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For many people, the process of getting ready in the morning comes to a screeching halt as they stand in front of their closet perusing their wardrobe and trying to figure out what to wear. Ben Pell wants to change that—or at least the setting. Enter Walldrobe/Wearpaper, a clothing system that is tailored by digital fabrication technologies and, when not being worn, hangs on the wall as flat, abstract-patterned wallpaper.
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Pell, who at the time was an assistant professor at Syracuse’s School of Architecture, along with his graduate assistant, Theo Grothe, began to explore this fashion overhaul as a research project fully funded by the university. “My research involves architectural effect,” says Pell. “I’m interested in the ways that architecture, or fashion or design of any sort, engages the environment.”
Another of Pell’s interests lies in the unaccustomed uses to which new technologies can be applied. In this project, the architect is especially focused on the proliferation of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) in the production of architecture. While architects like Frank Gehry and Greg Lynn use the technology principally to create complex forms, Pell is interested in CAD/CAM’s ability to create more practical forms. “I’m also looking at how to use the limitations of this technology as potential and not as a roadblock,” Pell explains.
Pell perceived the correlation between CAD/CAM—a program that employs patterning concepts—and the pattern-based craft of clothing design; hence Walldrobe/Wearpaper was born. In the Walldrobe kit (available for women’s sizes 6, 8, and 10), one would receive 12 panels of leather and an AutoCAD file that arranges the patterns of selected articles of clothing on the panels. A laser cutter would then precisely cut out the patterns while leaving an etched surface in the leather. The panels’ surfaces are covered with 1⁄4-inch holes that can be punched out—this allows the wearer to lighten the garment and make the material more breathable, or to leave the holes filled in where she wishes the garment to be more opaque. Also included in the kit are wire snaps that not only hold the clothing to the body, but also secure the clothing back to the “walldrobe” when not in use.
This project, along with other digitally fabricated materials, will be shown in the exhibition Technology. Performance. Ornament. at the Urban Center Gallery in New York City from August 17 to September 20.
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