Stone Island Prototype Research_Series 09
The Prototype Research Series 09 is a part of Stone Islands research programme. This series is limited on purpose. It has clothes that are made in ways that are not normally used in factories. This time Stone Island is focusing on knitwear. They are using a way of making it called air-blown lamination. This makes the knitwear strong enough to be used as a layer. Stone Islands Prototype Research Series 09 is really, about trying things with knitwear.
The project starts with a kind of cardigan. It is made of cotton. Has a hood. One hundred different garments are made from this cardigan. Each garment is a colour. These colours were made for this project. We have colours, soft colours and colours that are mixed together. They are all equal. That is what makes each garment unique. The project is about being different in a way not, about changing things too much. The cotton chenille hooded cardigan is the base of the project and the different colours are what make each garment special.
The waterproof and breathable membrane sticks to the knit in a way. It is done with a three- lamination process. The cardigan is put on a mannequin that can be inflated. This mannequin has controlled heat that helps the membrane stick to the cardigan. When this is happening, you can see some imperfections on the surface. These imperfections are like a signature, on each waterproof and breathable membrane cardigan showing how it was made.
The membrane is really hard to see so you can still see the texture of the yarn, the colour and how the cardigan was put together clearly. The waterproof and breathable membrane is still there. It does not get in the way of the yarn texture and colour depth. The people who made this thing thought about the design a lot. They put pockets on one side, which is really smooth and the other side has pockets like you see on a kangaroo suit. When they put the zippers on, they made sure the edges were nice and smooth so you can feel that someone actually made this with their hands, not a machine. The design decisions are really careful.
The installation at Stone Island Tortona translates production logic into spatial language. Inspired by circular knitting machines, the Apparatus emerges through disassembly and reconfiguration. Threads descend overhead, inflatable forms echo the lamination process, and garments appear arranged in chromatic rings. Sound reinforces the rhythm of production, turning process into environment.
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