Photography: Yijie Li

Lighting: Crystal Ren

This speculative design project aims to create a subversive luxury object with in depth study of a material on both its characteristics and its history. 

This is also an exploration on my obsession on foil insulation.

Nobody values Foil Insulation because it's cheap, it's on everyone's roof, it does nothing but serving its function. People assume it doesn't have value.

But what people don't know is that Foil Insulation itself is already a subversive luxury object. 

In fact, it was developed by and belonged to the most expensive and luxurious program and organization on the earth.

NASA

NASA developed a technique of metal coating to apply a thin, reflective surface for Echo I Satellite (1960), the first successful communication satellite that reflects voice, radio and TV signals.

Later they found the metal coating reflect not only communication signals but also extreme space radiation. It was then made into insulation and widely employed in the Apollo Program to shield the space crafts, equipments and astronauts. After then, nearly every NASA mission employs this reflective insulation barrier. 

Sci-fi movies that involves spacecrafts also pick up the tradition. These factors explains why when we think of spaceships, space station and astronaut, we directly think about the shiny, sliver, reflective material. 

So if it's so NASA and so luxury, then 

Apparently NASA is so grand and generous to share their technology.

But what they actually means is:

So at the end, this project is to re-establish value into reflective insulation, by making it into a hybrid product that crosses between space suits and high-end insulated jackets. 

The diamond stitching pattern applied on the insulation is to:

1. Make it flexible, balance the stiffness and the softness of the insulation.

2. Reference the pattern in luxury insulated jackets and upholstered furnitures. 

FABRICATION