Diffus Design Worklab 1.- 4. juni

The theme of the worklab is interactive textiles, soft circuits and alternative energy. We will investigate different kinds of textile conductive techniques, use of photovoltaic materials and Arduino Lilypads. The worklab will include an individual introduction to the Lilypad, programming and conductive materials. The final result will be a group project presented to the public, making an environmental statement with alternative use of solar cells, LEDs, optical fibres, thermocromic ink or other materials that offers an interactive approach to textiles.

We are working from the point of view that what you see is what you get. Electronics and circuits are not hidden, but becomes a crucial part of the expression and the aesthetics. There has always to some degree been alienation in the relation between man and technology – on the other hand textiles are the most integrated material in our everyday life. What happens when new technology gets integrated with the well-known textiles. Our everyday use of textiles combined with our everyday need for electronic devices to guide and amuse us will be the essential starting point of the workshop, theoretically as well as practically.

The worklab is a part of the e-textile project Soft Technology at Atelier Nord. The project is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council and Nordic Culture Point.

In addition to the project group of invited textile and media artists, there are three spaces available for other participants in the work group. Please apply by using the form at Atelier Nord

Experience with e-textiles and programming is required.
Application deadline: 15 May 2010.
Participants fee: NOK 500

Source

Call for Article: LIVING IN THE PAST: HISTORIES, HERITAGE AND THE INTERIOR

(Vol. 2 Issue 1 – March 2011)
LIVING IN THE PAST: HISTORIES, HERITAGE AND THE INTERIOR

The editors Anne Massey and John Turpin invite contributions to the journal’s 2011 special issue Living in the Past: Histories, Heritage and the Interior.

This issue will examine the theme of the interior as a marker of history. Deeply embedded in historical processes, interiors are mutable spaces, shaped and re-shaped over time. The issue will seek to reveal the numerous ways in which interiors register and mark the passing of time and question the ways in which time and the effect of social, cultural, political and economic factors shape our understanding and assessment of the interior.

• The editors welcome submission of articles addressing the following themes:
• History and the Interior. How do interior designers, decorators, architects and industry use or work with history?
• The concept of history as it informs design practice
• The challenge of working with/within historic buildings
• Historicism and revivalism in the work of architects, interior decorators and designers
• The trade in architectural interiors
• Re-modelling as a design practice
• The Re-designation of Interiors. How have interiors figured in practices and discourses of urban and economic regeneration?
• The re-development of war or disaster damaged buildings
• The re-purposing of obsolete industrial/commercial/recreational/religious spaces
• Histories of alteration of re-use within a single building type
• Hybrids (the preservation of the architectural facade / tensions between modern interior/historic exterior)

Heritage and the Interior. How do curators and those working within the heritage industry address the question of history?

• Consider issues of conservation, preservation or renovation
• Explore the curatorial challenges of working with and presenting historic interiors (e.g. periodisation, narrative)

The Interior as History/Memory. How do interiors register changing patterns of social activity or human presence and in what ways do historic interiors act as a focal point of social negotiation/cultural exchange?

• Explore agents of change and the re-assignment of the use of interiors in response to the changing needs of particular communities
• Consider histories of alteration and re-use through study of a single site (e.g. functional shifts from domestic to commercial or religious to secular use)
• Consider re-modelling and the erasure of history/histories

Submissions reflecting the latest research on the interior from historians, practitioners and theorists are particularly welcomed. Principal articles of 5,000 to 7,000 words, including notes and references, with 4-8 illustrations are invited, and should be sent as an attachment to interiors@bergpublishers.com by 1st June 2010.

Further details of the Journal, including Notes for Contributors, are available at www.bergjournals.com/interiors If you have any queries about the Journal or about submitting an article, please contact

Architectural Knitted Surfaces II : workshop

I am very excited about this coming workshop on architectural knitted surfaces in which I will take part at Shenkar Univerisity (Israel). There is still some places left so come and join us !

27 June – 1 July 2010

Following the success of the first "Architectural Knitted Surfaces – Digital/Physical" workshop last year, Shenkar University is hosting a second international workshop on the topic in the last week of June 2010. The workshop explores the potential of three-dimensional knitted surfaces as models for thinking about the architectural environment. This year, it will further examine how composite textile surfaces can reflect on the material practices of architectural fabrication. We will develop bespoke computer defined textiles as frameworks for the incorporation of computational attributes; transforming knitted surfaces into robotic membranes by imbedding sensing and actuation into their skin. Combining advances in intelligent textiles with parametric modeling we ask how these new technologies have impact on the way we think, design and make architecture.

