The Wearable Orchestra

Developed during my MA at the Royal College of Art, The Wearable Orchestra began with a question:
What if touch could release sound? I transformed knitted metal fabrics into instruments.

The devore knits were made with Loro Piana’s stretch silk yarn. Devore is a process of screenprinting and burning out the protein of the silk, allowing the metal to show through the illustrations underneath. Touch me strong. I will scream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo taken at Jimmy Hendrix house in London.

The metal knit increases the conductivity of the skin, allowing the wearer to complete an electric circuit through touch.

 

Connecting to an analog synthesizer that translates contact into sound. The stronger the grab, the stronger the sound emitted.

The knit served as a metaphor for skin; an outer covering that responds to contact, dissolves boundaries, and opens a new language of human connection.

 

 

 

   

 

At a time when we are losing touch with one another, these garments asked us to reach out.

Sound was also produced through movement, opening dance and performance as forms of communication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sounds were also produced through movement, opening the world of dance and performance as a form of communication.

      

 

 

 

The knit served as a metaphor for skin, acting as an outer covering that responded to contact.