Armour

Taking inspiration from the armadillo’s fancy coat to create a layered, reinforced, protective motorcycle leather… scroll for to see how these concepts are actualised

Burnished leather scales glued to a plaster cast of my hand

Lobster

Armour is multifaceted. It can mean physical, symbolic, or emotional protection. It can be natural, artificial, beautiful, ugly.

This project looks first at animals’ armour, draws parallels to articulated medieval plated armour, and modern day protective clothing like barefoot shoes and motorcycle leathers.

Focus then moves towards symbolic and emotional armour, explored through coats of arms and tattoos.

An anthropomorphic character was developed during this process, and I aimed to capture the movement and motion of my garments through fashion illustration.

The physical bolstered by the emotional; coat of arms burnished onto leather, sewn to a shoulder pad

By studying and breaking down the components of a lobster’s body I was able to reimagine how the animal’s protective layer could be rearticulated for the human body.