Hussein Chalayan - Exhibition & Talk

Hussein Chalayan twice named British designer of the year, will be presenting on two separate occasions. The first being the "Design Museum London Debate" where he will discuss why he has chosen to base his international business in London's East End.

Shoreditch Town Hall - Wednesday 11th March £15

The second event will be hosted at the Design Museum, which is hosting the Hussein Chalayan Exhibition "From Fashion and Back". Chalayan will be talking about the motivation and inspiration behind his experimental projects. There will be an informal discussion with an opportunity for the audience to poise questions at the end.

The Design Museum - Friday 17th April 19.15 £15 (includes entry to exhibition)

To Book Tickets for both events visit the Design Museum Website.

Biomimicry Inspired Textiles

I absolutely want to share with you this inspiring video, just for pure contemplation.



The braided suit is an animation inspired by bio-luminescent underwater creatures produced by MA Textile Futures year 1 students at Central St Martins, under the supervision of Amélie Labarthe. It is the research stage of a biomimicry design project where inspiration is taken from nature's principles to inject into design solutions and surfaces. Something to catch an eye on ...

Thanks to Amélie for sharing this amazing work!

Gecko Fabrics Workshop

Weekly meeting of our research group at CITA , CITA sessions is a chance for us to exchange ideas, share experiences. CITA session 2 will focus on designing proposals and mock-ups for our application in the Gecko Textiles Competition organized by Créations Baumann. A new fabric inspired by nanotech research seeking to mimick Gecko's skin. More news in pictures soon !

Celebration of textiles walls - Semper

Early celebration of textiles within architecture, a reference not to be missed:

"Hanging carpets remain the true walls, the visible boundaries of space. The often solid walls behind them were necessaru for reasons that had nothing to do with the creation of the space, they were needed for security, for supporting a load, for their permanence and so on."

Gotffried Semper, The Four Elements of Architecture, 1851, p104

Waldemeyer : fusion of technology, art, fashion & design

Let's take the opportunity of the unmissable Hussein Chalayan's exhibition at the Design Museum, London to talk about Moritz Waldemeyer. This amazing guy is the engineering mastermind beyond some of the most exciting pieces of Chalayan such as the Airbone dress, turning even Chalayan's most outlandish concepts into a reality.

So go ahead and check the website and blog of this master in digital fashion technologies, definitively a reference for all textile designers interested in designing intelligent and other e-textiles. I wish I had the same success with Arduino ;)





















Source : http://www.waldemeyer.com/videodress.html

Innovation embedded in the fabric

A lecture by Martin Leuthold, Art Director at Jakob Schlaepfer at Plug.in, Basel, Switzerland

Leuthold will bring a selection of these fabrics and will talk about the entangelment of craft and technology, and specifically about the appearing and vanishing of electronic technologies in his collections.

If you don't know Jakob Schlaepfer yet, you should run for it, it is a must in term of innovative textiles for Haute-Couture. This Swiss-based company propose textiles that are a paradise for the eyes and for the hands, proposing luxurious collections of surprising textiles mixing embroidery, laser-cutting & digital printing. Astonishing.

Source : Fashion Technology

Home by John Berger

“Home is represented not by a house, but by a practice or a set of practices. Everyone has his own. These practices, chosen and not imposed, offer in their repetition, transient as they are by themselves, more permanence, more shelter than any lodging. Home is no longer a dwelling, but the untold story of a life being lived. At its most brutal, home is no more than one’s name.” John Berger

Thanks to Carole for sharing these inspiring words

Textile Tectonics

The meeting of architecture and textiles is a continuous but too often forgotten story of intimate exchange. However, the 2nd Ventulett Symposium hosted by the College of Architecture, within Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, last november, was one of these precious moments celebrating such a marriage, focusing on textile tectonics. As a key topic of her PhD, Aurélie attended this event and reported about the keynote speakers including: Lars Spuybroeck, Mark Burry, Evan Douglis, Michael Hensel and Cecil Balmond.

