Asma Hussain

Fabricated Walls

To view selected pictures click here

Final Project

With special thanks to Hardy and Hanson Felts Ltd

Research Question:

Can changeability in design promote less waste and the longevity of a product for the home interior?

Key words:

draughts, over-consumption, decorative/craft, re-think, tapestry, changeable, customizable, tactile, playful, security, consumer-product interaction.

Design Rationale:

People's emotional, practical, aesthetic and comfort needs are becoming increasingly important in todays fast changing world. There is a need to address designs in response to the changing environment that create awareness of over consumption in daily life, begining with the home. By re-using or transforming a single product this can act to produce less waste and in return can create a product with a personal meaning or interaction for the consumer.

The project:

My bespoke wall covering range is inspired by the history of fabricated homes and shelters found in different cultures, alongside the history of wallpaper and tapestries. Another inspiration is modern heating systems, including the use of layers in home insulation. Designs are inspired by lifecyles - a narrative of growth, evolving patterns; the changing seasons; customisable patterns in nature.

The project aims to highlight awareness of over-consumption within the home by addressing the potential of thermal insulation and how 'dressing' a wall as a means of decoration can reduce waste. This is achieved by designing a dual function and removable felt wallcovering that combines craft and new technologies to appeal through comfort, ambient warmth, heat loss reduction and tactility to prolong the lifecycle of the product. The removable layers of felt are changeable and adaptable according to the consumers preference or needs. Building or taking away layers encourages personalisation, subtle experimentation and playfulness. Moreover by inviting inhabitants to interact with the product it improves consumer awareness through emotional durability by creating a product with a personal meaning.

Ultimately the felt can also be used as a portable object that can be taken with the consumer holding the emotional qualities of cloth and its attachment to the user.

Materials and technology:

Print, handcraft, laser-cut onto non-wovens and felt

Links

http://www.stretchedfabricsystems.com/ http://www.kvadrat.dk/kvadrat.asp

Other Projects

• Sustainable Wallpaper-Graham and Brown
• Habitat Project
• Inovative Textiles Project
• Epigentics
• Previous work

Biography and contact

Asma Hussain is a textile designer who is interested in promoting eco-conscious textiles for the future home.

Prior to her MA in Design for Textile Futures, Asma graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2006. She explored a mixed media approach looking at the transition of craft techniques alongside digital print, to produce a one off interior fabric and chair collection.

She has a multidisciplinary approach and enjoys manipulating surfaces, from paper to woven and non-woven fabrics and materials.

Whilst studying at Central Saint Martins she hopes to extend her skills and explore a range of methodologies to develop design ideas and the potential of new and unusual materials, alongside craft and decorative pattern. Additionally she aims to continue designing with a passion for pattern and colour to create individual works with a key sustainable approach.

Feel free to contact me at:

asmahussain631@hotmail.com
http://asmahussain.co.uk