Israeli Design Grad Challenges Convention in 3D

Three-dimensional technology isn’t new to the world of fashion, as designers have experimented with 3D printers in recent years to create imaginative, couture garments, but could printers soon be replaced by a 3D pen originally conceived as a children’s toy?

Israeli textile designer Eden Saadon used precisely that “toy”, a 3D printing pen called 3Doodler, which currently retails for less than $50 on Amazon, as a design tool to create an entire collection of lace underwear. haute couture The Shenkar School of Design graduate is credited with challenging traditional design techniques and taking fashion innovation to new depths, creating “fashion art” with intricate hand strokes.

The lace lingerie collection (created with black Flexy plastic, which comes with the pen), which includes “delicate and volumetric lace items, based on images of classic textile design (flora and fauna),” according to Saadon, already It has earned him many accolades. , but the textile designer continues to draw attention to the 3D design implement for its eco-friendly, cost-effective and innovative nature.

“Innovation is something very important to me,” Saadon tells NoCamels, referencing the late Israeli President Shimon Peres’ repeated sentiment that Jews and Israelis are looking for ways to make positive change because they are not satisfied with the status quo. “The greatest contribution of the Jews to the world is ‘dissatisfaction’ because it is the source of creativity,” he once said.

Saadon says he wants to “be a part of the amazing things that are happening here in Israel. I am always looking around to see what we already have in our world to incorporate into my process.”

Engineering and design

Saadon did not start out as a designer. She was more focused on engineering and technology and almost studied electrical engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. But a style tour with her mother that included a behind-the-scenes look at Tel Aviv’s fashion world convinced her that she wanted to pursue textiles, and she enrolled at the prestigious Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Ramat Gan, where specialized in weaving. It wasn’t until her fourth year at the distinguished school of design that she realized that engineering and design are quite similar and can go hand in hand.

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Saadon says that he came across the 3Doodler while thinking about what to do with his graduation final project. He found an Internet commercial that featured a child drawing a three-dimensional model of the Eiffel Tower using the 3D pen. After learning to produce fabric structures made from yarn using intricate weaving, knitting and smoothing techniques, she was impressed by the simplicity of her pen, she says, and ordered one of her own.

Saadon’s first item of clothing was a bra, she reveals, because although she didn’t know what she was doing at first, she felt it was easier to test her capabilities in a smaller garment that could be fully functional.

She eventually created her entire final project, 3DLace, a line of lace women’s underwear made by hand with yarn, using this 3D printing technique.

The process

The process of creating a one-of-a-kind, handmade couture piece can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, though Saadon says he likes the detail. “It takes a lot of patience,” he explains, noting that she can spend up to 10 hours a day in the studio working on his clothes. “You need to know what to do, how to paint, so you don’t make mistakes. I experimented a lot to understand which parts need to be more flexible.”

Initially dissatisfied with the thin, Flexy polymer plastic that comes with the pen, which looks like a cross between a thick marker and a portable glue gun, Saadon experimented with polymers called PLA and ABS, familiar in the field of 3D printing, to find stuff. that would keep the functionality and form, but still be somewhat flexible. He only realized that Flexy was the best plastic for his creations with more experimentation. He allowed him to produce surfaces with textile qualities such as drape, movement, flexibility, and lightness, even as he drew a 3D structure of varying density.

Saadon says he never really knows what he’s creating until he’s deep into the process. “I start designing with materials and work with my hands before deciding what I’m actually going to do: a dress, an accessory, a garment. The potential comes with my experimentation with plastic. There are no stitches, so garments are made to order based on Saadon’s customization or buyer interest.

Her lingerie collection includes floral shapes made of plastic and materials that form straps when placed on the body. Some are attached to nude tulle and mesh.

She has also designed dresses with fish scales and tails to test the dense and loose parts of the fabric. According to Saadon, fish tails detach from the surface by the force of gravity due to the denser nature of the fabric.

Presenting your projects to the world.

Saadon was in New York earlier this year to exhibit her 3D designs at New York Tech Fashion Week and participate in New York Textile Month. In August, she was invited to present her work in the “Internet of Fashion” Meetup group at the Microsoft 5th Ave store in Manhattan. During the talk, she was surprised by Maxwell Bogue, the CEO of 3Doodler, who handed her a 3D pen and invited her to the company’s offices.

According to Saadon, Bogue said his team at WobbleWorks, the company that makes the 3Doodler, came up with the 3D pen when they were making designs for kids on a 3D printer and wanted kids to have an easier way to freely draw and make their own. creations. Later, Saadon says, the 3Doodler team made modifications to the pen after getting feedback from adults who were using it.

SEE ALSO: Israeli Design Student Prints Brilliant Collection at Home

While Saadon’s pieces are novel in their own way, 3Doodler is aware that other fashion designers and artists are using the 3D pen for their own projects. Australian designer Erica Gray used ABS plastic in combination with the 3Doodler to create wearable art with images of skeletons and animals for her futuristic style. Organic Forms Serie. Rachel Goldsmith used the 3Doodler for a collection of lamps and other artwork that was displayed in the windows of design stores at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

A model wearing Saadon’s 3D floral lace designs (Photos: Doron Sieradzki)

3D printer vs 3D pen

Saadon shrugs off any comparison to two Israeli designers who have made their name through fashion collections created with a 3D printer, Danit Peleg and Noa Raviv, also Shenkar graduates.

Peleg created the world’s first fully 3D printed fashion collection for his capstone project and now has a customization platform on his website for customers to personalize and order their own 3D garments.

In 2014, Raviv created a 3D print collection by manipulating digital images using computer modeling software developed by Stratasys, an international leader in 3D printing with research and development facilities in Israel. His work has also been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The biggest difference between Saadon and the two designers, Saadon explains, is that their work is computer-based. “I’m using technology, but it’s the tool I use. I work with my hands. I draw everything. They can repeat the designs they make. The things I have done, I cannot repeat. They are more couture and handmade,” she explains.

Following the success of its 3D lace collection, Saadon is now experimenting with new fabrics for different shapes and occasions, creating flexible new couture for bridal wear, swimwear and shoes. He is also experimenting with the more advanced 3Doodler Pro, which he can draw on metal, wood, nylon and polycarbonate.