Emil Dernbach

The Amalgamation of Self

Autonomous technologies. Synthetic neural networks. Mutation into a world of replicas.

In the age of deep fakes and artificial intelligence being integrated in our everyday lives, telling the difference between real and fake becomes as challenging as ever. In this setting my collection aims to explore the notions of a society with manipulated identities by decoding the essence of who we are deep within.

This venture through the layers of my own memories confronted me with the reality of the distorted self and served as starting point for the exploration of possibilities that computer manipulation can hold when applied to the realm of garment and craft.

By rapidly 3D scanning select pieces of my grandparents wardrobe I created a digital record, a collection of point clouds, that reveal the defining features of each garment. This archive of broken scans was subsequently fed into an artificial intelligence with the task to mend the shards of heritage. 


The created results informed every step of the design process. Computer-made smoothened out surfaces are combined with the reality of the original textures. Garment archetypes are recognisable, but are morphed, tilted and merged into graphic shapes. Fluidity stands in contrast to extreme rigidity. The scans’ sculpturesque appearances formed the idea for fabric treatments that subvert the textile identity. Felting, flocking, metallizing and embossing are the pillars these garments are build upon.

This collection is an insight into the possibilities of what collaboration between human and machine can look like. It offers the opportunity to see technology’s inevitable improvement from an angle of excitement rather than fear and opens up the debate on what the future holds. How can we use these modern methods to create positive change and how do we still stay true to ourselves?