Designer Analysis - Goldsworthy, kate

Goldsworthy, Kate

Kate Goldsworthy is a British textile designer and researcher working withing the TED research cluster based at Chelsea Collage of Art , passionate about sustainability and moving the fashion and textile industry forward, developing with ecology in mind. So far Kate has made an impression by developing the recycling and reuse of polyesters, young in her career, it is predicted that Goldsworthy and her predecessors will create a dramatic influence in the world of design.

As a textile artist she would be considered a modern entry into the movement of Environmental art, which deprived in the late 1960s as awareness of human destruction to the planet became more spread. The art can be considered in two different contexts relating to ecological issues or the natural, both involve addressing social and political even historical issues. However Kate has taken a more productive approach with her artistic abilities and is working as an active designer, with the philosophy of designing bjects and services to comply with principles of economic, social and ecological sustainability.

The intention of sustainable design is to work skillfully and sentitively towards eliminating negative environmental imact. It is a growing theme amunst designers, a reaction to the global environmental crises, rapid population growth and activity, depletion of natural resources, damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. Ideals of Sustainable design include:
use of re-newable enegy sources, low energy material, non-toxic, recycled, sustainably prodced materials, efficient energy manufacturing processes, low energy requirments for products, high quality, durable, designed with a second life concept in mind, designed with a recycling pathway in mind, Low carban footprint.

The most innitive way of achieving sustainable design is upcycling, creating new products from old waste, designing with a second life inmind. The concept believes that one person's waste (e.g.industry bi-products) can be anothers fuel, it just requires the right design processes and technology. This will reduce the amount of waste going into landfil and the demand for raw materials, or even effectivly use new sustainable materials and production techniques.

Goldsworthy focus is based on the concept of life-cycle design or upcycling, she values design aestetics as well as fuctional uses of synthetics materials, designing with monomaterials suitable for upcycling.

Hot look

Goldsworthy, Kate

with thanks to: Textiles Environment Design,Chelsea Collage of Art & Design;Teijin Fibers; TWI Ltd and The Materials KTN

The dress is a simple elegant cut which draws to the focus of it's pattern. Traditional ornament flowers traditionally seen on 19th century wallpaper designs. The dress is entirely black except for a lilac blue sleeveless overlay cropped above the mid drift.

The pattern is created through cuts Rather then colour producing an interesting surface that is unique to the industry. These cuts as described are produced , more specifically, by laser beams used to slice, almost ‘stitch’ and pattern this intricate shift dress. The Lazor technology is called ClearWeld, and was developed at The Welding Institute in Cambridge. The process is explained: ‘Firstly, a programmed robotic arm applies an “absorber” liquid to the fabric to outline the pattern ... Then a low-energy laser beam travels over the material – it leaves some areas unaffected, but the sprayed areas melt because they absorb more laser energy.’ Ian Jones
A limited technique in terms of pattern design in comparison to current processing in the fashion industry however for Goldsworthy it's limitations are being extended as she works on new and exciting ways to push it's boundaries.

The only material used is 100% recycled polyester. This is the key factor in relation to it's value as a sustainable design. Having used only the single recycled materials the design firstly removes what was considered waste from landfills. a second factor is that when the product is at the end of it's life it pure and thus potential easily recycled again. The processes is working towards a closed loop concept and an example of upcycling.

Traditionally all clothing materials were made locally, naturally from animal and plant sources, when there life cycle was over they would decompose and naturally be recycled through the seasons . Now however thousands of materials are used from both natural and synthetic sources, normally a combination of the both, to achieve the demands from our ever growing population. The hybrids and our lack of understanding, or technology to separate, means now most of the materials end up in landfill, or any recycled materials produced are a monstrous and have few properties desired to fulfill a second life cycle. Human demands are so high that they can not be met if society took a step backwards to using traditional techniques and only natural resources.

Polyester clothing is made out of oil, a non-renewable resource that is running out. Like most plastics, polyester is difficult to dispose of because it takes so long to break down. This is seen as a disadvantage as most designs using polyester have a short lifeline with no upcycling future, the resource then gets wasted, its thrown into landfill polluting and occupying valuable space. However if we isolated the valuable non-renewable resources and designed products with second life cycles then the description can be seen as a advantage providing durability and quality.

The pure material is easy to recycle, Goldsworthy has teamed up with Japanese textiles company Teijin. They have developed a new chemical recycling process for polyester fibre to make it good as new. This means polyester could become infinitely recyclable, opening up exciting possibilities for the future of manufacturing. The technical advancement closes the life cycle of the dress and is a key factor in it's credibility.

Rather then a traditional step back it is the step forward to use synthetic materials in a closed loop system that needs to be initialised. Goldsworthy is one of the few examples that is providing a stepping stone to this new industrial revolution.

The next step would be then to integrate this type of technology amongst the existing manufacturers. Goldsworth describes this process as a responsibility for both manufacturers and designers:

'Yes, large companies need to figure out how to collect and sort old, unwanted clothes to reuse or recycle. But at the moment it’s very, very hard because so many different material types are all mixed together. So it comes back to designers – we really need to think ahead and design clothes that are easy to recycle.’ ... ‘Designers have an important role to play to make clothes fully recyclable in the future,’

Goldsworthy

The dress was showcased within the Science museums exhibition Trash Fashion and the notes they conclude with discuss the products future:

'The future is local... large companies could operate local hubs where people bring their old clothes to be chemically recycled into fresh polyester fibres. New digital manufacturing methods would enable new clothes to be made individually and on demand at the same site, which would massively reduce material waste and transportation costs.' Science museum

The talk of big companies almost diving to cater locally seems like an idealistic utopia idea a unrealistic summary,which I personally think could only be achieved by communist methods or a strict set of new laws from our government, unlikely because of there short lived elected political lives. It is so far from the mannerisms of our competitive, commercialised way of life; I feel it gives goldsworths progressive designs an undeserved fable covering but Kate herself agrees with the prediction:
‘I think these emerging technologies are really exciting. We could see the textiles and clothing industry return to being more local and much less wasteful.’ Goldsworthy

The project explores technologies that could potentially change the way we recycle our textile waste. I just hope that, in the future, the designs hold as much commercial potential as they do ecological.

Summary of the Product:

Advantages:

Economical?

• Developing pattern making on one material increases the diversity of the product increasing the market for sales.
• Laser cutters are already used in the industry to cut the cloth so only the costs of the other laser, ClearWeld, are needed.
• Having a closed loop product could reduce the material costs if the clothes were collected at the end of their life span.

Environmental?

• Closed loop system. The material can be upcycled because no other materials are combined with it to produce the garment.
• No harmful chemical finishes

Ethical?

• no chemicals mean no secondary effects e.g. water posioning

Disadvantages

Economical?

• Machinery costs both with the initial process and the energy costs will be high.
• Complexity of machinery will require trained technicians
• In terms of time it looks as if the technology needs to be developed much more before the machinery can produce the numbers needed to make a profit.

Environmental?

• Is limiting our clothing to one material type a sensible idea.

Ethical?

• High machinery costs may have an effect on prices isolating the cheaper end of the market
• Is the machinery safe to work with?
• Will wearing only polyester be beneficial to the skin?
• What are the limitations of the material, Is it practical for everyday use? Is it safe? Static, fire resistant ect?
• Limits people who are allergic.
• Comfort restrictions