3D Printing Comes to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts

This 3D dress and cape is part of the #techstyle exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Boston has a storied tradition of textile manufacturing, and, in more recent history, a tech scene. In its current exhibition, #techstyle, the city’s Museum of Fine Arts looks to the future and at how some designers have interwoven fashion with technology.

A source of inspiration for the show, which opened recently and will run through July 6, was the museum’s acquisition of Anthazoa 3D Cape and Skirt, a 3D printed garment designed by Neri Oxman and Iris van Herpen, part of the 2013 Voltage Collection and printed by Stratasys.

The introduction provides a historical perspective, showcasing the work of established designers such as Alexander McQueen, whose 3D printed Alien Shoe from his Spring/Summer 2010 Plato’s Atlantis collection demonstrates what Parmal describes as one example of his early adoption of technology.

Harmonograph Dress from threeASFOUR’s 2016 Fall/Winter Biomimicry collection debuted on the runway in February during New York Fashion Week. The group worked with Stratasys to produce the piece. ThreeASFOUR designers created a muslin prototype of the dress, which a model wore for a 3D body scan. The designers collaborated with Travis Fitch, threeAsFOUR’s geometry computation and 3D designer, to determine the weave. Fitch used Rhinoceros 3D modeling software to translate the design, geometry and the model’s measurements into data for a PolyJet printer. The dress was printed in 12 parts by Stratasys with its Nano Enhanced Elastomeric Technology material, known for its flexibility, and assembled at threeASFOUR’s studio.

For more information on our Stratasys line of 3D printers, please click the button below.