Usually,industrial sewing machinist Philippe Vincent works on umbrellas or violin bags,until he was asked to sew space material.Hugo Munoz
10am:My day starts by turning on about twenty different light switches in the co-op building where I work. It’s called Tortuga Studios,and it’s filled with other people who are self-employed doing things like photography or set design. We’re all friends.
I often receive enquiries via my website for different or niche projects. I might be sewing a custom bag for a violin or sewing synthetic grass or carpet for a product for a furniture company. I usually have five to ten jobs going at the same time. Sometimes I’ll spend an hour or so first thing on email,but generally,it’s straight to it.
I started sewing when I was 13,making clothes for myself. It progressed into knitwear on industrial knitting machines and took off from there. Domestic sewing machines try to cram many features into the machine,but in industrial machines there’s one machine for each task. They are heavy,and set into a table,you can’t pick them up and walk around the room with them.
11am:In industrial design there is often no pattern to follow,so I’ll make one. Today I’m doing a valance for a high-end umbrella for a regular client. When Space Machines Company reached out needing someone to sew multi-layer insulation in Australia’s largest-ever private satellite,I had to create patterns and mock-up versions for each blanket.
Before I began,I had zero knowledge of the space industry or satellites. It was so interesting to learn about. Multi-layer insulation is a thermal insulation composed of multiple layers of thin sheets and is often used on spacecraft.
It’s primarily intended to reduce heat loss by thermal radiation,and withstand the extreme temperatures of space. It can be easily penetrated by high-speed debris,so each blanket had to go through multiple rounds of tests to make sure it was sturdy enough ahead of the launch.
1pm:A client comes into the studio to check a prototype. Normally,I work from here,but for the multi-layer insulation project I went to the Space Machine Company’s site where the satellite was being built because it needed to be done in a sterile environment.
I only had to take one industrial machine,and I set it up there. It’s not supposed to fit in a car,but if you take it apart into enough pieces it will.
Industrial sewing machinist Philippe Vincent working on the multi-layer insulation blanket.Supplied
On that job,my day started by walking across sticky mats that were placed down to get rid of dirt and germs from the soles of my shoes. Then,I entered a temperature-controlled “clean room”.
It’s a prep room where I put on a PPE uniform with a facial hair guard,then a hair net,a lab coat,shoe protection,gloves. You only need a day’s growth for the facial hair guard to be necessary.
In the main clean room where I worked,the air was carefully circulated to expel any contaminants,while simultaneously drawing in bacteria and dead skin. This process was repeated every time I left and came back into the room,even if it was just for a toilet break.
The multi-layer insulation was up to 30 layers,so every day I had to think about thread tension,blanket thickness and avoiding scratching and tears. I was very careful moving it around the sewing machine,as there are so many layers. It was an extremely intricate and delicate task.
4pm:A late afternoon phone call to discuss a prototype for a potential client,before another client drops into my studio to test an almost completed piece.
7pm:It’s difficult to forget about my job. My subconscious likes to plan the next day and work out a detail that needs to be sorted out. Even in my sleep sometimes I come up with solutions to issues. I don’t really shut off.
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