by: Centre for Sustainable Fashion, 2012-12-07 15:28:38 UTC
Centre for Sustainable Fashion recently hosted the first in a series of events aimed at fashion educators to discuss and raise the profile of design for sustainability in fashion education.
The first event, a debate questioning ‘What is the role of fashion education in our changing world?’ involved key fashion educators and activists engaging in a lively debate to find ways in which we can explore fashion education, to improve student experience and foster sustainability throughout the curriculum.
The panel was chaired by Nina Stevenson – Education & Curriculum Development Manager, CSF and included:
Dilys Williams – Director, CSF
Kate Fletcher – Reader in Sustainable Fashion, CSF
Gemma Robertson – Graduate Recruitment Manager, ASOS
Lesley Raven – Senior Outreach Coordinator, LCF
Frankie Moloney – Students’ Union Vice President for LCF
We should be looking at fashion education as an exploration of self in connection to place, through the practice of fashion, and as a forum for self-contemplative work:
‘Time spent in fashion education can be a precious and vital place for change at a profound level – if it is about education of the person, through practice of fashion that really is relevant to time and place. ‘ Dilys Williams
‘Universities can be hierarchical in their knowledge structure – they value industrial knowledge above all else, which doesn’t give space for self-contemplative work.’ Kate Fletcher
From a student’s perspective, ‘fashion education is integral to finding like-minded people and creating networks and there is great value in the experience of those teaching.’ Frankie Moloney
Part of this networking value was highlighted in creating university and business dialogue through placements. ‘Working with a broad range of companies gives a strong overview of the industry, and showcases the creativity that can be nurtured in a university context.’ Gemma Robertson of ASOS explained. ‘Networking and attending events ensures you will make an impression and recruiters will remember you’, she continued, highlighting the importance of a genuine understanding of the role and market level being applied for, having recruited approximately 96 graduates in the past six months.
Within a university setting, there is ‘the need to promote collaborative working and creative thinking in education models, to create a community of practice to enable continuous improvement.’ Lesley Raven
‘We need to engage our imaginations in the ingenuity needed to get us beyond the tweaks at the edges that are obviously not making enough of a difference to how we live– fashion gives us an opportunity as it should be a barometer of change relevant to time, people and our natural world, upon which we all revolve.‘ Dilys Williams
The discussion then moved to the audience for insightful comment and probing questions. When asked about allowing space for thought, experimentation and balance within curriculum, Kate responded, ‘most of the world focus is on narrowing peoples perspective on things. Within sustainability it’s almost a progressive broadening you need. The challenge is to get people to become experts in a synthesis where they put things together instead of taking them apart.”
This challenge is being addressed within Centre for Sustainable Fashion through initiatives such as MA Fashion and the Environment at the London College of Fashion, which was that same night awarded the Ethical Fashion Forum Source Award for Educational Innovation. The course was set up five years ago by Dilys Williams as a vital part of the development of the Centre’s work, to engage a multi way flow between the research and consultancy practitioners in the centre and burgeoning creative sustainability led postgraduate students. Susan Postlewaite, now course leader of the programme is currently collating this year’s graduate work for exhibition during London Fashion Week in February 2013.
The evening provided rich and diverse discussion regarding fashion education and set an agenda for future work, which will be continued through the network, for which details will be posted in the new year.
‘We need to encourage people to foster a sense of balance. It’s at the heart of a set of values that are different, and us showing that fashion can be different. Education is for life, not for a moment or for a score card.’ Kate Fletcher
The evening concluded with a final comment from a recent graduate, Alina Moat, ‘the best thing about the MA Fashion & Environment course is that normally courses are designed primarily around the idea of success. This offered the opportunity for failure – meaning showing that you can learn from mistakes and build on them; it’s not just built on society’s idea of success.’
You can track commentary and join in the debate on Twitter by searching #TransformFashion
by: Tech-On! : tech news - straight from Asia., 2012-12-03 04:00:00 UTC
Mitsubishi Materials Corp developed a technology to recover gallium (Ga) from Ga scrap with a low cost and low environmental burden.
by: TEDTalks (video), 2012-12-04 16:07:15 UTC
If you had to walk a mile for a jug of water every day, as millions of people do, it's unlikely you'd use that precious water to bathe. Young entrepreneur Ludwick Marishane tells the amazing, funny story of how he invented a cheap, clean and convenient solution: DryBath, the world’s first bath-substituting lotion.