The workshop is based on a long-term collaboration between Dr. Eyal Sheffer of the Knitting Laboratory, the department of Textile Design in Shenkar and architect Ayelet Karmon of the Department of Interior – Building and Environment Design in Shenkar. This year we will also extend our collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Denmark, by hosting Associate Professor Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, MAA, PhD, Head of CITA, Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, as part of the teaching team.

This 5-day workshop is open to students and professionals from textile design, interior design, architecture, interactive and media design and other related fields.

Further details and registration forms on Shenkar University Website

Fashion Co-Design Workshop

Last Friday I designed and facilitated a workshop at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, at The University of Dundee.

The workshop was designed around an interchangeable dress and invited participants to submit designs. The changeable element was built in to explore multifunctional clothing as a method to challenge direct consumption by exploring alternative fashion interactions.

As a group we discussed ways to make clothing changeable but accessible. To customise fashion sewing skills and know how is required and this costs more money, takes time and requires effort therefore how can a fashion consumer get a quick fix in a do-able format?

To communicate the concepts the participants designed and produced a 'zine' to accessories their dress.

Each team presented their dress and zine. All integrated social and digital media into their concepts to create networks. These networks would support service design models, send members tokens for downloads, offer upgrade and repair. The networks would be designed to also conversations around the dress designs and showcase ways to assemble and style new looks.

The students were brilliant and offered some great designs and suggestions.

The final designs will be produced and new concepts will be added through future workshops. This will be showcased through a new blog and digital space.

Details to follow soon!

Shape-Morphing Textiles Workshop

Lately I have been quite busy designing & facilitating a research seminar & workshop on Shape-Morphing Textiles in the Design of Domestic Spaces at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen with the support of CITA. I am happy to share with you a flavour of the event.

The workshop gathered together researchers from polymer science & engineering, textile design & architecture to address the potential of shape-morphing textiles for the home. With the intention to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue between science & design, we looked at how responsive polymer technologies can merge with fabric to design soft architectural membranes for resilient spaces.

Our journey started with the exploration of dielectric actuators through the design and making of electro-active modules with the support of Guggi Kofod , from Potsdam University. These experiments supported discussions on the opportunities and challenges of shape-morphing technologies, their design implementation & stakes, questions we explored further through scenario-building, brainstorming & prototyping with moisture responsive materials.

To enlarge the discussion, we presented our respective research to the public via a dedicated seminar on the topic who gathered designers, architects, researchers from all across Denmark & Sweden. The debated was very lively and we received a lot of interest.

I have to say it was a very rich and inspiring experience. Thanks all for taking part in this event.

MA Fashion Open Studio at Kingston University

Two PhD Studentships - Design Products Royal College of Art & The V&A

Two PhD Studentships - Design Products

Emerging Design Practice and Curating: paradigms and parameters

Royal College of Art

The Royal College of Art, Design Products department (RCA) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, Contemporary Programmes (V&A) in London seek to appoint two PhD Research Students to explore how highly specialized and innovative new design practice is made accessible to new audiences in the context of the museum. Applications are invited for practice-based and theory-based research projects.

The UK is internationally well regarded for the depth and quality of its design culture, which is grounded in its internationalism and the strength of design education. London is a hotbed for design innovation, much of it centred on the RCA as the pre-eminent higher education institute for design in the country. Much of this innovation is highly academic, speculative, critical and experimental, often dealing with new technologies or ways of working, developing design as an agent of social or cultural change. This may seem, from the outside, to be impenetrable and the challenge for designers is to articulate their processes and practices in ways that can be understood by, and influence, the general public.

The two studentships will identify new forms of design practice emerging from within the RCA and its network of alumni and associates, in order to develop contemporary taxonomies of design. By partnering with the V&A it is intended that these taxonomies will inform the curatorial definitions of design practice and the ways in which design is represented and interpreted in the public realm of the museum context, bringing advanced design thinking into the mainstream of public debate.

The V&A is one of the largest and most highly regarded museums of art and design in the world and exists to educate, inform and inspire the public. The dissemination of knowledge is at the heart of its activities and through its contemporary programmes it aims to make current art and design accessible to the public.

Further Information