As a Surface Pattern Design student, I am personally interested in creating sustainable, patterned textiles. Since participating in a live brief with Orangebox, a furniture design and manufacturing company, I have realised how important this is. Their pattern cutting engineer explained that for design continuity, each panel would need to be cut from the fabric wherever they can to make the pattern match. If the patterned panels could be cut right next to each other, the way they can with plain fabrics, there would be a substantial amount of fabric saved. Optimising the way that the panels are cut, and the number of panels that are cut, from the fabric would not only reduce waste, but could also substantially reduce company costs.
My proposal, to face this problem, would be to design the patterned fabrics specifically for the product. For example, if a chair requires hexagonal panels that are 50x50cm, with the consideration of seam allowance, the furniture company could collaborate with the textile designer, who could design the pattern on the fabric to repeat to the measurements of the panels. This could also allow for completely customisable furniture and allow for more adventurous experimentation with furniture shapes, as the fabric could be designed to fit it.
Where a design might include an awkward shape, like a circle, that doesn’t sit comfortably in alignment with the patterned panels, there is an opportunity to use any of the plain fabric waste. As it will not matter where you cut the circles from, as the pattern will not need to follow, so you could cut them as close together as possible, lust like the straight edge panels.
Over all, speaking specifically about Orangebox, the waste that concerned me most, however, was the end rolls. So much viable fabric that doesn’t need to go to waste. The design I have printed on to the end roll fabric, is a bespoke floral design that would situate it’s self well in a boutique. This demonstrates that this fabric should be going to waste when it can be used to open up Orangebox to a wider demographic. Where their usual office aesthetic may not appeal to more delicate or eclectic companies, the option of bespoke furniture that is also saving waste, might appeal to them. And with the option of customisation, there is literally no restriction on the design.
