How does he come up with his designs?

“All my collections are built on scientific research. Technology helps me realize complex ideas and thoughts,” said Josefi. For the GANGS collection, his complex ideas were expressed through the use of steel, laser printing and 3D printing technology.

“During the design process, I was inspired by the movie ‘Gangs of New York’. I hope that my design will provide a stronger self-esteem in the tough times we live in and I chose to focus on womenswear with this collection. I always want to contribute to gender equality and with my collection, I intended to highlight women’s incredible strength. Furthermore, I became a dad to a little daughter recently and I wanted to dedicate this collection to her,” said the Swedish designer who is widely known for his win on Project Runway Sweden in 2012.

Steel dresses from the 2017 F/W GANGS collection.

A Timeless Duo: Steel and Denim

With his background as a bespoke tailor and a keen interest in science, Josefi is spearheading the application of technology into fashion for a highly customized and personal fit. As a result, his pieces incorporate some unlikely materials and the GANGS collection was no exception.

“I think denim and steel are always matched together. You always find steel details in denim garments such as buttons, zippers and rivets. The connection between denim and steel already exists. I just wanted to highlight the collaboration between the Swedish steel industry and fashion industry even more.”

He did just that by using 100 percent recyclable steel sequins to make the dresses for his collection. Josefi worked closely with a steel manufacturer in Munkfors, Sweden. Together, they produced extremely thin bands of steel and added color to them through an electrical heating treatment. Finally, the bands were cut into small sequins via a technique called etching.

Naim Josefi undergoing the intensive process of sewing on the steel sequins by hand.

What was the hardest part of working with steel?

“The difficulties were in cutting the perfect sizes because the steel I used is very thin- 0.022 mm (1/4 of a human hair) and I needed more than 100,000 pieces. This is my most ambitious high-tech project so far. The dress is made of more than 18,000 pieces of steel sequins in different shades. Every sequin of steel is stitched by hand on a silk fabric.”

[clickToTweet tweet=”This is my most ambitious high-tech project so far. The dress is made of more than 18,000 pieces of steel sequins in different shades.” quote=”This is my most ambitious high-tech project so far. The dress is made of more than 18,000 pieces of steel sequins in different shades.” theme=”style6″]

Designing for Sustainability

Steel sequins were not the only high-tech and sustainable component of his collection. Josefi used denim as his key fabric and incorporated laser printing into the design process.

Laser-printed denim was a key fabric for the 2017 F/W GANGS collection.

Why use laser printing?

“To support sustainability. Production is situated in Portugal where we use ecologic denim fabrics with a high-tech laser treatment to create the patterns. The laser technology reduces water consumption by 80 percent in the washing process. The benefits of laser printing for the design is that we get more elegant and clean graphic patterns.”

3D Printing for the Perfect Fit  

The GANGS collection was not Josefi’s first attempt at high-tech design. In 2011, Josefi was nominated for a Brit Insurance Design Award for his 3D-printed Melonia shoes.

“I wanted to push forward the concept of tailoring. I came to the idea that the perfect measurement is scanning the body and the perfect tailoring is done by 3D printing the garments. My Melonia shoe was a demonstration of the future tailoring concept.”

Josefi was nominated for a Brit Insurance Design Award for his 3D-printed Melonia shoes. (Source: Arch20)

So, how does one 3D-print a pair of killer heels?

“We scanned the foot and shaped the design digitally in Rhino software to fit the scanned foot and then we printed the design in polyamide in an SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) 3D printer. The technology is still very new and the quality of scanning and 3D printing in different materials is still quite limited.”

For his most recent SS18 collection, Josefi designed 3D-printed steel hats, and is currently working on 3D printing steel jewelry.

“It’s always important for me to push the development further. It’s my responsibility as a designer to challenge the development to something better.”

When asked if he plans on using more steel for future collections, his answer was a definite “Yes.”

Naim Josefi’s 2017 FW GANGS collection is gaining international attention.

Cover photo courtesy of Petroleum Economist.

The Steelmaking Process

So, what does a blast furnace do in the steelmaking process? There are 4 main parts to the process of making steel, and in each process, the accompanying production equipment is as vital as the materials that make steel. Each batch of steel starts off with iron, molten iron to be exact, and the blast furnace is what transforms raw materials into molten iron.

Molten iron leaves through the bottom of a blast furnace

Molten iron comes from two raw materials; iron ore and coal. First, iron ore is converted into sinter ore in a sintering plant and coal is converted into raw coke using a coke oven. The processed materials are then poured into a blast furnace through the top opening. Hot air reaching 1200℃ is blown in from the bottom through tuyeres and chemically reacts with the materials as they fall to the bottom of the blast furnace. This process oxidizes the coke and reduces the sintered ore, creating molten iron. The molten iron is then further processed to make steel.

The Importance of the Blast Furnace

The Blast furnace is one of the oldest and most significant equipment in the steelmaking process. The average lifespan of a blast furnace is about 15 years before it needs to be replaced or refurbished.

