Ideas Exchange in the pleats: Pleating workshop as a research method

This paper shares first-hand experience of feedback collection from workshop participants to revise the pleating technique.

Pleating is a sophisticated fabric manipulation that has been practiced for thousands of years. In his 2016 exhibition ‘Manus X Machina’, Andrew Bolton listed pleating as an important couture technique along with embroidery, leather work and other garment production techniques. How pleating advances with technology and the new way to pleat have become issues in the garment production industry.

Workshop preparation offers an opportunity to locate the study in a nonformal ‘laboratory’ condition in which concepts are challenged, presented and examined. Through working with the local community and a design professional in higher education, this research searches for unconventional perspectives from conducting experiments in academic and non-academic contexts and inspirations for future study