Thursday 23 September 2010

Textile Environment Design: D-Day




Old T-Shirt Before & Old T-Shirt After



Textiles Environment Design (TED) is a Research Group based at Chelsea College of Art & Design. I am a PhD student there and was lucky enough to participate within one of their workshops last Friday.

The Workshop titled 'D-Day' defined durability day and was inspired by the recent Martin Margiela exhibition hosted at Sommerset House, London.

Using a variety of different print techniques a collection of old garments were transformed. I really enjoyed this workshop experience and was amazed at how quickly old garments could be transformed into something new and desirable.

I transformed an old t-shirt that I no longer wore due to damage and stains (images above). You can see some of the other work produced on the TED and Make it Digital.

The full report and next event will be documented on the TED blog.

Monday 20 September 2010

EThOS - electronic thesis online access

I just would like to share with you a small PhD tip. The British Library is providing an online access to most of PhD thesis published in UK. You have to register for that but most of theses thesis are available under digital form for free. This is a very valuable resource, accessible from here.

Thursday 16 September 2010

Busy September for Puff & Flock


Puff & Flock are pleased to announce a host of events and activities during the London Design Festival, September 2010.

Once again joining their friends Designersblock exhibiting in their show at the Bargehouse, London and Puff & Flock is very excited to be joined by a wealth of guest design talent in The Puff & Flock Parlour.

First up they have recent MA Textile Futures graduate, Suphichaya Vanasirkul, creating her Stressionary installation for the amusement of over stressed workers. Secondly Spanish design talent Andere Monjo will be showcasing some furniture pieces and selling her intriguing Ice Rocks Candles in the Puff & Flock shop. These two designers join installations by Puff & Flockers, Elisabeth Buecher, Jenny Leary, Jo Angell, Kathy Schicker and Melissa French.

Debuted in Milan to great success, the Puff & Flock shop makes its first appearance in London for the occasion of Designersblock. We have collected designers from all over the world alongside home grown talent, stocking a range of high quality goods from crochet eyeballs to mushroom hooks and beautiful ceramics. Our very own Amelie Labarthe will be selling jewellery and toys as design duo The Smths.

Crochet Eyeballs by Monstifiy
Mushroom Hooks by Masako Sato
Paper Rings by Yuko Taguchi
Games and T-shirts by Grit Hartung
Cushions and Textiles by Jo Angell
Jewellery by April 23
Super Chick Chic by Marilou Rabourdin
Ceramics by Kedo and Rondo
Toys and Jewellery by The Smths


Puff & Flock are also part of the Late night V&A event 'Two's a Pair', Friday 24th September 18:30 - 22:00. Elisabeth Buecher has designed and made a range of 'Siamese Accessories' costumes for two people wear at the same time as well as a magnetic attraction costume by Jenny Leary. Come join the fun and have your photo taken and leave with a commemorative sticker!

Puff & Flock's Jenny Leary is also taking part in the Anti Design Festival in a 30 minute performonstartion entitled "When Crafting Leads to Hacking" on Monday 20th Sept. Please join the audience as we demonstrate how to read encrypted information. Jenny Leary and Mimmo Belcuore will show the shape of magnetic fields embedded in data cards, and we will need public volunteers!

We are proud to announce that we are one of the winners of the MyDeco Design Democracy Awards. Watch out for our posts on the My Deco blog for the duration of The London Design Festival 2101.

Find out more on www.puffandflock.com

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Domestic Space: An interdisciplinary research site on houses, homes and gardens

Our friends from the SSN network have just mentionned in their last newsletter what seems to be an interesting source for references about the domestic space:
Domestic Space: An interdisciplinary research site on houses, homes and gardens - A project within the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, the site has its origins in a workshop, Rethinking Domestic Space: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Home and Garden, held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, November 1998. Includes an extensive, searchable bibliography, an international events calendar and a collection of useful links.
You can access this database via this link

Wednesday 8 September 2010

100 DAYS OF ACTIVE RESISTANCE

Friday 3 September 2010

Future Everything: Conference Call



‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it’
Alan Kay

The FutureEverything conference invites proposals for talks, presentations, workshops and sessions that relate to and expand the themes listed below. Submissions of innovative formats for social interaction and experimentation are encouraged.

Exploring the interface between technology, society and culture, the internationally acclaimed FutureEverything conference is the crucible that allows artists, technologists and future-thinkers to share, innovate and interact. It has prefigured new trends and is a place where important international discussions take place.

FutureEverything can offer one hotel room night and an honorarium of £50 per proposal selected for the conference.

The deadline for submissions is 24th October 2010.

Conference Themes:


ImagineEverything

Our most daring and wide-ranging conference strand, bringing you insights into tomorrow’s society, digital creativity and free culture. Taking all of our wildest dreams for the future and imagining what would happen if they really came true is at the heart of this strand.

FutureMobilities

Exploring future scenarios for smart transport, and looking beyond the transport of everything. How can real-time data systems lead to more sustainable transport? How can travel-time become smarter and more user-controlled? Where are we going and, more importantly, how will we be getting there?

Global & Connected

Remote collaboration, telepresence, networked performance, local/global connections, and group-to-group connectivity are a focus again, following the success of the inaugural GloNet event at FutureEverything 2010.

OpenEverything

The opening up of datasets by public bodies and private companies has huge repercussions both socially and politically. What models are emerging for the fair and creative use of such material and what are the implications of an open society?

FutureEverybody

The future must be for everybody – this was the call to arms from the last festival. A conference strand on citizen engagement will explore how we can connect communities and how citizens can be co-producers in decision making, intelligence gathering and building sustainable cities.

Handmade

Contemporary craft, digital hacking, interactivities and diy culture. A new maker community is emerging, connecting the culture of traditional skills and materials with modern-day digital production, distribution and interaction techniques. FutureEverything invites makers to create objects, installations and performances that explore the cross-fertilisation of new and traditional media and materials.


Visit their website for further information