The Pohang No.1 blast furnace

POSCO is a few months shy of its 50th anniversary, and the Pohang No.1 blast furnace has been in operation for 45 of those years. Interestingly, the blast furnace has never broken down or gone out of service. With an annual capacity of 1.3 million tons, it helped establish Korea as the top-5 steelmaker in the world and was even named Korea’s Economic National Treasure No.1.

A New Technology from an Old Furnace        

In the beginning of 2017, POSCO decided to shut down the Pohang No.1 blast furnace for good in response to the slowing steel market and put the national treasure in a museum instead. It seemed the oldest operating blast furnace in Korea would finally retire.

However, just before pulling the plug, engineers used the Pohang No.1 blast furnace in a pilot operation program using low-grade raw materials such as soft coke and low-cost iron ore to produce molten iron. To everyone’s astonishment, it succeeded, and with lower charter costs than the larger blast furnaces that have 3 times the production capacity.

As it turns out, because of its smaller size, the blast furnace can operate with low-grade raw materials such as soft coke and low-cost iron ore, and can flexibly adapt to fluctuations in operations. Employees further developed the technology and as a result, Pohang No.1 blast furnace recorded the lowest charter costs of all POSCO blast furnaces in April this year.

Thanks to the new-found technology, the legacy of the Pohang No.1 blast furnace will continue.

What’s the Secret to Longevity?

Usually, a blast furnace needs to be sprayed down every 6 months so that it does not get damaged from temperatures that can reach up to 2000℃. The bottom of the blast furnace is where the heat is concentrated, thus most susceptible to damage. Furthermore, fluctuations of the internal gas composition can lead to explosions. To solve this problem, POSCO’s technicians developed a technique to lower the coke to below the tuyere and repair the bottom of the blast furnace. This technology was applied to other furnaces and maintenance systems and is still in use today.

The Pohang No.1 blast furnace’s TFT during maintenance

To add, the Pohang No.1 blast furnace even has its own voluntary task force team (TFT) to care for and maintain the blast furnace called “Love for the blast furnace, love for POSCO.” The team of 15 not only makes sure the blast furnace is operating smoothly, they also continually research new technologies to prevent malfunctions and enhance the blast furnace.          

In a matter of months, the furnace went from almost becoming an artifact to a central part of POSCO’s competitiveness. This blast furnace’s long history in itself is impressive, but with its recent transformation, there is no telling what greater innovations and technology POSCO will achieve.

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In April, POSCO held ‘Tech Day’ events at the headquarters of global car manufacturers in Detroit. The events introduced POSCO’s superb global network, steel technology, and value chain. I personally visited the scenes, which was a great opportunity to witness POSCO’s competence in promoting its cutting-edge technologies and positive reactions from the clients. As one of ‘Hello, POSCO’ global storytellers, I would like to share the enthusiasm I could feel from Tech Day.

Visiting global carmakers to demonstrate POSCO’s cutting-edge technologies

From 2009 to 2012, POSCO held Tech Day events in Japan and Europe, visiting major players in car manufacturing industry. We presented our high-quality products and efficient line of production to Toyota, Honda, Renault, Nissan, Suzuki, Fiat, Mitsubishi, and Mazda.

For this year, POSCO, POSCO SS, POSCO Chemtech, POSCO AST and five automobile parts partners from Korea joined Tech Day events at development facilities of GM, Ford, and Chrysler in Detroit. POSCO displayed high functional steel, ultra high strength steel, hot press forming steel, PosM Steel, EVI & PBC-EV, Magnesium, technical services and automotive parts.

POSCO was able to deliver comprehensive presentations, introducing the world’s leading steel company’s value chain for manufacturing automotive parts. From the basic research undertaken by POSTECH to joint venture with POSCO Family affiliates, our firm partnership of manufacturing high-quality car parts was explained to the global carmakers with visual materials, parts samples and an electric vehicle body concept model.

POSCO Tech Day receives highly positive responses

I heard that POSCO had expected about 900 visitors for the three-day tour but in the end, we greeted more than 1,800 people who shared their positive reviews on our products and vigorous commitment. Notably, the guests’ interests were focused on the ‘third-generation AHSS development,’ designed for lightweight vehicles. They also praised POSCO’s unique concept models of high-intensity steel products such as GI 1500MART and 340ES.

Personally, I think the zenith of POSCO’s Tech Day events held in this year was the announcement, jointly made by POSCO, GM, and Chrysler. The three companies have agreed to hold regular engineer exchange programs to develop high-tech automotive parts. I believe the decision will be paid back with a series of great successes, putting POSCO to the next level of perfection as a leading global steel manufacturer.

Overall, I reckon the main goal of the exhibition, to display POSCO’s newly developed automotive technologies and the ways to reduce the cost for customers, was perfectly accomplished. Also, I would like to thank POSCO’s on-site staff who worked really hard for creating the commendable result. I wish to get back to ‘Hello, POSCO’ soon with more great news about POSCO’s global operations in near future.