Mmoss

My team of fellow designers and I were assigned to design something out of fabric while also researching properties from nature that we can use biomimicry and pair those properties together to create a fabric design. As a team we decided on pairing a bag and moss together, and mimicking moss's characteristics of protection and shelter to design a sustainable & water resistant bag. Moss acts as a natural barrier to moisture by creating a water resistant and protective environment for itself and others around it through their leaves. The leaves retain large amounts of moisture which allows the moss underneath to remain sheltered and comfortably dry. With this in mind, the team intend to apply this concept to the bag, moving large amounts of moisture away from the important contents on the inside.

The materials used were cotton fabric for the bag's base, in addition to polyester webbing for the body straps and enclosure straps. Plastic parachute buckles used to enclose the outer flap of the bag. Plastic zippers to add an additional layer or protection. A natural wax that would be the key to our water resistance. Additionally, red onion skins to dye our fabric naturally.

The Production Process

During the fabrication of the messenger bag, the main challenges were that the team was all introduced to the fabrication process for the first time. All of us have never done any textiles production before and it was all a learning process while producing the messenger bag. We learned about the preparation of fabrics, sewing techniques, dyeing, and screen printing. There were a lot of trial and error to get to the final product.

The Team

The team members involved in this project include: Anthony Lum, Jared Grasby, Leila Gillespie-Cloutier, Leila Leduc. My contribution to the project included the biomimicry research and conceptual design as to how the team can use moss's characteristics in combination of a messenger bag. Alongside the research, I worked on the conceptual mockup, branding, typography, logo design, video promotion, and final presentation of "Mmoss". Jared & Lis had worked on creating the messenger bag pattern cut out, sewing the bag, and documentation of the final product. Lis had also done all of the dying and waxing for the final product that would make the messenger bag water resistant. Leila was in charge of the conceptual sketches, and the screen printing process of the final product, in addition to additional research.

Final Product

The Mmoss team successfully designed and created a messenger bag that was fabricated with sustainable practices in mind, and follows the principles of biomimicry. We mimicked the properties of moss and applied it to create a protective and water resistant messenger bag. In addition to a comprehensive report and presentation, we also made a promotional video for our product.

Technical Information

For this projects, we had used a mixture of applications from the Adobe Creative cloud like Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere. Took the pictures and videos from a Nikon D5300. All of the materials used were found recycled materials that were leftover from the workshops or salvaged from other things.