7th March Group 6 1st Ideas

Uncertainty, crisis and chaos; community, practice and process. It is a problem solving activity so we need to start with a problem.
The urban condition. How are people living urbanly across the globe? Can we make something to contribute to the well-being of the citizens. What about the ecological balance in the urban environment? Do we desing for business or design for society.
There is going to be a massive shift in travel, living spaces, and storage spaces. WHat will be important about the design of something - longevity or style.
My Ideas so far, notes form the slow is beautiful presentation:
I like the concept of 'Slow is beautiful', thinking about amazing quality and taking inspiration from the past to take on to the future. Ideas before the mass production and fast turnover of fashons of clothing - the heritage of British fashions.
How will the fashion industry react to climate change, the shortage of cotton and other raw materials? How could the workforce be affected by shifting supply chains? How might technology change fashion and fashion production? Will we reuse and remanufacture clothing?
The document on 'Slow is beautiful' talks about a rise in hand crafting and use of wool as a hygenic, natural and durable fabric. Also the ideas of accessories becoming more important because they can dress up the same outfit in different styles.
I found a link to the 'Slow textiles group' who are very interesting. Thier ethos is about really creating an identity around what you are as a designer so that all the work created is deep and meaningful. 'Developing a strong cultural identity which celebrates personal vision within a collective and cultural setting' I predict this will be improtant for the future.
Just some quick words thought of in conjunction to this:
Embroidery, handcrafting, accessories, jewellery, body adornment, local, no waste, slow and considered production, past influences, heritage, meditative process, timeless textiles, changable to trends.

6th March Dave Haslam: Talk notes

Dave Haslam talks a lot about the secret public and the importance of small scale events in Manchester. His other major theme running through the talk is 'marginal activity' and being different from the main stream. The idea of mass appeal is against all the small scale things that happen in Manchster, especially the hard to find tiny club nights which happen in many unassuming buildings.
A club night of particular interest was 'Drunk at Vogue'. This gay friendly, but shunting of the overtness of canal street event is only publcised by word of mouth and fanzines. This sparked of the idea of 'What is cultural significance?' It is about how much of a difference something makes to our world. But that that be energy, creativity or potential not just the mainstream.
The end of Dave Halsam's talk was what spoke to me the most. The world is capitalised and large scale, but why not rebel? Make small scale, handmade and local. Make bespoke and independant. Why not self publish like the fanzines such as 'Shrieking violet'. These people who created those thing just got on with it. They didnt wait for the world to dictate which way to go, they did what they wanted.
If your spirit is opposite to the times, then change the times! Ths idea will be encouraging for the 'Slow is beautiful' video on Moodle. I have many ideas which don't fit into our world now, but that gives us an opportunity to change things.

5th March 4-5pm Adam Dant - Illustrator: Talk Notes

He creates a routine in the studio space. This is what I thrive on, when I have a fixed routine, even if I've made the routine myself. It is also something I think is important for me in this project. Dant creates characters through drawing which appear in the Sunday papers and other commisioned work. There is work done completely in the studio, and others which are on the street.
There is the idea in Dant's work each time of a concept before beginning. It's a fixed starting point before beginig any of his work. This is something really important for us to do in the group because it will allow us to have a starting point we can all work on but maybe from different perspectives depending on our textile specialism.
This artist is focused on depicting things literally, which in some cases adds humour because it could be taken to literally.
 The people who live on the plank, Adam Dant
Here he created a miniture world in each cirlce, linking them altogether. This piece is massive and you'd have to get pretty close up to see all the detail.

5th March 3-4 pm Wearing It!: Talk Notes

The project won't come to you, you gave to make it happen for yourself and the group. It's a comfort to know that it os not just about making 'clothes' it's a concept, so we can still work in the ways we work.
This is a GROUP PROJECT, it is not about the individual; wirking as 'help agents' in the process of design as problem solving. The problem we are being asked to address is: population increase...how will that affect the way we travel, our storage, our future clothes and technology. We need to create new solutions.
What about the issue of cities merging together through urban growth? Will our cultures merge, or will they stay very seperate and cause tensions?
We are asked to look at function (how we need less things now than before because one bit of technology like an iphone does the same job as an ipod and a phone).
Julie said something really interesting which has stick with me that if things were precious to us, we wouldn't be so quich to throw things away. I've been thinking about classic shapes and timeless garments which are hard wearing and are able to last for generations without being damaged. How amazing would that be?!
The possible outcomes of the project are making me slightly wary because of the amount of digital expected when I really have no interest in it. Also hoe we present it in that context is still extremely up to suggeston. It could even be completely digital through the whole project without any making what so ever. It was mentioned earlier though that we are still encouraged to work in the way that we work so I am going to stick with that idea and try not to get overfaced with the idea of digital.

5th March 1-2 pm Unit X: Talk Notes

This project is about Evolution, Opportunity, New directions, Careers, Portfolio futures, Opportunities to share, External opportunities and New estate. The title has been intentionally left blank so that we can make it exactly what we want it to be. This just seems too wide for me. It's a highly daunting concept feeling like you could do anything, but only one thing at the end.
The project is loosely called 'Interrogationg Manchester' - The city, future living, the role of the creative practitioner and community. We are asked to think: what is a city? How does it work? How do they grow and change? Indeed cities and scary, busy and hostile places, but there are small 'villages' of people creating tight communities.
I feel more peaceful with the statement: digital will never fully take over because of the 'happy accident' which works only in a community. I am not very digitally minded so this was a scary concept for me. But I believe that are and design will always need people; and maybe I need to prove this.

Manchester Art Gallery, Friday 24th February

I had seen the long term exhibitions in the Gallery many times before apart from the collections exhibit upstairs, so I decided to focus on that and the new Mark Leckey exhibition. I loved the collections part of the 2nd floor because it is about normal people. Many of the artifacts were just used by people in daily life, and meant something to them. Each one of them have a story to tell and yet no one will ever probably know them. There was a Victorian cross stitched pin lid in one of the collections. Stitched into the top it said 'You are not my sister'. It took me by surprise and really stood out for me because you would never have thought you would see that sort of message on an every day object. This to me sounds like it has a sinister tone, but it may have been endearing or an 'in joke' between the person who made it and who it was made for. This will however only ever be left up to the onlookers imagination from now on.

The other exhibit on the 2nd floor was from the artist Mark Leckey. I particularly enjoyed the video about the rave cultures of the 70s and 80s. It;s interesting to think of that happening in my parents era, even my parents going to them, when to me it seems a rather modern occurance. I also like the link between the image on the video, and the sound that was put with it. I was the only person in the room and there was the largest sound system I had ever seen for that size room, however it served its purpose. The base was so high, you could feel it heavily in your chest and pressure in your head. It kind of took over your body and you couldn't think of anything else. But once it seemed to be dieing away, it was as if you didn't want it to, like it had become the norm. It was an amazing and creative way of representing what you experience in the rave setting.

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 29th February

Global threads is the exhibition on in the Whitworth Art Gallery. It is about the use of cotton in our world today and how we are wasting and damaging the environment in our quest to get it. I liked the work in the 1st part of he exhibition which had cotton t-shirts with messages printed on them. They were very simple, yet were direct to the point and really made the audience stop and take notice.


 The messages made note of the amount of wastage of water and energy to make even a small amount of cotton clothing, and the insanity of how many different countries a garment has to go to until all the process of its manufactue are completed.

There was also an exhibition of clothing which had been 'upcycled' where students from a local college had taken old clothes, and made something more exciting and beautiful out of them. It should really encourage us to see what we can actually do with the clothes we throw out.