Constellation Wallpaper at Eco-Home exhibition

9th of october till 7th of february

At the occasion of the Eco-Home exhibition organized by the Geffrye Museum, I will have the opportunity to present my Constellation Wallpaper, an energy-storing wallpaper concept.

The show itself will address widespread and increasing interest in the way that climate change and the state of the planet affects our homes and the way we use, decorate and inhabit them.It is supported by John Lewis.

Eco Home will examine current ideas around eco living in an informative and timely way. The climate change agenda is having an impact on almost every area of life and the home is no exception.Recycling and saving energy have, for some, been part of daily life for generations, and is today enjoying a resurgence as well as new significance and urgency.The mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ is prompting us to rethink our habits and behaviour. This exhibition will offer visitors food for thought on what they can do to make small but important eco changes in their homes.

We are now being encouraged to think about saving resources like water and electricity and turning to renewable sources.People are also beginning to consider the impact of industrial production methods and responsible sourcing. Eco Home will investigate how so-called ‘green’ issues have entered our domestic spaces, using both products that are already well established in the marketplace as well as futuristic prototypes.

Fashioning an Ethical Industry International Conference 2010: Call for Papers

Call for Academic/Research Papers and Student Projects

Fashioning an Ethical Industry International Conference: Fast Forward
Supported by the Northumbria University School of Design
2nd and 3rd March 2010
London

Fashion both reflects and influences social change. In a time when we are increasingly concerned with the impact of the industry on people and the planet, students need to be equipped with the tools to design the way we make and consume fashion differently. Fashioning an Ethical Industry (an EU funded project taking place in the UK, Netherlands, Austria and Poland) is part of a growing global movement within fashion education that is addressing how the business of fashion impacts on garment workers. This two day international conference will build upon the success of previous national events and the publication of the Sustainable Fashion: A Handbook for Educators. It will bring together educators, industry experts, academics and selected students to explore how fashion can be taught to inspire responsibility for the rights of the workers making our clothes.

Alongside their set programme of speakers with expertise in the industry, we will provide the opportunity for the presentation of academic research papers and for students to present their project or dissertation work at the conference. Each paper will be presented in a 30 minute session. Double sessions of one hour are available. All of the papers and projects will be presented in a workshop setting and the presenter should allow time for participants to comment and contribute to the session.

Academic/Research Papers:
Papers are welcomed that address the following or related themes:
Social responsibility in the garment industry (with an emphasis on garment workers’ rights)
Teaching ethics within fashion education
Approaches to education for sustainable development relevant to fashion education
Student Presentations:
Students are invited to apply for the opportunity to showcase their project, design or dissertation work which addresses social responsibility in the garment industry. If you are a tutor please encourage your students to make a submission.

Procedure:
Academics and students interested in participating in this event should submit an abstract by 30th October 2009 of 500‐700 words to liz@fashioninganethicalindustry.org. For further details on submission please see the attached PDF.

Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by a committee chaired by Doug Miller Inditex/ITGLWF Professor in Ethical Fashion at University of Northumbria. Final papers should be 5-6000 words long. The papers will be published online on the Fashioning an Ethical Industry website under a creative commons license and may be published more formally.

Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: 30th October 2009
Feedback on submissions: 29th November 2009
Final paper/project submission deadline: 30th January 2010
Final Conference: 2nd/3rd March 2010

For more information visit their website.

Service Design Conference 2009

The Service Design Conference will take place on 26th - 27th Octiber 2008 in Madeira, Portugal. The Conference will host a series of talks around service design innovations and is entitled "Beyond Basics"

Speakers include: Lavrans Lovile and Ben Reason (live|work), Mark Jones (IDEO), Shelleu Evenson (Microsoft) Lucy Kimbell (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford), Andreas Sommerwerk and Julia Leihener (Creation Center, Deutsche Telekom AG) and many more inspiration speakers Im sorry I haven't posted the list but visit the website for full speaker information and bio's.

The full agenda can be viewed here.

2012 IMPERATIVE TEACH-IN

The Victoria and Albert Musuem will host the 2012 IMPERATIVE TEACH-IN on the 12th October followed by participating institutions on the 13th October.

This event will broadcast live online and speakers include Andrew Simms of the New Economics Foundation, John Thackara of the Doors of Perception, Richard Hawkins and Christian Hunt from the PIRC, Ben Gill from BioRegional, designers Jonathan Crinion (Crinion Associates) and Stephanie Hankey (Tactical Technology Collective).

he 2012 Imperative aims to embed ecological and sustainability literacy in design education by 2012. There is a social network to support new connections and conversations.

Visit their website for further information on booking tickets or where to watch the broadcast live.

MA Fashion Kingston University: BodyLab

Making futures - 17th & 18th September 2009

This sounds like a not to be missed conference organized in Plymouth:

'The purpose of ‘Making Futures' is to improve understanding of the ways in which the contemporary crafts are practiced in relation to significant and new emerging agendas relating to global environmental and sustainability issues.

The objectives include trying to understand whether these ‘agendas’ offer opportunities for the crafts to redefine and reconstitute themselves as less marginalised, more centrally productive forces in society, through new formulations and/or re-articulations of practices, identities, positions and markets, in ways that might engage more closely with contemporary social and cultural needs.

‘Making Futures: the crafts in the context of emerging global sustainability agendas’ aims to bring together an international cast of academics, practitioners, curators, campaigners, activists, and representatives from associated organisations and agencies, to develop and explore the conference theme. The conference seeks to incorprate a diverse range of practice-based case studies with approaches rooted in historical and cultural modelling encompassing social, technological, critical-theoretical, and economic and political perspectives. Throughout, the intention will be to advance understanding and debate of this important area where practice and aesthetics confront contemporary social and political imepratives.

The conference invites submissions from practitioners, curators, historians, theorists, campaigners, activists, and representatives of public and private agencies with an interest in the relationship between the contemporary crafts and sustainability issues.'

Check out the programme and so on, on the conference website

Puff & Flock at London Design Festival

Come and check out new works by future textile collective Puff & Flock will be exhibiting at Designersblock for this years London Design Festival. Puff & Flock are also part of the Mix magazine seminar program at 100% Design, both taking place at Earls Court, 24th - 27th September.

Don't forget to register for both tickets and visit it Puff & Flock in stand B20 for inflatable wonders, magnetic magic and glowing fabrics set amongst the Puff & Flock hub of textile dreams and inspiration.

VeryDesignersBlock & 100percentdesign

Explaining textile design ...

The world of textiles is complexe to apprehend. We, as textile designers, are often confronted to the difficulty to explain what our work is about as it emcompasses many dimensions, depending on which context we are working, from trend forecasting to research, from industry to art etc not to mention the diversity of applications involving textiles from clothing to aerospace engineering.The V&A website proposes a straightforward application to understand in a playful way the basics of textile design. Textiles means obviously much more than that to us than drawing lovely flowers, you will certainly have noticed through this blog, but for once, let's come back to the basics ...