfect every time.
What If?
What if you could have a perfect fit?
That’s LINK
Link3: Clothing Design/Wardrobe Builder
Fashion is an important part of our identity and an important part of non-verbal communication. Currently, access to clothing or fashion is dependant on money and size.
Link: Wardrobe Builder
Wardrobe builder breaks that cycle and gives the user the ability to create their own wardrobe, but also to use augmented reality to snapshot other designs outside the home.
Link: Wardrobe Snapshot
Snapshot allows the user to take photographs of garments from their phone wherever they are.
All 3D printed garments have an automatically generated tag which links them to the originator, to ensure that intellectual property is retained. Designers
The tags link to either a commercial website, user or bureau’s page to buy or download the design.
What If?
What if you could have any design? Would your taste change?
How would Fashion change if fit was no longer a selling point - how would that change the fashion landscape?
What if you could instantly see it and have it, without it literally and metaphorically costing the earth?
That’s LINK
Link3: 3D Printing
Link: Print at Home
The design either created in the Builder or via Snapshot can be stored or printed at home.
Link: Bureau
The design either created in the Builder or via Snapshot can be sent to Print at one of the many LINK bureaux around the world.
Bureau prints can be paid in currency or in fiber units where you can’t wait to get back to the home to print.
Link Bureau in 2050 allows for the immediate creation of garments perfectly to size, wherever they are needed. Link Bureau in Airports allow users to print their wardrobe at the destination, eliminating the need for heavy bags being flown around the world. Less weight, less space, less pollution.
What If?
What if you could get what you wanted, where you wanted?
What if fast fashion was no longer a negative thing?
What if you had access any time of the day or night to create clothing? To change your look?
Link4: Recycle
Not every design will work, even with Wardrobe Builder's feature allowing the user to virtually try on designs before printing.
If the Design is successful
The garment is worn, washed and reworn like any conventional garment.
If the Design is Unsuccessful
The garment is recycled to fibre and the process begins again.
Original Waste
The original recycler works with Cellulose - Viscose, Paper, Wood.. Recycled to Theatre Grade Virgin Fibre with Drinkable water and Butanol as the bi-products of this process.
LINK encourages fast fashion but without the need for landfill or pollution. Garments are simply added into the machine, recycled instead of washed and restored to virgin fiber once more. With the ioncell technology developed in Finland, garments can be recycled alongside household waste to create cellulose.
The process gives the household butanol to extend the gas in their cars, clean water to clean the car or use in the garden. Excess fiber can be traded, donated to the local community or charities for their use.
As system that can stop arguments, save money, clean up the planet, provide additional income and alternative economies and help you feel at peace with your body??
That’s LINK