A Journey at the Intersection of Textiles, Digital Fabrication and Biology.
Fabricademy is a transdisciplinary course that focuses on the development of new technologies applied in the textile industry, in its broad range of applications, from the fashion industry to the upcoming wearable market.
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CHECK THE CONTENTProgram Details
Course Length: Sept 2019 — March 2020 (6 months)
Classes: Mo, Tu, Wed, 15:00-21:00 p.m
Language: English / Spanish
Where? Fab Lab Barcelona - IAAC
Price: 7100€
Acreditation: The cost of the program includes the official acreditacion of the program as a Postgraduate by UPC (Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña) with 45 ECTS. In the case you do not wish to have the acreditacion please contact us.
Admissions Requirements: University or college degree in Engineering and Industrial Design, Industrial Engineering, Product Design, Fashion Design, etc.
Change how you think, not just what you wear
The textile industry is in need of more humane, ecologically sound and efficient ways of working. We often buy, consume and throw products without any concept of environmental damage. This can be due to a lack of knowledge and education about materials - from the energy consumed in production, labour and waste produced at the end of the cycle. Fabricademy at Fab Lab Barcelona equips students with the skills and knowledge to become key players in an emerging sustainable future of textiles.
Be Grounded by Lara Campos - Fashion Digital Made, Rome
The program and educational environment encourages students to rethink industrial processes regarding textile production and design. Merging tradition and advanced technologies, students learn a range of skills from digital fabrication to synthetic biology and work across the creation, production and distribution of textile and fashion elements to help them establish their career as future textile professionals. Learning is supported by experts from the field who help students investigate how the textile and fashion industries can benefit from new technologies, processes and business models.
Betiana Pavón working in Deconstructive Heads project
An environment which encourages creativity
The possibilities to conduct experimental research in an open laboratory give students the physical and mental space for innovative re-thinking and reframing of today's realities, offering the resources for visions to be materialised, tested, developed and fabricated, not as a linear process, but as a spiral iteration and implementation into reality. Through the program, we are developing and implementing a new approach on how to create, produce and distribute textile and fashion elements, by using distributed manufacturing infrastructures and knowledge networks.
Working in an open laboratory, students experiment with the human body and culture by recycling, hacking and sensing. Rapid prototyping is used to create real-time feedback loops for project development, in which materials, aesthetics, sustainability and customization play equal and important roles. Students use acquired knowledge to develop a final project which may intersect multiple sectors of the future textile and fashion industry.
From 3D-printed shoes to kombucha fabric
Previous graduates of Fabricademy have worked on creating and fabricatingve 3D-pri interactinted footwear, biodegradable garments, wearable smart hats, energy-harvesting clothing, whole 3D-printed garments, textile microfactory pilots and more. The projects seek to test, envisage and re-establish our production and consumption models in the context of advanced manufacturing. Through hands-on learning techniques and critical reflection, students develop innovative methodologies and designs which work towards creating a compassionate, sustainable future for the textiles industry. The program collaborates with Eurecat and Reimagine Textile project, in which students have access and training to complete the infrastructure of textile manufacturing facilities and testing machines.
E-shoes by Ana Correa
Students are mentored by Anastasia Pistofidou, co-founder of Material and Textile research body FabTextiles, Fabricademy and academic director of the global Fabricademy program. With dedicated biomaterial labs, access to two professional Fab Labs, Fabricademy Barcelona provides an unprecedented experience for students to study in a unique environment. The international IAAC environment welcomes students from 68 countries and over 200 disciplines, which provides all students on campus the opportunity to expand their professional and personal experiences. Alumni of the program have used their future-skills to build leading roles in the global Fab Lab network, established their own design studios and become entrepreneurs in the innovation and new materials fields.
Student's Projects
Awards and Recognition
Deconstructive Heads by Betiana Pavón
Deconstructive Heads was awarded by the Samsung EGO Innovation Project, a contest rewarding innovation in the sector of design and fashion. Created with the goal in mind to promote new designers who understand fashion as a way to express oneself but also as a real cultural discipline that requires constant innovation and reinvention, EGO is organized within the framework of MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK MADRID, the leading showcase for the Spanish fashion industry around the world.
E-Shoes by Ana Correa
E-Shoes was awarded with the second prize of the category "Smart Product" in RESHAPE, a competition and festival that seek for ideas which reconsider social interaction, economic viability, environmental issues, new digital tools and fabrication strategies.
Begrounded by Lara Campos
Begrounded was awarded with the second prize of the category "Wearable Technology" in RESHAPE, a competition and festival that seek for ideas which reconsider social interaction, economic viability, environmental issues, new digital tools and fabrication strategies.
Who is it for?
We wish to reach all creative disciplines dealing with design and the Maker Movement: creative players, makers, designers, artists, architects, scientists, students and others.
Fashion Designers
For existing fashion designers who are seeking new and innovative ways of working with textiles - whether this is with biomaterials, 3D printed clothing, interactive wearables and more. Fabricademy gives the option for fashion designers to become more sustainable in their practice.
Designers
We hope to benefit and increase the number of designers and creatives that self-produce goods by integrating resources they don’t have access to. Utilising digital platforms for all aspects of the creation process, to financing and execution.
