Carnival costume is an impossible dream made real
Costume design veterans and engineers using cutting edge fabrication technology collaborated to bring Afrofuturist outfit to life
CARNIVAL costumes are often flamboyantly inventive, and lovingly crafted, but an Afrofuturist design created for a parade in Leeds, West Yorkshire, was thought to be damn-near impossible to make.
The show must go on; as the saying goes. Undeterred by the challenge, a ground-breaking collaboration between engineers and designers – with the assistance of some cutting edge fabrication technology – transferred the concept into a show-stopping reality.
In August, the costume – and its wearer, naturally – took to the streets of Leeds to strut their stuff at the city's West Indian Carnival parade.
The regalia was co-designed and co-created by nine technicians from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Leeds University. They worked alongside Hughbon and Seph Condor, the father and son team behind High Esteem Carnival Design, which has been producing hand-crafted costumes for more than half a century.
A lot clearly went in to making this costume. A melding of the traditional and the technological, artisanal handicraft with precision engineering; the results speak for themselves. Some aspects of the ensemble were produced using 3D printing, for instance; allowing the addition of complex geometric structures that would be unthinkable using traditional methods.
The striking garment is 3m in diameter, more than 3m high, and weighs around 25kg. It boasts six gold-coloured aluminium arms that stand out from the body at right angles, and can move up and down. The stunning head-dress is entirely 3D printed, with 13 individual pieces fitted together like an intricate three-dimensional jigsaw.
Carnival engineering
“We thought about all the mechanical movements that are difficult to create, like the right angle with the up and down motion,” said Seph, who has worked in carnival design for 20 years.
“We could get similar movement but nowhere near as smoothm or as robust as what we have created together. The engineering techniques enable a precision, repetition and time-saving that isn’t possible constructing by hand.”
The team was brought together for a six-month pilot project called 'Engineering Carnival'. The aim was to showcase the engineering of these meticulously designed outfits, as well as provide an opportunity to explore innovation in costume design, along with new manufacturing techniques.
As project lead, and associate professor of design science from the School of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Briony Thomas said, the project also wanted to recognise and raise the visibility of the university's technicians.
“The skills, expertise and knowledge of technical staff can often be overlooked in many projects; they do all the work behind the research and often there's no acknowledgement for that,” she added. “I wanted to put them at the forefront for once and celebrate them because they are so fantastic.
“This is about voice, visibility and recognition, both for the technicians and for the Leeds Caribbean community. We wanted to do something that was truly innovative but that would be of benefit to both those communities.”
Afrofuture
The costume's Afrofuturist theme looks ahead to the future, while remembering the past; a melding of technology, precision engineering, and traditional artistry. Time-honoured African fabric and patterns sit alongside iridescent filaments, fibre-glass rods, and four-dimensional shapes, uniting the two worlds.
Angular and geometric concepts are rare in carnival costumes, according to the team behind the project. They usually feature curved, natural-shaped structures that are easier to construct when bending wire by hand. But this project was able to make use of computer-aided design (CAD) software, precision machining, laser cutting, and welding.
Graham Brown, mechanical services manager at the School of Mechanical Engineering, has worked in engineering for the past 28 years, and at Leeds for 17 years; the project proved a real eye-opener.
“Before this, I never realised how closely related engineering and the arts are,” he said. “This has demonstrated that by bringing the two together, it’s possible to create something amazing.
“Collaborating with a community predominantly made up of volunteers, working around their main jobs through the day, and coming to life in the evenings when working on their passion, was as inspiring as it was challenging.”
The multicoloured costume, in shades of gold, turquoise and blue, features a huge globe that opens like a flower, plus six heads, each with flowing hair, on the lower layer. It sits on a metal structure, is worn like a backpack, and has wheels at the base so that the wearer can still move, despite its great weight.
Poetry in motion
Once completed, the costume made its debut at an Engineering Carnival celebration event at the Sir William Henry Bragg Building, where it was modelled by Yorkshire poet and Leeds alumnus, Khadijah Ibrahiim.
Guests included people from the local West Indian community, the city’s cultural sector, carnival designers, engineering technicians, and university staff, who were the first to see the spectacular creation, and hear about the impact the extraordinary project had on its participants.
“It was fascinating hearing from the wider carnival community,” said Rhys Moore, a senior technician in Leeds’ School of Mechanical Engineering. “[They] helped us to understand the importance and history of carnival.
“[So too] was visiting Hughbon and Seph’s workshop to observe their design techniques and see examples of their handiwork, while they shared some of their vast experience of costume creation with us.
“It's been really rewarding seeing everyone involved come together with their different skills and approaches, to create something unique and I think everyone has learned a lot.”
Seph added: “This project has been a joy. It’s opened up my eyes to so many different ways we can do things, that I didn’t even know were possible.”
Thomas, herself, is no stranger to witnessing the fruits of a union between arts and engineering. In a previous project – The Mechanics of Life – she brought together the university's engineers with the creative minds at Northern Ballet to come up with a dance routine based on the science of human motion.
Thomas is said to be passionate about diversity and inclusion, and is always conjuring up new ways to combine engineering with the arts; whether ballet, or carnival costumery.
"It’s about pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible, what people think ’should be’ in STEM or ‘should be’ in arts,” she said.
“This collaboration has forced the designers and engineers to work very differently, and they’ve embraced that opportunity. It’s about showing the possibilities for the next generation, and I think that is really important.”
The carnival costume will be adapted to feature glow-in-the-dark elements when it is worn at Light Night Leeds, said to be the UK’s largest annual arts and light festival, in October.
MC