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The Grand Prize
00F1879
A-POC
Design Method, Design
Management Manufacturer:MIYAKE DESIGN OFFICE
Design:Issey Miyake,Dai Fujiwara
Born of the concept that a piece of clothing can be created from
one piece of fabric, this product makes it possible to create clothing,
socks, hats and other articles by simple cutting along dotted lines
on stretchy fabric that does not unravel when cut. Eliminating the
need for patterns by creating clothing directly from fabric and
selling the product in chain stores has produced a total distribution
system encompassing everything from the initial fabric to the sale.
The user simply cuts the fabric to make a completed piece of clothing.
The development of a system that everyone in the industry had wanted
to attempt, but had been unable to realize, is extremely significant
and begs the question of what design entails. The designers were
commended for creating a new form of product design on the basis
of material provision.
Shunji Yamanaka
A-POC tends to be praised for the work of a single artist. In terms
of industrial design, however, the company has innovated the design
process with rapid and desktop manufacturing. Within the capitalist
system of mass production, all manufacturing is based on the rolls
and chips supplied by a mammoth materials industry. The design of
consumer goods involves determining how the variety of materials
that the iron, steel, petrochemical and other industries are continuously
creating is to be utilized. The majority of designers begin by selecting
materials from among an extensive array of primary manufactured
goods. When market demand, however, becomes more specific and advanced,
designers will no longer be able to meet market needs by merely
selecting from existing materials, and they themselves will begin
actively requesting specific materials. Once demand reaches a certain
volume, material suppliers will be able to respond to this demand
and will look for more advanced functionality and higher efficiency
and yield to manufacture specialty materials. Materials with obvious
targeted functionality such as engineering plastics have already
seen considerable success. The obstacle for designers, however,
lies with problems in initial lots. Under the present materials
production system, per-unit production cost cannot be reduced if
a certain volume of a material is not produced. The consumption
of fixed volumes is therefore essential if new materials at reasonable
costs are desired. This issue forms the barrier to diversified small-volume
production. Those placing orders for materials are forced to deal
with the risks involved in estimating production volume. Naturally,
excessive estimates result at times in significant waste. Although
smarter designers have avoided the volume issue by diverting mass-produced
materials away from their original purposes (the use of paper sleeves
meant for padding, for example, in furniture design), this problem
has not resolved. In an effort to remove these obstacles, there
has been rapid development in recent years of technologies that
make possible the small-lot production of materials incorporating
finished product design at this early stage. This system reduces
the amount of time required for the material production to product
manufacturing and assembly process. It also results in the instantaneous
design of only the required number of finished products. This process,
called rapid manufacturing, requires a flexible and sensitive CAD/CAM
system to create materials that directly reflect product design.
Desktop manufacturing takes this process one step further. This
concept calls for the direct production of the finished product
next to the designerçs desk. A-POC is a desktop manufacturing laboratory
in action. Rather than starting with material selection or (jumping
in and) ordering materials as they did in the past, designers are
now becoming involved in the process of material production by utilizing
the computer. Shirts with three-dimensional, integrally produced
sleeves and collars and tube-shaped skirts complete with belts emerge
directly from knitting machines and jacquard looms, which have traditionally
merely spit out bolts of fabric. The A-POC process allows for the
direct production of clothing rather than "pattern pieces." The
manufacture of seamless, three-dimensional clothing is not in itself
a new technology. Stockings and other goods have been produced in
this way for a fairly long time. The manufacturing of stockings,
however, involves huge capital investments earmarked for specified
designs with the idea that enormous volumes of identical goods will
be produced. By contrast, A-POC designers sit in front of computer
controlled knitting machines that produce single samples of pieces
of clothing the designers have created. By innovating production
processes that have traditionally involved textile manufacture,
cutting and sewing, these designers are challenging the basis of
clothing design itself. Mysteriously solid designs for cushions
and sweaters; "puzzle-piece" clothing that users cut themselves;
and original textiles patterns woven into three-dimensional clothing
shapes. Manufacturers are watching intently to see whether the experiments
by these designers, who would seem to be playing happily in their
experimental workshop, will seize on exactly what consumers want.
The inherent strength of these attempts at innovating the production
process may lie precisely in their production of basic fashions
at lower prices. If this proves to be true, the advanced production
process at A-POC shops, which integrate the production and sales
sites, will prove to be a new form of branding.
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