Fashion Follows Fascination
Piero D’Angelo experiments with living systems, including slime mould applied to fabrics and fashion, 3D printing and rapid prototyping as well as speculative biomimicry.

We caught up Open Resident Piero D’Angelo to discover his next steps as he ‘Nears the End’ of our Open Residency Programme 2019.

Piero D’Angelo studied Womenswear at Royal College of Art where his material exploration led him to experiment with living systems, including slime mould applied to fabrics and fashion, 3D printing and rapid prototyping as well as speculative biomimicry. His work is a new definition for Couture, where users can grow their own outfit and wear living organisms.

Piero D’Angelo has always been fascinated by science & technology and the exploration of the aesthetic point of view. He was fully exposed to Biodesign while studying his Masters at the RCA and felt this period opened up a new world of understanding which meant he could actually implement the knowledge gathered from a particular living organism into fashion and even the organism itself. This inspired D’Angelo intensely. He decided to continue his journey into Biodesign.

During his six month residency at Open Cell, D’Angelo shared that his achievements have been plentiful.

“Thanks to Open Cell I have been able to develop my knowledge and research further and explore many other possibilities like bio-printing with slime mould. This was an experiment in collaboration with Elijah Ko using Opentrons and dying fabric with slime mould. I am now creating a product with this process.”

Exhibitions to date:

Architect @work 2019

Biennale St Etienne 2019

Symbitech 2019

Biodesign Here Now 1 - 2018

Biodesign Here Now 2 - 2019

V&A - ERDD Exhibition Road Day of Design 2019

Highlights

Dorothy Waxman Award 2015

Creating a collection for London Design Week

D’Angelo plans to continue exploring the field of Biodesign to further discover how biotechnology can influence fashion from a functional and sustainable aspect. He also feels it is imperative to unearth how biotechnology can influence the aesthetic and the way we produce and finally how we consume fashion.

“I hope to make the field of Biodesign known to a wider audience, through my work, and have more people engaging with this new discipline.”