Fashion Museum Bath crowdsourced scanning

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Crowdsourced scanning with the Fashion Museum Bath and Youth Connect South West

Wednesday, 17 June, 2026

Earlier this year, Fashion Museum Bath spent a day working with a group of young people aged 16–18 from Youth Connect South West's alternative education programme. Together, they explored how historic fashion objects from Fashion Museum Bath’s collection can be translated into digital form through scanning with Polycam, a photogrammetry app widely used for creating 3D models. 

The session focused on working with a selection of bags from the collection, spanning over 400 years of design, craft and use. These objects provided a rich starting point for discussion and analysis. Working closely with each item, participants were encouraged to look beyond surface appearance and consider the physical and material qualities that define historic fashion objects: the intricacy of stitching, the tactility of fabrics, the wear patterns that signal everyday use, and the traces of repair that speak to longevity and care. 

Gabrielle Shiner-Hill, Digital Fellow at Future Fashion Works said: 

“A central aspect of the day was co-production. Rather than delivering a fixed workshop, we worked with the group to shape the activity collaboratively, from deciding how objects should be approached and documented to reflecting on what made a successful scan.  Importantly, the session also created space to think critically about the role of digital technologies in shaping cultural heritage.  

“Drawing on the Citizen Heritage framework, we are reflecting on what it means to involve the wider public, particularly young people who may not traditionally see themselves represented in museum spaces, in the creation of digital archives.” 

A key part of the process involved questioning how these qualities are captured, or lost, when translated into a digital 3D model. This activity forms part of the Explore the Collection programme, developed by Fashion Museum Bath, partnered with Bath Spa University, which is running while the Museum is closed in advance of its planned reopening in 2030.  

By creating high-quality 3D assets, the programme opens up new ways for audiences to encounter historic objects remotely, while also experimenting with more participatory approaches to digital heritage.

Find out more about the project on the Fashion Museum Bath Instagram page and their dedicated website.