Discover the full report here.

VIDA - Art and Artificial Life Competition

One of the issues raised by the development of new technologies, is how they will impact our identity of human beings. Interested in the conversation between art, science, technology and society, Fundación Telefónica has just awarded Philip Beesley with the first prize of their VIDA competition, dedicated to art and artificial art. A good pretext to introduce you to the work of this Canadian architect, artist & researcher, through his uncanny, poetical and fascinating immersive sculpture Hylozoic Soil.

As We Make Money Not Art reports, Hylozoic Soil takes its cue from Hylozoism, the philosophical view that all or some material things possess life. It takes the shape of an artificial environment that seems to be made of the same substance as jellyfish, breathing like one, wrapping itself around you and exhibiting complex behaviour as you walk through it.

Delicate arms made of a shape memory alloy called nitinol gently move in reaction to people's behaviour, while hanging pillars transmit a very quiet energy, miles away from the more direct and manly energy displayed by most robotic installations. Although the work manage to almost absorb visitors it has been developed using as little material as possible. The structure was expanded into an ethereal meshwork.

Source: We Make Money Not Art

EX-MACHINA Exploring digital manufacturing in fine art, crafts and design practice

ARTQUEST presents Ex Machina, a one-day conference that explores the myriad ways in which visual practitioners are embracing and exploiting new technologies in order to produce contemporary work. These could include Rapid Prototyping Technology, CNC milling and 3D digital printing.
Through the presentation of a historical overview and current case studies the conference will show how artists have repeatedly exploited technologies and in fact are often early adopters of new tools, materials and techniques that have historically been developed for other industries.
The purpose of this Artquest event is to develop critical awareness, knowledge and understanding of the scope and potential of current technologies available, through demonstrating their application by artists, craftspeople and designers.
The day will conclude with a visit to Metropolitan Works in order to view a forthcoming exhibition about the use of RPT by fine artists, craftspeople and designers and to introduce delegates to the range of facilities and expertise in London.

Architectural Knitted Surfaces

International Workshop - 22-26 February 2009

A workshop proposed by Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Israel, result of a unique collaboration between the Department of Interior – Building and Environment Design and the Knitting Workshop and Plastics Engineering in Shenkar together with Dipl. Ing. (TU) Norbert Palz, an architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, CITA, Center for Information Technology and Architecture. The workshop was initiated by Prof. Shraga Kirshner and is based on a three-year long collaboration between Dr. Eyal Sheffer and architect Ayelet Karmon, who have been exploring the potential of three-dimensional knitted surfaces to become elements of the built environment. The workshop is open to students and professionals from textile design, interior design and architecture.

The workshop will offer the use of a parametric design tool, ParaCloud Ltd., which converts spreadsheet driven matrices into a powerful generative and associative modelling application. This tool allows the positioning of adaptable cell components on given surfaces and their optimization with relation to the overall surface tectonics and behavior. Behavioural attributes of various knitted surfaces will be explored through the production of computational models and material prototypes in the Knitting Workshop and Plastics Workshop at Shenkar. Since textile surfaces naturally attain complex geometrical behaviour, both at the level of the overall surface and the local stitch, CAD tools become exploration tools for the behaviors of these surfaces. The workshop will incorporate the use of different materials such as advanced composite materials, to achieve both rigid and elastic conditions.

Source: Dezeen

Fabrics in a context of emotional values

Invitation:Fabrics in a context and emotional values

- A Danish industrial PhD project related to textile design practice

Anne Louise Bang is completing a period as an Associate Research Student at CSM. She is in the middle of an ‘industrial PhD’ at Kolding, Denmark, studying the relationship between human emotions and textile design. The international textile company Gabriel is sponsoring the research and providing unique access to personnel and information. She is also a well known textile designer in Scandinavia and will be discussing both her research and the Danish model of ‘industrial PhDs’.

