Modular Mayhem: A Playful Gateway to Mathematical Fashion Design
Year: 2025 Authors: Brigitte Kock
Core claim
Playful modular systems can reintroduce creativity into mathematical fashion design while supporting sustainable, customizable garment making.
Topics
mathematical fashion design, playful learning, modular systems, sustainable garments
Domains
modular geometry, generative design, parametric design, fashion design, textile design, 3D printing, game design
Methods
card-based prompts, constraint-driven exploration, modular prototyping, database cataloging
Media
3D-printed garments, modular fabrics, base patterns, weave styles
Paper text
The text below is the locally extracted OCR/Markdown version of the paper. Raw PDF files remain local and are not published here.
Bridges 2025 Conference Proceedings
Modular Mayhem: A Playful Gateway to Mathematical Fashion Design
Brigitte Kock
London, UK; hello@variableseams.com; www.variableseams.com
In this talk, I explore how play, creativity, and modular systems can open new ways of engaging with mathematics through fashion design. Although I struggled with mathematics early in my education, encountering generative design at TU Eindhoven—particularly the work of Loe Feijs [1] and Troy Nachtigall [3]—transformed my perspective. For the first time, I realised that mathematics could be used to create beauty, not just solve problems.
Inspired by the zero-waste potential of 3D printing, I began developing modular 3D-printed garments rooted in mathematical structure. These designs focus on disassembly, repair, and mass customisation—values made possible through precise, modular systems. However, as I attempted to systematically catalogue every connection type and geometry into a giant database, I discovered that too much structure drained the creativity from the process.
To restore spontaneity and embrace the happy accidents inherent in both science and art, I created Modular Mayhem: a game [2] that transforms variables like base patterns, weave styles, and module sizes into playful prompts. Players navigate creative constraints by drawing cards and experimenting across increasing levels of difficulty. By blending rules and chaos, Modular Mayhem invites intuitive exploration of mathematical ideas—even for those who, like my younger self, once believed math had no real-world use.
Figure 1: PerFlex: A parametric modular 3D-printed bra, created by Brigitte Kock, Niek van Sleeuwen, and Bart Pruijmboom (2017-2018).
Figure 2: Selection of modular 3D printed fabrics by @variableseams (2021-2025).
References
[1] Loe M. Feijs. “Designing Fractal Line Pied-de-poules.” Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, vol. 10, no. 1, 2020, pp. 240–266. https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.202001.11. [2] Brigitte Kock, Modular Mayhem: A Game for Designing Sustainable Structures. 2025. https://www.variableseams.com/modular-mayhem. [3] Troy Nachtigall. “Towards Ultra Personalized 4D Printed Shoes.” CHI EA ‘18 Extended Abstracts, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3174369.