Initial Designs

A few initial designs and ideas:

Eco-Fashion

Eco-Fashion is more than a passing trend.

Website:  www.ecouterre.com has a wealth of information that is relating to this project and my area of interest.

From eco-fashion trends within the top end fashion market, through to the products available to purchase and the eco-conscious designers.

Designers include:

Julia Ramsey - organic wool roving

Valerie Pache - recycled old paraglider sails

Stefanie Nieuwenhuyse - recycled woodchips

Erica Corte - recycled industrial hardware

David Rittinger - Leaves

Victor Papanek

Victor Papanek was a design philosopher - a strong supporter for socially responsible designs of products and tools.  He believed that "the only important thing about design is how it relates to people".  His design products include a transistor radio made from tin cans that was designed to be made cheaply in developing countries.  He was interested in all aspects of design and how the effected people and the environment.

His most influential work is the publication of a book called 'design for the real world'.  Initially controversial, this book has since become the most "read book on design in the world".  He designed for people with real needs: children, medicine, disabled people.

I plan to take into account, the main message from the work of Victor Papanek:  to make something that is socially and responsibly designed for people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/arts/16iht-design16.html?pagewanted=all
http://designhistorymashup.blogspot.com/2008/11/victor-papanek.html

Wish You Were Here!

“Wish you were here!” – Strategies for post-apocalyptic living.

Initially explore solutions for a world that is unfamiliar and that has been changed forever.  Whether a natural or man made disaster occurred, mankind must not only try to survive but also continue to preserve a sense of community and culture.  Under these extreme circumstances any development is a conflict between dignity and survival.

After my initial research and exploration into this task, this is the apocalyptic scenario I am going to focus my work on.

Brief:

A global financial crash has devastated the world’s economy as we know it.  There is mass unemployment and high levels of crime.  Money has completely lost its value.  Trading between countries has slowed down, and people are bartering and trading between labour, skills and goods.  There is no longer the need for cash, coins or credit cards.  Money is worthless. 

Mass-produced manufacturing is a thing of the past, life’s luxuries are no longer by any means affordable or available, and people have reverted to the re-use of objects and things becoming handmade.  Re-use, Re-cycle & Up-cycle are the start of a new era. 

I will create items of clothing from recycled products – using finance related items to make everyday essential & ‘luxury’ clothing.  

Amila Hrustic

A product designer who created a range of handcrafted dresses using origami paper and textiles.  Her inspiration for the project is taken from Platonic Solids - tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron.  The simple use of black and white print patterns on rigid paper really enhance the sculptural feel to the collection.

I was inspired by the designers clever use of manipulating the paper into 3D form to give the garments a very sculptural feel, how ever still using everyday materials.

Margarita Mileva

An artist who's work uses everyday items and up-cycles them into a wearable garment.  Her rubber band dress is made entirely from apron 4kg of multi-coloured rubber bands.  The dress was inspired by Paul Klee and Bauhaus.  “Color possesses me. I don't have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it.”

This artist's work has made me look at everyday objects in a different way - how I can recycle them into something different.  Her work is very related to my initial idea of making garments from recycled materials.

Germany Hyperinflation 1923

Germany began to suffer serious inflation during the war. The German government did not pay for the war by taxing people more heavily. Instead it paid its bills by printing banknotes. Soon there was too much money chasing too few goods. An inflationary spiral had started.


Things got worse at the end of the war. A huge amount in reparations was demanded from Germany. The sum to be paid was fixed at £6,600,000 in 1921. Many foreigners thought that Germany would be unable to pay and they began to lose confidence in Germany's currency. It became very expensive for Germany to buy food and raw materials from other countries.


Late in 1922 Germany failed to pay an installment of reparations on time. France replied in January 1923: French troops occupied Germany's main industrial region, the Ruhr. The French were determined to make Germany pay every penny she owed. They wanted to keep Germany weak. A weak Germany meant that France was safe from the threat of attack.


The German government ordered a policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr. Workers were told to do nothing which helped the invaders in any way. What this meant in practice was a general strike. The cost of the government's policy was frightening. All the workers on strike had to be given financial support. The government paid its way by printing more and more banknotes. Germany was soon awash with paper money.


The result - hyperinflation.

There are many descriptions of what it was like to live through these times:

“Bartering became more and more widespread . . . A haircut cost a couple of eggs . . . As soon as the factory gates opened and the workers streamed out, pay packets in their hands, a kind of relay race began: the wives grabbed the money, rushed to the nearest shops, and bought food before prices went up again. A familiar sight in the streets were handcarts and laundry baskets full of paper money, being pushed or carried to or from the banks.”
- Egon Larsen, a German journalist, remembering in 1976

http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar_hyperinflation.htm

Martino Gamper

One of this designers most famous collection is "100 chairs in 100 days" - collecting and reconfiguring discarded chairs from around London.
I like how he transforms the chairs to make them new and unique, through a elements of randomness and spontaneity.  He is recycling & up-cycling used products into new interesting items.  

www.gampermartino.com

Wish You Were Here! Initial Research

INITIAL RESEARCH:

Below, a selection of the films & books I have read to help give me ideas and inspiration to kickstart my thinking.


'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy:
A harrowing post-apocalypse survival journey for a father and his young son through a country blasted by an unspecified catastrophe that has destroyed much of civilisation and almost all life on earth.  They travel south along the road salvaging what they can to survive.  They must not be seen - most of humanity that has survived have resorted to cannibalism, and the father does what he can in order for his son to survive.

2012:
A sci-fi disaster film, where a family are attempting to escape the heightening change in elements.  It is a portrayal of the catastrophic events due to unfold in the year 2012.  The american government have began a secret project to build 'arks' to project & ensure humanity survive.

The Day after tomorrow:
Drastic climatological changes are a result of abrupt global warming.  A new ice age has begun, and people are trying to evacuate to warmer climates of the south.  A climatologist attempts a daring rescue mission to find is son who is stuck in New York and are facing the freezing temperatures that could kill them.

Life After People:
In this TV documentary, scientists, structural engineers and other experts speculate what earth would be like if humanity suddenly disappeared, leaving everything behind including household pets and livestock.  The series shows examples of the decay through famous landmarks including the eiffel tower, Hoover Dam & brooklyn bridge.  The time range begins approximately 1 minute after the disappearance of mankind, right through to  one hundred million years into the future.

Eat Your Art Out

This 4 day intensive group project was to produce a replica of a piece of art or design classic using only edible ingredients.  Considering the structure, texture, flavour, presentation & colour.

Our groups given theme/design classic was the typeface Helvetica.
This is a font that was created for Apple inc (almost identical to Microsoft typeface Arial).  We then played on the use of Apples - from the design of the cake through to the flavour and colour.

Below is a copy of our final presentation & images of the final outcome.