INTRODUCTION

Fabricademy is a program at the intersection of digital fabrication, textiles and biology. It explores the interrelation of human-technology-environment through the notions of embodiment, materiality, ecodesign, biodesign, performance, smart textiles, and digital fabrication. 

Our mission is to (re)shape and (re)define the implications and applications of technology in the textile and clothing industry, from the fashion sector to the upcoming wearable market.

The 3rd Application Period for the academic year 2024/25 is now open until the 30th of April 2024!

Apply Now!

Fabricademy
Degree Postgraduate in Fabricademy BCN, Textile and Technology Academy accredited by University of Lleida (UdL) – European Higher Education Area (EHEA)
Edition 6th edition
Credits 45 ECTS
Duration 6 months – 16th September 2024 until 31st of March 2025 – Full Time
Campus Fab Lab Barcelona @IAAC 
Language English
Tuition Fee 8,800 US$
Admissions Artists, fashion or costume designers, interaction designers, engineers, architects, Bachelor or higher degree from other related professions, PhD candidates in applied research fields.
INTRODUCTION

Change how you think, not just what you wear

Fabricademy at Fab Lab Barcelona equips students with the skills and knowledge to become key players in an emerging sustainable future of textiles. The program and educational environment encourage 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 careers 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.

Learning through making

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 to materialize, test, develop and fabricate, not as a linear process, but as a spiral iteration and implementation into reality. 

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.

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE & COMPETENCES

Structure

Phase 1: Skills Capsules 

The first phase (September to December) emphasizes on the development of knowledge of prominent technologies through a series of hands-on intensive masterclasses that interweave traditional craftsmanship with advanced prototyping tools, innovative materials, software and manufacturing techniques. This phase sees the students work individually in short intense exercises and experiments

State of Art

Digital Bodies

Circular Open Source Fashion

Biochromes

E-textiles & Wearables I

BioFabricating materials

Computational Couture

Textile Scaffold

Open-source Hardware- from fibers to fabric

E-textiles & Wearables II

Implications and applications

Soft Robotics

Skin electronics

Phase 2: Personal Project Development 

The second phase (January to March) capitalizes on all the learning of phase 1 in order to develop a mature personal project. Participants focus on individual in-depth applied project research, employing critical thinking, hard and soft skills for the development of innovative solutions that explore and implement more viable, sustainable and fair alternative systems of today.

Check some of the Students Final Projects HERE

STUDENT PROFILE

Through its experimental, practice-based, and creative approach, Fabricademy is open to a wide-range of participants, coming from various ages, disciplines, and professions. Its purpose is to foster a community of pioneers that invent novel concepts, materials, products, experiences, and services that seek to bridge the gap between academia and Industry4.0. Furthermore, it contributes with skills, collaborative tools and transnational communities leading to awareness, reinvention and resilience.

The participants of the program can pursue careers that introduce new roles such as body architect, material developer, fashion technology consultant, interactive performer, digital craftsman, high-tech accessories designer, trends influencer, 3D fashion designer, lab manager, head of design among others.

PARTNERS

Fabricademy in Barcelona is partnering with :

EURECAT​ Technological Center, where participants get training and have access to industrial textile machinery and experts at the campus of Research and Textile Technology Transfer Centre of Canet de Mar.

MaterFAD​, Barcelona Materials Centre

Reshape Forum​, an international ​platform of designers, makers and customers inspired by innovation

APPLY

Admission Requirements

Students aiming to get ECTS certification must also provide the following documentation during the course of the program (it is not necessary to have them at the time of the Application):

  1. Legalized copy of your previous academic degree. (Please make sure to arrange the legalization of your diploma as required by your country of origin (more info here).
  2. An Official Translation of your legalized diploma (first you must legalize it, THEN, translate all to Spanish) to Spanish language (if not in Spanish already). Your diploma must be translated by an official sworn translator duly registered by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. List of authorized translators here.
  3. A copy of your valid passport, or I.D. if you are a citizen of a member state of the EU

TEXTILE TECH INCUBATOR

The Incubation Program aims to give support to Fabricademy student to widen the scope of their final projects and foster a new path for Fashion Technology with a critical approach under the spectrum of sustainability, future scarcity, and space habitation. 

Through a hands-on approach, using digital manufacturing, first-person perspective methodology, multiverse thinking, and embodied design ideation methods, students will work intensively, to develop further develop their projects, with new inputs from business incubation and research methodologies to explore all possible outcomes for projects born in a Fab Lab. 

This program is done in collaboration with IED Barcelona.

STRUCTURE

Student teams will work for 12 weeks bootstrapping their Fabricademy Final Projects, researching and prototyping incremental improvements using manufacturing technologies, new materials, and wearable computing. 

Business Incubation

Introducing tools to help students and projects in entrepreneurial climate, sustainable technology commercialization, strengthening and diversifying local economies, etc.

Research Methodology

Introducing techniques or procedures used to identify and analyze information regarding the specific research topics students touch on during Fabricademy, and expand their possibilities of attempting  Academic outcomes or add rigor to their documentation processes.

Transdisciplinary Studio (in collaboration with IED)

If you need more information regarding the Textile Tech Incubator Program please contact us.

STUDENTS LIFE

Fabricademy Students Visit Materfad, Barcelona’s Materials Centre

The visit to Materfad emphasized the effective implementation of sustainability through the utilization of locally sourced materials.

read more→