– Inspiration:
My nature source is A swan. I think it is a beautiful creature, I love its cultural meaning and its symbolism. My inspiration from the visit to the MOMA was a photograph of a fabric tent from the refugee exhibition. The combination between fabric and a base structure stood out to me. For research, I looked at a lot of head pieces Philip Treacy made for Alexander McQueen. What I love about those designs is that they mostly inspired from nature but they create something so edgy and new, that correspond with nature in a very sophisticated, non direct way.
– Function:
The hidden state should be for hiding, disconnecting from the surroundings and the crown form should be a way of intimidating by the beauty and drama of it and also for self embracing. I want to create two parts, each on every side of my head that transform from covering the whole face into a crown shape object. I am interested in the idea of the swan in our culture; the myth of turning into this beautiful creature from a vulnerable, ugly duckling. By that I would like to use beauty’s intimidating aspect. Like when a swan protects itself when it opens its wings to scare the enemy, we use our appearance as a defence mechanism in the urban environment. The head piece is meant for everyone who wants to feel empowered.
– Fibonacci:
I applied the Fibonacci sequence in both sides, in they way the wing forms grow. The swan’s wings has Fibonacci in it so I thought it would be natural to contain that in mine. I think the Fibonacci gives the piece drama and tension to the whole act of hiding and exposing the face and also serves the reference of the swan’s wings.
– Materials:
The materials I am going to use are wire and silk organza, maybe leather for the base. For the interior and exterior parts of the head covering I would use the organza fabric and insert wires in it so it so the wires wouldn’t disturb the wearer and a strip of leather for the top of the head. The planar material I am using is Fabric – organza and leather and the linear material is thin metal wires.
The plaster casting. The nose fell and I decided to keep it since it relates to my concept of the “Ugly Duckling” in the tension between beautiful and unsightly.
Making the plaster head helped me understand the way my head is built. This way, I managed to actually work with my own head, something that is very hard to do with my actual head. It gave me a perspective on how it would look on the wearer and made the whole process much easier since I could design it on my head without working with my actual head. It also serves as an ideal pedestal for the head piece and emphasizes the personal aspect of the project.
The process of abstracting the swan was very essential to making an interesting piece that would not be directly connected to a swan
The drawing process was my favorite part of the work. At first, I had drawn 9 heads with many different options and variations of how the design may look. I then, could look at all the options of designing and go with my favorite one. Eventually I chose a combination of two designs from the 9 drawings I had. I reached to the main vision of designing and worked on how it would look from multiple angles. This helped me comprehend what are the main angles I want to develop in. Making a 4 angled drawing allowed me to receive a whole image of how I want it to look like, made me confront with things I haven’t expected such as: how I want it to work from the side? where would I want to locate each part? should it be symmetrical or not?
My main idea in creating the two states is to imitate the movement of the swan’s wings and to a piece that would transform from a hidden, closed shape into a glorious crown.
Making the paper model was the most important part in the process. This was the stage of transforming from 2D sketches into an actual object. It was then that I realized I want to make the head piece from organza since it has a light quality. Moreover, the most important part of it was understanding how to make the movement. I had to ask myself how I want the movement to go? where do I connect the parts? how can I make the wings to stand like a crown while making the piece moveable and transformable into a stage where the wings hide the face.
One thing I love about the design is that it almost perfectly correlates with the vision I had in my mind. I think that making that hand had a very large part in it. It developed my thinking on how to create 3D objects especially this head piece which has movement in it. Creating the hand included such a complex and accurate craft and after making it I had full belief that I can make any vision that I have, come to life exactly the way I want it. Although, It was very complicated to make the pieces stand the way I intended. The work included many difficulties and straggles and there were a view points I wanted to give up. But after many trials and efforts, I reached to a state that it does exactly what I want it to do. I feel like for this specific concept I had no other option, and I didn’t want to give it up.
Making the patterns felt pretty natural for me, coming from sewing and fashion I had some idea on how to create a pattern. The important part was to be precise on the measurements.
I didn’t use any tools that weren’t familiar to me but combining the materials together was something which was new to me. This project was the first time I worked with organza fabric. At first, I was worried that sewing with this fabric would be very challenging since of its lightness, but I found out that I love working with it since it is foldable, light although it is not too gushing as well.
I also worked with wires which I have some experience with it so it was comfortable, although mixing it with the organza was not an easy task, the fabric is very delicate and I had to make sure the wire won’t ruin the fabric. Another great technique which I adopted from working on a previous project was making the hinges from wire, something Professor Wennie Huang taught me to make. It was very useful here as well since it allowed me to decide on the size and width of the actual hinges instead of buying them in a hardware store.
The easiest part of this project was making the drawings and creating the vision for it. I think the most enjoyable part was sewing the triangle wings; I realized how much I have missed sewing this last semester and how therapeutic it is for me. It showed me that this is what I should do the most, which is working in design and fashion. The most challenging part was making the two “wings” to stand on their own. It was very heavy and I constantly had to make sure the connections are strong and balanced. This took me a lot of time and I haven’t expected it to be so frustrating. I am very pleased to say I eventually raised above this challenge.
During the process, I learned a lot about myself. The most significant realization I had was that I can rise above any challenge with will power and by not giving up my on my vision. I had an option to change the movement or to simplify the headpiece but I was stubborn and I think that in that specific project it helped me a lot.
I decided to take a selfie in Grand Central Station. I found that it correlated well with my concept of the head piece. It deals with how beauty can be used as a defence mechanism, a disguise in order to threat the people around us. I think Grand Central shows that idea as a public space where thousands of people pass through every day. Every person is protecting himself with his own external element and just like the swan creates an elegant, unapproachable distance. I feel this idea is expressed very clearly in New York’s urban environment so that’s why it was important for me to choose a place that is one of New York City’s most recognized spaces.
A video-art I made wearing the head-piece:
