Looking into what Vivian and Darryl had brought into this project discussion, particularly “The Butterfly Dress” and the “House Made of Windows”. I chosen these two projects to discuss as they not only tie-in my interests of technology and nature but also the fact that it the project management is carried out with a small group of 2 people.
[Vivian’s The Butterfly Dress Post]
[Darryl’s House Made of Windows]
The Butterfly Dress was crafted by Ezra+Tuba, a fashion design label known for its couture and ready-to-wear apparel. Together with Intel Edison, the designer duo had came up with a wearable technology that allows all 40 butterflies on the dress to be released into the air once people get close enough.
Although the aesthetics are visually stunning, it also brings out the concept to keep people at a distance. We now experience a piece of clothing that not only aesthetically entices the viewer, but enables others to interact with it and serves a function to keeping people at bay. As for the financial aspects of the project, Intel had chipped in to promote and publicize the special dress work creation. In turn, they also gained attention for themselves, promoting their latest module, Intel Edison, that was used for the project.
Now a dress can’t be compared to a house. Can it? The “House Made of Windows” project was conjured by photographer Nick Olson when he had took designer Lilah Horwitz out on their first date in the mountains. They chatted and thought about the possibility of viewing the sunset from any point in a house and jokingly agreed that windows would solve the problem. The pair were hyped about the idea and immediately sourced for the frames from garage sales and antique dealers.
While their project was fairly impromptu and unplanned (they had left their jobs prior to the fabrication), they had amounted their house at an amazing amount of $500 cost! The duo then proceeded to build the home using recycled wood, nails and anything salvageable from an old barn nearby to piece their enormous structure together. It took them months to construct the woodland house in West Virginia, and weeks later to enhance it with antique furniture.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1PLiR3lcs&w=772&h=315]
[vimeo 70993261 w=500 h=281]
What both projects have done is something extraordinary and intricately detailed: In “The Butterfly Dress”, the garment is made from jacquard and metallic fibers and is embedded with proximity sensors, while “House Made of Windows” designers have to carefully find windows of various sizes to fit into their spatial frame.
However budget constraints exists for “House Made of Windows”, the pair had survived on beans and rice during the construction phase and their roofing was too, salvaged from an abandoned barn.
In the aspect of a long term orientation: Olson and Horwitz from “House Made of Windows” have a plan in mind; to hope build onto the home an outdoor kitchen, solar power and a wood-burning stove. Whereas sisters Ezra and Tuba Çetin’s project was one-off with Intel and have since continued their pursuit on making apparels for couture.
