Jellyfish Hat

Saba Ghole

NuVu's “Nature-Tech” Collection

Emerging Trends Show, Boston Fashion Week, 2013

Within nature there are many beautiful forms, colors and designs: from the tiniest sea caterpillars exploding with striking colors, to the mighty redwood trees standing gracefully with their elegant structure. Nature is full of beauty and fascinating patterns. This year, NuVu Studio’s Nature-Tech Collection takes inspiration from nature and its fascinating and complex patterns and blends this with the fabrication technology. The Nature-Tech Collection is meant to inspire, create awe, and involve some level fantasy, and create a sense of wonder and illusion.

Using the combined power of digital design (computer aided drafting, 3d modeling) and rapid prototyping tools (laser cutters and 3d printers), the NuVu Studio designers have developed new and unique patterns and forms for the garments included in the Nature-Tech Collection that otherwise would not be possible through traditional methods and processes.  The collection uses a breadth of materials including various industrial materials made accessible through the digital fabrication methods such as plywood, polycarbonate, renewable bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA), and High-density polyethylene (HDPE).

The Nature-Tech Collection is composed of five looks: Pyramidic, Frost Dress, Avian Poncho, Body Accordion, and Jellyfish Hat.

Jellyfish Hat

The Jellyfish Hat is inspired by the jellyfish that inhabit our curious imaginations, and exist in that place between real and make-believe where strange creatures dwell. The Jellyfish Hat A place, which for me, is filled with soft lights and hazy colors, a place with delicate movements and soft pulses. I feel that jellyfish are most like the images in my head with their simplistic beauty and breakable, other worldly movements. I wanted to create a piece that crossed the border between the “jellyfish” of my head and the jellyfish of the waters.

In order to create this piece on the edge between my head and the real live world, I needed to use innovative materials that have not yet made their full fledged debut into the fashion world. I needed materials that still held a type of mystery. For this reason I decided to not create my piece out of typical material made for apparel, such as cloth, but out of fiber optic thread and plastic. However because I wanted to use material I was inexperienced with I had many troubles in creating this piece. I had to work through numerous prototypes, made with paper, plastic and patterns, made on Illustrator and Rhino, in order to create my piece. Luckily I had lots of help from Saba, Tess and Saeed so that I can say that I am at least not totally ashamed of my final product.

Photos by Romana Vystova & Naf Visser