Have you heard of the concept of biomimicry before? You may have heard it for the first time. However, this concept, which we all know without being aware of it, observes nature in every functional or formal sense and conveys it creatively. Ships inspired by fish, planes inspired by birds… In short, we can call it imitating nature. For example, velcro; which we all use and know as hook and pile, emerged when Georges de Mestral noticed the velvet grass clinging to his trousers in the mountains and discovered hundreds of hooks on its surface.
So I designed a capsule collection inspired by nature. I wanted to enrich the capsule collection I designed with smart textiles. In the clothing industry, it is important to find what is new and different in designs and to follow and apply new technologies and methods. Chromic materials contained in smart textiles; heat, light, pressure, etc. They are materials that change color under many different effects.
In this part of the article, I would like to tell you about my project.
With the thermochromic dyestuff I used in the project, I obtained printed patterns that change color with heat. While creating designs inspired by nature, I aimed to protect nature and the project was based on sustainability. We, fashion designers, have a great role in creating a sustainable fashion idea.
Why and how is biomimicry applied?
With an environmentally friendly approach, the concept of biomimicry can sometimes be applied to solve a problem and sometimes to achieve aesthetic beauty. With the collection prepared by adopting the idea of sustainability, not wasting anything and minimizing the damage to the environment, it is aimed to realize and raise awareness that sustainability is becoming more important day by day. In the project, texture designs were made from underwater creatures, inspired by nature. However, these designs exist as waste; It is created from different materials that we keep thinking we might need it, but perhaps haven’t used for years. So, in this part of my project, I made a production with the upcycling philosophy. Textures created by upcycling materials that take a long time to decompose in nature and are quite harmful to nature are creative in nature that support sustainability. Waste fabrics, unused threads, different types of buttons found in every corner of our home, old sponges, and plastic bags that perhaps cause the most harm to nature are all parts of this project. Materials such as undersea plants by wrapping fabrics in metal wire pieces, sea waves by sewing waste fabrics together, seaweeds by embroidery threads, undersea structures by cutting buttons, mussels by cutting pieces of sponge, starfish by cutting plastic nets, tissues created by knitting technique by cutting garbage bags into strips, are inspired by nature. It was transformed and applied to the designs. Within the scope of the project, I convey both biomimicry by taking inspiration from nature and upcycling using existing ones.
Here are the designs:
