The project was to take a traditional technique, and re-create it to be used in fashion accessories. I chose the traditional process of Iris Folding. 

Iris folding is a paper craft technique that involves folding strips of colored paper in such a way to form a design. The center of the design forms an iris — a shape reminiscent of the iris diaphragm of a camera lens.

I wanted to translate this technique into a technique that can be used to construct footwear and handbags.

I began my studio experiment by creating a traditional Iris Fold using paper. 

After completing a few traditional paper iris folds, I began experimenting with how to translate this to be used in accessory design. To begin I cut the leather into small pieces, and then split them as thin as possible (to slightly resemble paper) 

Then I began my first leather iris fold, I mimicked the traditional paper folding technique on this one, folding the pieces completely in half and gluing them into place following a triangle pattern. 

On this next experiment, to reduce the bulk, I treated each pattern piece with a folded edge rather than folding them completely in half. I also stitched the pieces all together with folded butted seams, rather than gluing them all into place together. 

On this sample, I used veg tan leather, and used alcohol based ink to dye the pattern pieces, I also skived the split leather to make it even thinner, as well as leaving the edges as raw edges rather than folding them, to reduce the bulk of the final product. Overall, this sample was very successful. 

For one of my final samples, I chose to do an Iris Folding quilt block pattern. I first completed this pattern in paper, following the traditional iris folding techniques. 

After completing the paper quilt block sample, I created a leather quilt block. I treated the triangular pieces with folded edges, and the other pieces with raw edges, again to reduce the bulk of the final product.

 

After completing 10 studio experiment samples, I then came up with a few sketches of how I would use the leather iris folding technique I created in accessory design. 

 This was the first stage of experimenting in creating this new accessory design process that I will be developing further.