Tag Archives: symmetry

Research Critique – Biometrics

Dana Haim is a textile designer living in London. She finished her MA in Design for Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins. I found one of her biomimicry projects during MA Textiles Futures course particularly intriguing. It’s called the braided beaded ball suit.

Vimeo caption: ‘The braided beaded balls suit’ eventually becomes a paradox of adornment, seduction, and fashion. In a way it mimics nature, whilst being an artificial counter strike to its natural descent.

This video was made in collaboration between Dana Haim and Learke Hooge Andersen. It was part of a biomimicry project where they were very much inspired by the glowing creatures of the deep sea as well as weird formations in the human body to inform new approaches in design. They created a kind of hybrid of the two using this costume that they made specifically for this video.

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Dana (Left) with her Danish buddy Learke (Right)

They also used several kinds of recycled materials to create the costume such as left over tights, ribbons, and beads. The dancer in the video is Supitchanga Vanasirikul.

” I am inspired by: The beauty of a forgotten old wall layered by the patina of time, remnants of posters, flyers and staples, cracks running down it and rust dripping through the cement. Multi colour neon graffiti dancing between the layers of paint, paper and dirt. Colourful dreamscapes. Wild animals and all the patterns and textures found in nature for instance the beauty of wood grain or the many facets of mineral stones. ”                                                                                                                            – Dana Haim

What is special about this project is its emulation of the beautiful symmetry in nature. For centuries, symmetry has remained a subject that’s fascinated philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians, artists, architects, and physicists. No one’s sure why it’s such an ever-present property, but it’s definitely one of the greatest gifts from nature.

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Examples of symmetry in nature

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Sources:

http://deehaim.flavors.me/#dana-haim

http://theglittertrail.blogspot.sg/2010/09/balls-suit-was-shortlisted.html