Adding a sense of warmth to sleek Apple hardware, fashion designer Susan Fang has created a series of 3D-printed accessories for the newest version of Apple products.
Wanting to lend a sense of craft to technology products, Fang worked with Orelio De Jonghe, a former Dyson engineer, now her partner in life and at work, on a series of Apple accessories that include iPhone and iPad covers, Apple Watch bands, AirPod enclosures, and more.
Susan Fang x Apple AirPod enclosures.
“We started with the question of ‘how can we make 3D-printed accessories feel alive, with a sense of craftsmanship, almost feel like a kind of future craft?’ — this still requires full manual control over different programs, and can’t be done with AI, which is still imprecise and very random,” explained Fang.
“We want to show that digital creations can be as organic and intuitive as a garden growing wild,” said Fang.
The pastel-colored collaboration features motifs such as flowers, mushrooms and lucky clovers, and is available on Fang’s Xiaohongshu platform from 561 renminbi, or $79, for an iPhone cover, to 7,925 renminbi, or $1,120, for a Mac Mini shell.
With De Jonghe’s expertise, the brand is able to fully grasp and experiment with the latest software offerings.
“For example, we discovered just how powerful Apple’s M-chips are, and began pushing our design limits. We started doing extremely complex effects — the kind normally used in animated feature films, which usually require massive multimachine rendering — a normal laptop would crash, but a MacBook could run it,” explained Fang, who was able to explore more natural effects, such as plants swaying in the wind, and incorporate the 3D-printed objects into garments and accessories.
Susan Fang and Orelio De Jonghe
During a small exhibition at a historic lane house in Shanghai, Fang also showcased how she uses Apple products and Clo3D, a 3D fashion design software, to create special textile dresses — placed next to 3D-printed garments, they showed how simulations translate seamlessly into ethereal pieces.
“The main idea is to give technology warmth, dreaminess, and a sense of harmony with nature. We used Apple’s creative ecosystem not just as a tool, but as a collaborator — letting digital systems behave more like living organisms than machines,” Fang continued.
Apple recently collaborated with Issey Miyake on an “iPhone Pocket” that used the fashion label’s signature pleated knitwear to create a small handbag. It is the first time the brand has launched a collaboration with a fashion house since 2015, when it launched a high-profile collaboration with Hermès.
Fang’s collaboration with Apple is a part of its local campaign initiated by its iPad and Mac team.