nervous system kinematics 4D print dress created from body scans

nervous system kinematics 4D print dress created from body scans
images courtesy of nervous system

nervous system has created the ‘kinematics 4D print dress’ which scans bodies to fabricate custom-fit garments from an intricately patterned structure of 2,279 triangular panels interconnected by 3,316 hinges. the manufacturing process used to generate complex forms, printed the dress as a single folded piece at the shapeways factory in new york city. the ‘kinematics dress’ required no assembly and represents a new approach to manufacturing by integrating design, simulation and digital fabrication to create customized products.

the museum of modern art has acquired the dress which behaves as a continuous fabric to flexibly conform and fluidly flow in response to body movements, and its software as a permanent collection. the smart folding strategy employed by nervous system, compresses the garments into a smaller form for efficient fabrication that can print larger structures than the machine could normally create.

the dress responds to the wearer’s body

it is composed of thousands of unique interlocking component

intricately patterned structure of 2,279 unique triangular panels interconnected by 3,316 hinges

the dress folds into a compact shape

render image of the complex shape

the garment is printed as a folded shape to enable the fabricating of large objects

from left to right: jessica rosenkrantz (nervous system), lana briscella (aminimal studio) and jesse louis-rosenberg (nervous system)