Jan Cicmanec, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

• Creation Date:Sunday 6th July, 2008

Summary

Jan Cicmanec’s original and beautifully crafted moulded leather bags are a new venture for this Czech fashion designer who specialises in leather products and has worked with the top names in fashion from Clements Ribeiro and Philip Treacy to Gharani Strok and Alexander McQueen.

Jan first trained as a engineer in Czechoslovakia, and worked in a hydraulic machines factory for 7 years. But he had always been inspired by fashion and moved to the UK to retrain and pursue a career in this field.

It was about 4 years ago when scrolling flower and leaf shaped rings in leather for Harvey Nichols that Jan decided he wanted to make something practical in moulded leather.

“With my background in engineering, I’ve always been interested in finding new ways of constructing things. I thought it would be interesting to make a bag using the traditional moulding technique employed by hat makers. They steam the fabric and mould it over a shaped wooden block.”

He began by making a hand-carved block in wood, then wrapped the wet leather around it. However, as the wood dried out it developed lined and cracks which showed through on the surface of the leather. He then tried to cast the mould in resin, but the result was not precise enough for the perfect finish he needed.

Jan knew about Metropolitan Works because he’d taken a woodworking course at London Metropolitan University. He decided to employ digital technology to try and solve the problem. After taking a course in Rhino CAD at Metropolitan Works he worked with his friend, the award winning jewellery designer Shaun Lean, to develop a progamme with the dimensions of the mould he required, which was then ‘built’ in Metropolitan Works’ Selective Laser Sintering rapid prototyping machine.

“Apart from the main problem of splitting, the wooden mould had to be done mostly by eye, with only the use of templates to check the measurements. The plastic mould we ‘grew’ at Metropolitan Works was exactly right for the job, and this new technology gives me the flexibility to play with other shapes at will.”

Jan had also been making the bag’s wooden handles by hand carving them, but this made it very difficult to get a perfectly balanced shape. So after his success with the mould, Jan wrote a programme for the handles to be made using Metropolitan Works’ CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) router.

Jan comments:

“I love working with natural materials such as wood and leather, and exploring shapes which I find aesthetically pleasing such as the full circle. Each bag is individual, made by hand, and some are stitched, but the use of digital technology means that I can achieve the precision and perfect finish I require.

The team at Metropolitan Works are very knowledgeable and helpful, and the price of the service is affordable too.”