Out of many creatives that have emerged amidst the covid lockdown and the rapid growth of digitization, Supermolecule Lab is another extraordinary space where digital couture garments find a deeper level of renders and crafting. In a recent interview with Mengze, the founder of Supermolecule Lab, we touch on the digital ambiance of fashion and its growing space for the coming future.

Let's start with the first question on the headquarters of the Supermolecule Lab and your academic background. How did you start working with digital garments?

We are from China and based in Beijing. I studied fashion design as an art academic. I learned and explored 3D software by myself in college. During those years while navigating my art in fashion, with technology, I began designing digital garments.

Now coming on the issue of sustainability and the current global situation.. What are your thoughts on Artificial Intelligence as a digital solution for fashion pollution? How much of this is really making an impact currently and what do you think needs to be worked on more?

I think the cause of fashion pollution lies in the production and operation mode of the fashion industry, such as pollution of raw materials, massive overproduction, packaging, and transportation. If artificial intelligence can help in these links, it will still play a role. However, I personally feel that most of the role of artificial intelligence in the fashion industry is in the simulation of big data on e-commerce platforms to guide consumers to consume a large amount of digital atmosphere.

Please elaborate on your curation, design, and creative process. There’s a general understanding of how couture is made physically, but to make it digital, how much time does it take and what are the layers of elements that are worked with and through?

The production time of a digital fashion of course depends on the complexity of the design of the garment. First, like all creations, the general idea is in mind first, and one can also draw a sketch. And then the next step is to do it with 3d software, now how you do it, depends on your design, basically, anything your mind imagine can be done on a computer, some are done in a day, some in a few days and many of them take longer, depending on the design for sure. Imagination and creative push support at all levels.

How much has your cultural and social environment influenced you for what you do? Could you describe your social atmosphere on the spectrum of technology and digitization with respect to common global engagement?

My cultural environment has only a very small impact on my creation. My design perspective has always been from the perspective of the whole human society I must say, and I learn from excellent designers and artists from various backgrounds and regions to help me improve my work. In digital fashion, basically, everyone’s eyes are open and want to contribute to the industry.

What do you have to say about your source of inspiration from, saying, real-life couture designs? How much of your work is dependent on a real piece of attire?

On this, There might have been instances where the part of my inspiration comes a lot from the real world of the existing classical designs, but in fact, more design inspiration comes from the beautiful subjects as you see in reality but not a noteworthy phenomenon of things, such as some astonishing microorganisms or Marine biological modeling, or some fantastic physics phenomenon, these can be achieved by digital technology. But this is where digital clothing differs from physical clothing, in which it will not allow reality to constrain our imaginations and ideas.

Let’s say that I'd like to digitize a garment that I adore in real life. What are the complications and issues you would face in making this happen? How much risk does it involve, considering that digital garments limit themselves to virtual space only?

It's technically easy to digitize real clothes, but as you say, if you're digitizing someone else's design or similar designs, there might be copyright issues. But digitizing clothes in the real world is not what I do. What I do is create clothes that people can see that don't exist in reality so that they get to experience something that they can not possibly experience elsewhere and is bound by the medium of technology in my case virtually.

Extending on cyberpunk aesthetics, how was growing up like for you? How would you describe your school and social life from childhood to teenage… What excited you the most about technology and digital space?

I have been learning painting since I was a child. Before college, MY main goal was to become an artist. During college, I chose fashion design by accident, but I found this kind of creation form which is connected with the human body very interesting. I like all kinds of film music or artistic creation, and the most fascinating thing about it in the digital space is that it can release the creative power of the author.

One of the most interesting and fun facts about technology for me is having to explain the operational aspects of it to, say, our parents or grandparents, since they are new to many things. So when it comes to you, what are the funny yet challenging issues you go through while explaining your visions and overall work of supermolecule to unaware ones?

Yes, I agree. Usually, I tell people that Supramolecule is a digital fashion couture studio. Sometimes you can understand it because the industry is expanding and more and more people know or do it, but sometimes I have to explain what digital clothing is. For example, my parents understood digital clothing under my explanation, but they still had doubts about whether digital clothing could be recognized by the public and bring significant economic effects in the future? These questions are also the direction that we practitioners have been trying to explore.

Would you like to talk about your upcoming designs and concept? What should we be ready for next? What are you working on these days and what are your latest collaborations?

Sure, let me disclose a bit. We are currently working with some brands and platforms, but we still will release our new designs regularly. In the next work, we will focus on some abstract domains, something invisible but real. We will be presenting art through the media of fashion, the way we create fashion onto a whole new level of the micro field, something that can be achieved only by digital technology, we will show people fashion’s various possibilities in the coming future.