sophia guggenberger

Weavin' Bodies

What shines smoothly and perfectly from the screen takes on hand-drawn features when placed on the print bed. How does the digital path we follow behave when it is conceived and executed in interaction with the hand that weaves? How when the execution of digital print plans does not take place in a hermetically sealed room, but in the "dirty" experimental laboratory, in collaboration with the "imprecise" but human hand? The interplay of digital technology and physical craft. A dialogue between hypothetical data sets and actual forms is emerging.

Weavin' Bodies creates objects by means of print paths laid on body fragments. It works with digital and craft processes. The frames are created from a wooden structure, upholstered with kapoc fibers, cotton, and a wool overcoat. The printing paths are hand- engineered using a CAD programme and printed onto shaped bases. The filament used for printing is made of PLA with a cotton thread at its core. The printed parts are woven during and after print with ramie fibres. The fibres are hand spun into cords. All the materials are coloured by hand using plant based dyes.

Photography of figures:
Johanna Magdalena Guggenberger

Developed with the kind support of the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport of Austria (BMKOES/Sektion IV -Kunst und Kultur )

Postcards from the Philippines is a project developed during a residency in Manila, upon the invitation of the Goethe Institute Phillipines in collaboration with HUB Make Lab Manila. During a one month period a space at the HUB Make Lab was occupied and gradually filled with experiments and conversations on the topic of crafting with water hyacinth, a material that is prolific all over Laguna de Bay just south
of Manila. From practical aspects of working with

the material, the traditional weaving methods and its possible application, conversations of how craft and the communities working with it can exist and be supported, to the possibilities of communicating the potential of these specific knowledges, an ongoing conversation has gradually developed. Residency in collaboration with Eliz Ting.

big foot

stepping over

My First Day in 
Uniform

My First Day in Uniform is a walking production site.
A moving collection of tools, materials, parts. Objects to touch and talk about.

It is an invitation to a conversation. About anything.

My First Day In Uniform will leave behind the walls of its factory building to seek new opportu- nities. 

Further Development of modular last system for footwear production.

konglomerate_last

Konglomerate is a research project conducted during two years at the University of the Arts Berlin in the course of the master programme 'transfect designsystems!'. It investigates construction, tools and processes employed by the footwear industries and seeks to simplify current modes of production.

A traditional shoe can have up to 40 different components. Through the development of a simplified construction components are essentially reduced to six including the thread for the stitching. The parts are worked without gluing, which means they can be separated, disposed off and repaired, when necessary. Furthermore, the shoes are conceptualized so all the parts can be produced locally, as well as globally.

The complexity of production is simplified, not only through the modified construction but also through the use of low threshold tools. A starting point for a modular last system was developed to further investigate simplification and minimization of resources needed.

The whole process is conceptualized to be more intelligible, open and easy to enter.

konglomerate_printed

konglomerate_last

konglomerate_baked

The goal of this project was to develop a new/ modified construction for footwear, which would simplify production processes and minimize resources needed. This simplification should allow for the craft of shoemaking to be opened up and be made more accessible not only for the maker but also for the community around him.

Through rethinking, reevaluating, recontextualizing the techniques used within traditional making the thought process becomes open to reinterpretation. The shoe as a product, which is not finished, but can be torn down and rebuilt, not forgetting the knowledge inherent in it.

Influenced by traditional craftsmanship, the processes and constructions used, a series of experimentation was conducted to develop different methods of making. Looking at techniques used within mass production and bespoke making, it becomes apparent that the general ‘build-up’ of the product is very simi- lar; both are built around an insole. The main difference is the stitching employed within traditional making, whereas industrially pro- duced footwear is mostly glued.

The shoe, as connecting the more rigid of the outsole to the soft and flexible of the upper, has led to an investigation of different processes where these attributes are connected. Tents, upholstery, the human body are all based on the principle of connecting flexible parts with a rigid structure; a frame.

A frame which forms the sceleton to be dressed with the individual components: upper, lining, outsole. This way of building up a shoe would allow the individual parts to be removed and exchanged.

In shoe making a last is the tool used to substitute the human foot. From their conception as a made- to measure tool they have, with the development of industrial production, become standardized, to allow for serial production. The last is an essential tool, which is necessary to produce footwear and is at the same time bound to a certain style and function. Each time the shape becomes shorter, longer, higher, wider; the last needs to be substituted for a new one, each shape, height, size requires it’s own pair of physical lasts to allow for production.

Lasts are a fundamental resource. They imply an immense investment not only monetary but also in terms of material (waste) and storage. Once a shape is taken out of the range of the maker’s collection it becomes a resource without use.

The possibility to achieve different shapes with one body of last, makes room for changing shapes because of aesthetic/fashionable considerations as well as for customization and personalization and therefore a step between norms and out of the norm.

AnOtherShoe is a new model for shoe production based on shared knowledge and local manufacturing, through small scale and on demand digital fabrication. A lasercutter is used to create all the components of the shoes.

The assembly process of AnOtherShoe is reversible and hand made, eliminating the need for stitching or gluing. This means that the consumer is able to not only assemble his pair of shoes, but also to repair it when necessary.

In order to engage people into the production process, we give workshops in a variety of Maker Spaces. We see these workshops as moments to help distribute the values of the project and facilitate the sharing of knowledge.

Exploring the possibilities of a collaborative open production line. Using digital fabrication as a tool for prototyping and manufacturing new shoe models using the reversible

connection system of AnOtherShoe. Starting from the experience of the project AnOtherShoe the aim is to challenge the students/participants with a set of rules and tools to design. Teaching them an alternative system for shoe design and manufacturing and helping them to challenge traditional creative processes.

Outcome of the workshops are prototypes of a shoe model.