14 DAY TRIAL // Haute couture has always held a certain charm, fashion that is constructed by hand from start to finish, so you'd think that 3D printing technology would be the last thing designers of this sort would consider.
As you might have guessed, this is not entirely the case. While normal additive manufacturing robots are off limits, the same cannot be said about 3D printing pens.
Anyone familiar even mildly well with 3D printing will have heard about the 3Doodler, that pen that lets people 3D print things by hand.
The 3Doodler can draw things from plastic filament, even build things up from a page or other surfaces straight into the air.
Admittedly, as far as applications of fused deposition modeling go (FDM), it's not the most precise or high-resolution.
On the flip side, it does mean that steady hands and a good eye for detail play a big role, allowing wielders to come up with truly amazing things if they have the imagination and patience for it.
A luxury and lifestyle photographer in India, by the name of Naina Redhu, took the 3Doodler and 3D printed an eye mask.
The 3D printed eye mask
Redhu created the mask for the outfit she wore to a Hermès Silk Ball recently. Since the name “Naina” means “eyes” in Hindi, this was as much a fashion/style statement as it was a pun and a way to honor Hermès, one of her favorite designers.
She didn't use any template when making the mask, preferring to instead “wing it,” something that apparently suits her more than fine.
The template and cutout mask were supplied with the Hermès invitation, but Naina was one of the few who made their own masks.
Using the 3Doodler allowed her to control the thickness and shape of the object, as well as the flexibility and symmetry, or lack thereof. You can definitely see some abstract tendency in the design even without looking too closely or long at it.
The Hermès Silk Ball
Held in Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, last month (November 20, 2014 to be exact), the ball actually launched in London earlier this year and is, in a nutshell, a traveling masquerade ball that seeks to traverse the entire globe known as planet Earth.
It is not so much focused on clothing fashion as on all sorts of fashion and marketing visual techniques. Naina Redhu herself is an expert in branding, creating logos, imagery, and stories through photographs for her clients.
