这个系列设计的出发点很简单，设计师在朋友那儿看到了一种由原产于中国的苎麻制作而成的传统手工布料——夏布，她的质地和她所保留的原始织造工艺，让设计师决定为这种材料去做点儿什么，让已经习惯了工业尺度的当代人，不论是穿着者还是专业制衣者（版师、样衣师）都能体验到，从每一根纱的捻制到纺织、漂染，皆用人手完成的布料的生动和别样。夏布每一匹都只有25米长，布幅从30厘米至60厘米不等，而工业织造的棉麻布通常一匹为50-100米，布幅为150厘米。我们在这一次的设计与制作过程中，最大限度的保留了夏布的布边，并以其狭窄的布幅宽度来控制衣物的＂边界＂——衣服的轮廓、面料拼合的分界线、缝制工艺的取舍...

The point of departure for this design series is quite simple. Many designer friends have discovered a traditional hand-woven ramie hemp, a fabric originated in China – summer fabric – the texture and the original woven technique of the fabric propel the designers to adopt it into their creativity. The contemporaries acclimatized to industrial products, whether the wearer or the professional tailors (pattern designer, sample tailor) may experience the vitality and uniqueness of a fabric composed of a thread that had been stranded, woven and dyed by hand. Every bolt of this fabric measures 25 meters long, and its width ranges from 30 to 60 cm, whereas a bolt of industrially produced cotton or hemp usually measures 50-100 meters, with a width of 150cm. in the process of designing and clothes-making, we had left out the seams the fabric as much as possible. Thereby, we have manipulated the “boundary” of the clothes confined by the narrow width of the fabric – on the shape of the clothes, the seams where the fabrics overlap, and the choice of sewing techniques.

这次的系列命名为＂Summer Rest 夏息＂因为英文里 Rest 除了有＂休息＂还有＂余下＂的意思。夏布作为一种非物质文化产物，在工业物质泛滥的今天，已经被边缘化到了只能作为家纺材料出现，人们对一块布料＂精细＂状态的期待已经被机械力度调到了纳米级别——人工用蛋白已经能合成接近真丝的纤维，碎棉絮也能被铜氨溶液化合成各种高级纤维，甚至是皮草，谁还在乎那几块＂粗麻布＂呢？我们不敢停歇，为创造一个崭新的世界，不惜代价... 可我们真的需要停下脚步，休息一会儿了，哪怕只是在工业文明的罅隙里。

The series, entitled “Summer Rest” demonstrates two layers of meaning. In English the term rest, does not only hold the meaning to “relax” but also what is “leftover”. Summer Fabric as an immaterial cultural product is mostly seen as a domestic fabric and it has been marginalized in ubiquity of industrial products. People’s expectations on the “sophistication” of fabrics has been manipulated by the arrival of nano-technology where protein can be manually compressed into silk-like fiber and raw cotton can be made into sophisticated fiber with copper-ammonia, or the use of faux-fur, who still cares about those pieces of “raw hemp”? We may not stop from creating a brand new world at all costs … yet we need to slow down our steps to rest, even only on the crevasse of industrial civilization.

绿荫刚够蔽体，夏日愈炎。

The shade is only enough to cast over the body from the heat of a summer’s day.

Photography: Qiananrchy

Text - Dooling Jiang