Makers
This global movement merges artisanal skills with a digital layer of tools. We hope to benefit from this global community of do-ers by enhancing the connectivity between them and the spaces in which they work such as Fab Labs.
Our Students Say...
“I would recommend Fabricademy if you want to be part of the future” - Ana San Román
“It's not the typical academic course, here you can really develop your own practice” - Catherine Euale
“After Fabricademy you think you can do almost anything.” - Lara Campos
How does it work?
Fabricademy starts in Mid-September 2019. The first phase consists of classes until December and the 2nd phase from January to March.
Fabricademy Graduation will take place in August, during the annual Fab Lab Conference. 2019-20 students will graduate in the FAB16 Conference, in Montreal, Canada.
The FAB16 conference consists of both online and offline activities such as events, resources, workshops, fairs and boot camps that promote and advocate for emerging creative talent in Europe and their business productivity and sustainability.
An Innovative Environment
Fab Lab Barcelona - IAAC is located in Poblenou, at Barcelona’s 22@ District.
Within the District, Poblenou neighborhood is one of the most genuine and prolific metropolitan scenarios of Barcelona city, an epicentre of creativity and innovation where ultra-modern buildings such as the Agbar Tower, Media TIC or the Design Hub Barcelona, coexist with old warehouses, art galleries, organizations, design studios, advertising agencies, higher education centres, production companies, hotels and restaurants. (Poblenou Urban District)
What is 22@ District?
What began as an urban renewal project is today’s a powerful source of Urban, Economic, and Social renewal: “22@ Districte de la Innovació” or 22@ Innovation District, hosting the recent plan to consolidate a “Maker’s District” in the area.
The Poblenou Maker District aims to foster interaction within the local community and strengthen reindustrialization process-es in the urban fabric with added-value features, such as the use of cutting-edge technologies for local production, training workers to face new challenges in the workplace in the immediate future and fostering Industry 4.0. Based on an internation-al perspective of the “Fab City”, the construction of a new model for cities using the power of the Maker Movement and the global Fab-Lab network.
Explore the neighbourhood
Fabricademy's Barcelona Faculty
Anastasia Pistofidou
Program Director
Anastasia is co-founder and directorial faculty of the Fabricademy program and director of Fab Textiles at Fab Lab Barcelona, where she is using advanced technologies to influence the way we think and act towards the fashion industry. Her work has been featured in VICE Spain, serves on the Scientific Committee of Reshape, is a faculty member of IAAC's Master of Design in Emergent Futures and is a regular curatorial contributor to the global Fab Lab network's Textile Academy annual exhibition.
Ana Correa
Program Assistant
Ana is a Colombian Industrial Designer with experience in creation of textile products for fashion and branding, and project managing. Passionate for digital fabrication technologies focusing in research of 3D printing on textiles as an innovative and sustainable process in the Fashion Industry. She is a member of Fabtextiles at FabLab Barcelona.
Luciana Asinari
Fabricademy Barcelona Coordinator
Luciana has a degree in Social Sciences and Fine Arts. Her main interest is the impact of Digital Fabrication tools in education and the application of a distributed educational model within the Fab Lab network. Luciana has Coordinator of Fab Lab Barcelona since 2014 and also manages the Higher Education area which contains programmes such as Fab Academy and Fabricademy.
FAQ's About the Program
What do I need to do before starting Fabricademy?
Ideally, check tutorials on the subjects you don’t know. This will help you familiarize with key concepts and the learning experience will be smooth 👉 Check tutorials
What if I have never done programming or fabrication before?
Don’t worry! Fabricademy can be taken on many levels… If you have no background in the subjects of the course, you will get all the basics to learn and produce your assignments. We suggest that you check some tutorials before coming, that will make you feel more confident at the beginning 👉 Check tutorials
What kind of job I can get after doing Fabricademy?
The job world is changing so rapidly! Fabricademy will give you the chance to broaden your scope of what is possible in your professional scope, or inspire you to find a new path.
Our alumni have opened their own labs and become network leaders; created their own professional standards which have revolutionized businesses; written books, papers and enhanced their Academic environments. Fabricademy can also be the gateway to becoming a technical assistant in companies, private practices and Universities; a Fab Lab Manager or a Fabricademy Instructor.
What do I need for the class?...
Bring your laptop and be ready to change your life!
Can I get my company to pay for this?
Of course! Many companies support their employees to take crash courses and advance their team’s skill set. Fabricademy is an excellent opportunity to bootstrap your knowledge both in technical matters as well as project management and development.
Can I learn Digital Fabrication on my own?
Yes! Fabricademy content is free. All videos and class instructions are posted every year in the Fabricademy Archive.
What we offer with the fee is access to infrastructure and support, you can see the details here. Fab Lab Barcelona is one of the largest Fab Labs in Europe - a pioneer within the network and part of a renowned international Institution - the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya. IAAC is a unique environment to build relationships; learn about the latest practices in the innovation and creative setting and to make long-lasting friends.
Can I bring my own project to develop?
Yes. Fabricademy takes you through a series of principles and practices that you will integrate into a final project. The whole process can be targeted and the results more fulfilling if you already have a project that is in a state of development. If you don’t have a project, don’t worry..we will inspire you enough to find one!
Program Partners
Are you ready to change your future?
