Co-Design Workshops @ the Eco Factory: Part 2

Today I facilitated some co-design workshops @ the Eco Factory, Oxo  Gallery, London. 

I demonstrated some fabric necklaces which I designed using recycled leather scraps... Using some basic running stitch sewing methods participants engaged in a workshop for 30mins to an hour and left with a finished necklace or cuff bracelet. 

This short workshop worked well as it allowed amateur to professional designers to adapt the design to their skill set. Some participants followed the set instructions whilst others became a little more adventurous and re-worked the pattern to their preference.

I am going to expand on this collection of accessories over the next few weeks and produce a series of DIY kits and instructions which will be tested through some more workshops. 

I really enjoyed working with the participants and spending a day sewing by the river chatting to people who came to visit the exhibition. 

Co-Design Workshops @ the Eco Factory: Part 1

Old is the New Black.org

Old is the New Black is a fashion reclaiming movement designed to promote participation and empower people to take control of their wardrobes.

I recently joined the Black Fashion Bureau and have made some new work through workshops for London Design Festival in collaboration with Eco Factory. Annie Sherburne and Barley Massey have been running a series of workshops from a Gypsy caravan which toured London during Design Week... you can follow their adventure via Barley's blog.

Their journey continues at the Oxo Gallery where a collection of work will be showcased until the 4th October. This event will also host a series of co-design workshops by a selection of designer's.

Today I ran an old is the new black workshop and will be running another co-design experiment tomorrow... A full report of the event to follow.

Come down to the Oxo Tower Gallery between 11-6pm to participate!

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. 

100 DAYS OF ACTIVE RESISTANCE

'The principal idea of Active Resistance is that you get out of life what you put in and that real experience of the world involves thinking' - Vivienne Westwood.

100 days of positive thought, active change, speaking up and being heard. Vivienne Westwood Anglomania and Lee Jeans encourage communication and individuality through an online installation sharing interpretations of Vivienne Westwood's Active Resistance. 

'It is not enough to follow world politics, see films and read the prize-winning best seller. This is superficial, you need to go deep in order to understand who you are, what the world is and how things could be better. This involves culture which can only be acquired by self-education: human beings should mirror the world.'

Every day for one hundred days one image representing your ideas of Active Resistance in the world, will be selected from your submissions and shared online. At the close of 100 days, the 100 chosen images will become a part of an itinerant exhibition dedicated to the project. So stand up and speak out! Take a photo, write a slogan, create an image or an artwork and show us your active resistance!

The installation will commence on September 28th 2010, with the 100 Days coming to a close on January 5th 2011. For more information on Active Resistance please visit www.activeresistance.co.uk

Submit an image and one of these squares could be represented by YOU.

P.S. - I Made This: I see It. I like it. I Make It.

P.s. - I made this... is a DIY resource which offer's inspiration and how to guides to make fashion and accessories. The recently published book demonstrates 25 different projects inspired by Catwalk looks.

I love the inspiration collages and the way the materials and instructions are annotated as sketches...

Digital Design Tools

When generating idea's for new sample's and design work... I have been exploring how digital app's and online tools can support me throughout the design process.

I began this discovery by visiting Style.com and was drawn to  their Hue New  Trend Report forecasting a/w 2010.

I uploaded some images from Style.com to Image Spark... on online resource which allows you to archive inspirational imagery and generate moodboards. I then sourced some additional imagery from COLOURlovers another online resource for designers to create a custom palette to represent this trend. You can create your own custom colour, palette or pattern, search flickr for photography to influence your selection or  source a ready made palette within their online community.

Both application's are a valuable resource for designer's generating new design concepts. They allow ideas to be tried and tested very quickly without any fear of making mistakes.

I have enjoyed this experiment and the next step will be to generate some new sample's inspired by this palette.

100 Days of Active Resistance

Vivienne Westwood Anglomania and Lee are collaborating to launch an online installation entitled '100 Days of Active Resistance' on the 8th September. 

They will invite YOU the public to collaborate with them by submitting an artwork or photograph that best represents Westwood's Active Resistance project. 

HOW IT WORKS: everyday for one hundred days one image will be selected from the submissions and shared online at www.ar100days.com from the 8th September. When the project comes to an end, one hundred days later... the final selection of images will be further showcased within a London exhibition dedicated to the project.

I am going to look out some images and might even get sketching. Good luck to all participating!