11th February 2009, 5.30pm - 6.45pm

@ room 304, The Bridge, Southampton Row, Central Sct MArtins College of Art and Design.

Domestic Realm

The notion of home has been traditionally associated with crafts, the feminine and as such trivialized in most academic research. However, interested in contemporary interpretations of the domestic from a design perspective, I have found out that the history of the home, as an academic topic, has shown a revival of attention, especially in United Kingdom. Several works across university disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and also within museums, have lead to hubs of activity including the AHRC Centre for the Study of the domestic Interior (V&A/RCA/Bedford Centre for the History of Women), Kingston University’s Modern Interiors Research Centre, the Museum of Domestic Architecture and Design (MoDA) at Middlesex University. The Geffrye Museum's (a must in term of domesticity) new Histories of the Home Network is the most recent development in the field and builds upon this research. Another valuable resource is the Berg publication: Home Cultures which focus on main aspects of the domestic realm, from interior design to architecture, including material culture and anthropology.

Source: Histories of the Home SSN Symposium
Geffrye Museum, Saturday 27th September, 2008

FEI Conference - Putting the Ethics into Practice

The Fashioning an Ethical Industry team are putting together their annual conference which will take place on 11th March 2009 at the Rich Mix in London from 9.30am - 17.30pm.
This event will interrogate fashion to promote sustainable practice, bringing together students, tutors and industry experts to review current practice. The event will present pioneering methods and an opportunity to network and participate in key debates.
Speakers include: Dr Kate Fletcher author of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, representatives from People Tree, Action Aid and Asda. Babul Akhter and Kalpone Akter will talk about their work to improve working conditions for workers in Bangladesh and Liz Leffman will share her knowledge on global sourcing.
Visit the website for further information including a podcast of last years event.
www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org

Fashion Matters - Fashion & the Internet in association with Ecco Shoes

Reina Lewis (LCF) and Dolly Jones from vogue.com will be joined by speakers from fashion blogs to discuss how the internet has changed consumer interaction. The experience of these speakers should present an insightful discussion into the future of fashion and how it will evolve and transpire in the future.

This seminar looks really interesting and will explore the context of fashion in the changing world by reviewing how the internet has changed the fashion experience for manufacturers, retailers, designers and consumers. I will update this posting with a review after the event in March.
This event will be hosted at the V&A on Friday 20th March call +44 (0)20 7942 2211 for further information

A Series of Conversations on Fashion & the Internet

A series of seminars organised by London College of Fashion explore how digital media presents new methods and opportunities for people to actively engage in fashion.

The first seminar presented Dr Agnes Rocamora in conversation with Susie Bubble from fashion blog Style Bubble. Susie's blog has attracted a mass following with approx 15,000 hits a day! The seminar explored her methods, process and writing style reflecting an honest account of a love and commitment to fashion.
The second event with take place on Wednesday 11th February 2009, 5.30pm, Rootstein Hopkins East Space, London College of Fashion. Hosting Dr Julia Gaimster (LCF) in conversation with Iris Ophelia, Second Life Fashion Correspondent.
The series will close with a seminar on Experiencing Fashion and the Internet: Co-Design and Online experience. This event will host a conversation with Sue Jenkyn-Jones, Frances Ross and Dr Julia Wolny (LCF).
To book a place contact Rachel Jillions: r.jillions@fashion.arts.ac.uk

Eco Build & Future Build 2009

3-5 March 2009, London, Earls Court

Ecobuild is an event dedicated to sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

It is a great place to select materials as Ecobuild showcases a vast range of sustainable construction products, associated with a vast selection of conferences / seminars focused around topics such as

• Making micro renewables work
• Water wise
• Regulations revealed
• Road to zero carbon
• Refurbishing Britain
• Urban planning & public realm
• Performance matters
• Innovation & efficiency
  

One session seems particularly interesting as the main focus will be on Innovation in Construction today, introducing among other smart & phase changing materials. So see you there on Wednesday 4th March from 10h30 till 12h30?