Fashioned Forms

Amir Karimpour thesis project

by Amir Karimpour (MDes ’17)

Design requires an expression of form (a particular condition, character or mode in which something appears). This expression, minimal or excessive is calibrated to optimize the design intent.

This is the inherent power of design—the manipulation of form to express a wide range of values from aesthetic, functional, or even cultural.

As systems of design become more integrated and complex across all fields, how designers begin to create, curate and perceive form is critical to investigating the evolving role of design.

In looking at one basic geometric building block, the surface plane, it’s various states can be manipulated and its formal qualities can be assessed. The human body, dynamic and malleable, provides an optimal site for exploring how this surface plane conforms, mutates and moves along the bodies complex connections to create a taxonomy of form. Moreover, how these forms can be codified and perceived by digital tools can provide a feedback loop and create new design possibilities for fashion and the body. Consequently, fashion becomes a tool to investigate the future of form, movement, and perception.