Shareable and downloadable designs are of the many skills Francis Bitonti does best. As a New York designer for the next generation in manufacturing, Bitonti’s tenacity for design is changing how everything is being made – admitting to never looking back at old work since he does not want to feel a sense of nostalgia or comfort for future projects.
As a partner with Decoded Fashion, he will be speaking at SxSW on March 14th about integrating new technologies into fashion at the panel session: “Digital Skins: The New Age of Fashion Manufacturing.” FASHIONOTES had a chance to speak with Bitonti about computational methodologies, 3-D technology and tips for fashion tech designers who want break into the ever-changing industry.
Tell us about your current role as a designer and your background?
Francis Bitonti (FB): It was a winding road to where I am today. Before starting my own studio I worked as an engineer, developer, an industrial designer an engineer and an architect. All the experiences led me to this. I could have never planned it. There is this part in “on the road” where Kerouac says ““I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop…I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.” This sums it up for me. Everything excites me. I have reached a point in my life where I have come to certain decisions about what I want to do with my life and what is the kind of chance I want to see in the world and I have decided that design is the best vehicle for me to lead that cultural change.
You often use “computational methodologies” and “smart materials” in your designs, what exactly are they? How do you use them?
FB: Computationally driven processes fuel the core ethos of the studio. We approach all our design problems through this lens. Computers let us process more information than we could in history. I try to take advantage of this by thinking about how we can create new forms through these technologies and we this expanded mind. What new solutions and aesthetics will we discover? I believe we will find the aesthetic language of our generation through this medium. I am trying to explore the limit of our cognitive capacities through the tools we have available at this moment in time.
In your interview with Photoshop.com you spoke about how your collaboration with Michael Schmidt Studios and Shapeways to create a 3D printed gown for Dita Von Teese was your favourite project. What challenges and opportunities has 3D printing created for you and other fashion designers?
I don’t have a favorite project. No designer should. You have a design practice and that is your project. You focus on your methodology, you focus on how to best translate your view of our material world into real things, actual products that are going to be part of the world. But it’s not about the projects; it’s about that operation. It’s about a discipline that you execute everyday. I don’t look back at my old work. It’s all in boxes, I don’t want to be surrounded by nostalgia and I don’t want to look at what I do with any sense of comfort. I face the same challenges every designer faces. 3D printing and computation is my material, it’s the media through which I think and solve problems. My challenges are the same as anyone else. We do have an extra layer in that we need to operate as both a technology company and a design studio, many times we have to develop new technologies as we work and from a business perspective our portfolio includes much more than products, we are selling both objects and algorithms. Our creative process is the same but things are a little different on the business side of the studio.
With technology continuing to grow at such a fast rate and 3D technology becoming more common, what tips do you have for designers trying to break into the fashion industry? Can you see there being a pressure on designers to always include a tech element in their designs to stay relevant?
No one is relevant if they don’t embrace the newest tools materials and technologies. I am honestly tired of the fashion industry making a distinction between technology and fashion. This is an illusion the fashion industry has created for themselves. Designing with an 18th century understanding of materials and production can never really lead to understanding who we are as a generation. Technology is any enabling device that helps us create. The story of who we are is told through our tools and technology. There is no reason Humans should be the dominate species on this earth. We are not strong we make a mess of our own environment, we are totally out of sync with every other natural system and organism. Our only saving grace is in the tools and technologies we create not only to survive but also to prosper and create beautiful and inspiring things and situations. Narratives are contained in the things we make. We turn our shortcomings into poetry through technology and design; it’s how we get over our weaknesses. Technology is about our struggle to survive. Technology is a humanity more than it is a science. The story of human cultural evolution is told through our tools and capacities given to us by those tools. Textiles are technology, technology and fashion is not a new thing. Lets get over it. As a designer you need to think through your time and immerse yourself in all that is now.
As for tips for designers trying to break into the fashion industry, don’t try to break into any industry find your voice and see where it takes you. Find out what’s important to you, I could have never expected I would end up where I am today. I was passionate about people and what people could do and create before I was passionate about design. I realized design was the best way for me to execute what I think is our best possible future. I am not going to stop at fashion I want to change the way everything is made. No one should have such narrow goals. The industry is tough and design is hard work, it’s repetitive tedious and thankless. You aren’t going to survive if you aren’t guided by some larger vision for humanity.
At SxSW you will be speaking at the conference “Digital Skins: A New Age of Fashion Manufacturing.” What changes should people be looking out for in fashion manufacturing? What is one way these advancements will change the fashion industry?
Everything is changing and everything will change. Honestly, nothing will be the same again. We have been given a new definition of materiality. We need to think about materials as information. Materials and material properties are not being formed by information technology. If you want to create in the next ten years you will need to adopt this lens as a designer and design through information as your medium.
