Fashion defines not only wearable objects but garments as practice, as communication, as a daily ritual, as culture, and as knowledge. Fused with new technologies, these creative projects steer us towards fashion as care, as entertainment, and as societal action. Clothing that questions our habits. Fabrics and fabrication which change our preconceived fashion grammar, and open new possibilities of wearables. A new dawn of business models and production methods which focus on shared understanding and new value systems — at each step of the value chain.
Through their co-creation projects, Re-FREAM artists and designers and their cutting-edge co-creation teams animated the latest technological tools through their collective creative technological expression. Our new fashion futures lie here, at the cusp of new uses of technologies and matter, designed with intent and integrity. Customized and flexible on-demand fabrication, new ecosystems and labor dynamics, local and modular sustainable production based on shared know- ledge networks. Technology animated by creative usage. These new visions of interconnected, healing, scented, precisely tailored, inflatable, sensual, bacterial, melodic and responsive hyperwear lead us towards a manufacturing transformation as well the development of of new networks of makers, new agents of resilience, change and exchange.
We, the Re-FREAM community, believe in the collaboration and communal endeavor of designers, scientists, and industry on equal terms and with common goals. We strive to develop fashion based on:
SHARED VALUES
- We aim to stimulate longevity and thoughtful interactions both through the function, beauty and narratives of objects, as well as through their materials and production.
- Our common goals are the promotion of inclusive designs and environments, which reflect diverse creative and scientific approaches – and are adaptable for the needs of users.
- We believe in building bridges across disciplines, by fostering open-mindedness, by establishing trust in equal competences, and by defining our common mission.
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We are committed to exchanges and collaborations based on transparency, honesty, and shared mindsets. Collaboration and access over competition.
“We need the intelligence, but we also need the dreams.”
Isabel Berz, Head of IED REC Research and Education Center
“Systematic impact means not only questioning how it is working, but who is working on it together. Pro- cesses need to be adaptable in other environments, open for everybody to adapt locally according to needs.”
Sandra Nielsen, co-founder A New Kind of Blue
SHARED PROCESSES
- We will pursue design, research, and manufacturing which infuses objects with personal values, and which speak to both the wearer and our ecosystems.
- Discovery of the new and unexpected is central to our process. Jointly, we encourage fluid and flexible frameworks, without pre-defined outcomes.
- Our explorations and research will encourage enthusiasm, expression, and inventive play.
- With these new practices of interaction and design, we aim to generate authentic, mutually respectful and generous networks of sharing, empathy, and care.
- With each other, and with technological tools, we aspire to define more holistic fashion futures. These will include spaces which are open for flexibility and negotiation.
SHARED CULTURES
- We are united by what makes us human, and by our shared concerns for our society and our environment. Collaboratively, our intent is to redefine existing business models and to use design and manufacturing as a resource for good.
- Our common thread is our motivation to creatively use new technologies as a tool, including wearers into the conversation.
- Communication and transparency are key to our co- operation across borders and disciplines.
- Collaboratively, we seek new practices of making, to probe new economic models, and to explore a creative commons for sustainable strategies.
- We envision design and manufacturing as the transmission of know-how, of creative vision, and as a catalyst for new ways of knowing and new ecosystems.
“For a better world of fashion, we need a model for how to fix ownership, while respecting all ownerships. Both shared and protective. So maybe the answer is: raising the question of co-ownership.”
Gisa Schosswohl, Project Coordinator Re-FREAM
Our discussions opened several paths to develop new and meaningful practices to bond, to collaborate and to impact society: Immersion in each other’s surroundings as well as residencies bridging similarities and differences on neutral ground with new tasks; extended matchmaking processes that foster interdisciplinary dis- course; integrating external facilitators; the development of new and meaningful practices to bond; as well as non-hierarchical classifications.
