In January 2024, I presented a vision for a Production Design pathway through the CIA curriculum. Available to students across the college, the pathway would leverage courses in Industrial Design, Animation, Game Design, and Interior Architecture while supporting the development of the Interactive Media Lab, which was still under construction at the time. This spacesuit is another example of building toward those production design capabilities, with a particular focus on costume design - previous projects have explored prop and set design.
The space theme connects directly to my childhood—the era of NASA’s Apollo Program, Star Wars, and Alien—as well as more recent developments, including SpaceX, the Perseverance rover, and the Artemis program. The growth of the private space industry, NASA’s presence in the region, and the vision for a permanent settlement on the Moon inspired me to explore what the future of space exploration might look like.
The process began with research into NASA archives and the development of a basic understanding of the construction and components of a spacesuit. I then 3D scanned a person—my daughter—to use as a reference for sketching and digital modeling. I also created rough physical mockups to evaluate fit and comfort. Finally, I developed the fully assembled design in CAD before producing, finishing, and assembling the individual components.
More than a costume, this was an exercise in production design, speculative design, use of digital tools, leveraging IML capabilities and developing a wearable prototype.
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