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-12-31 18:36:53 UTC
Ordinarily, when medical clinicians are conducting blood tests, it’s a somewhat elaborate affair. A full vial of blood must be drawn, individual portions of which are then loaded into large, expensive machines such as mass spectrometers. The results are usually quite accurate, but they’re not instantaneous, and require the services of trained personnel in a well-equipped lab. That may be about to change, however. Scientists from Houston’s Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center have created a credit card-sized gadget, that can instantly check a single drop of blood for up to 50 different substances – and it costs about US$10...
Continue Reading Inexpensive card-sized device runs 50 blood tests in seconds
Visiting a city or live in a place that doesn’t have a bike share program yet? Don’t fret – Liquid is a new peer-to-peer bike rental marketplace that makes it easy to borrow a bike from individuals or bike rental shops. Like other peer-to-peer networks, Liquid isn’t just a place to conduct bike rental transactions – it’s also a great way to meet people that share your passion for cycling.
One of columns I look forward to every month is Deconstruction, where we walk through the process of how a specific product is designed and made. We had some really big names share their products this year – let’s take a look back:
Nama Rococo Wallpaper Design Milk gets a glimpse of the printing process for Nama Rococo’s new Amsterdam pattern, from testing to the final product, complete with styled photo shoot.
Flavor Paper Wallpaper Flavor Paper makes hand-screened and digital wall coverings that can best be described as, well, flavorful. The team let us grab a glimpse of their creative process inside their Brooklyn studio.
Anthony Hartley’s Cable Collection Yorkshire-based furniture designer and maker Anthony Hartley describes himself as a “jumped up joiner” who started drawing and designing furniture while he was supposed to be doing other things at school and then never really stopped. Hartley walks us through the design and production process of his range of dining and occasional furniture, called Cable.
Bjørn Jørund Blikstad Imeüble In January 2010 Bjørn Jørund Blikstad’s prototype for a modular storage system graced the cover of Wallpaper* magazine and then the pages of Design Milk. Two agonizing years later at February 2012′s Stockholm Furniture Fair, he finally launched Imeüble. We spoke to him about the long road from the inspiration to production.
Black + Blum’s Eau Good Water Bottle From their studio in the heart of London, Black + Blum designers Dan Black and Martin Blum create products for the home and office, combining ruthless practicality with an intellectually-satisfying design aesthetic meant to charm and entertain. The duo provides us with a detailed look into the development of the Eau Good water bottle, which incorporates active charcoal to purify the water.
Megan Geckler for Bobble Created by artist Megan Geckler, this unique art installation was created and featured at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago this past March. The piece was commissioned by water bottle company Bobble to commemorate its second year.
Minuscule Chair by Cecilie Manz Danish designer Cecilie Manz shares numerous sketches of her new chair for Fritz Hansen, the Minuscule, which won the 2012 ICFF Editor Award in New York City this week.
DALA by Stephen Burks New York designer Stephen Burks takes us behind the scenes at the factory responsible for producing his first ever collection of outdoor furniture, DALA by Stephen Burks with DEDON.
Foscarini’s Maki lamp by Nendo Italian lighting company Foscarini recently introduced the Maki suspension lamp by Nendo, designed by Canadian-born, Tokyo-based designer Oki Sato. See how it came about.
Table by Werken Design Ian Riedel of Sonoma-based metal fabrication studio, Werken Design, leads us through the process of creating a rusted steel and reclaimed wood table. We get to see how the design evolves, through whim and necessity, hearing his musings along the way.
Sonya Winner’s Bubble Rug Rug designer Sonya Winner, who works out of her Hampstead studio in the UK, shows us the process from design to completion of her new Bubbles Outline rug.
Topissimo Collection by Nanimarquina Barcelona-based rug studio nanimarquina, founded in 1987 by Nani Marquina, has been creating contemporary textiles for the floor crafted in India, Morocco, Pakistan, and Spain. We go to India for the manufacture of one of the company’s most popular, and surely the most fun (polka dots in relief!): a fuchsia and purple concoction from the Topissimo collection, which won a Red Dot Design Award in 2003.
Marimekko’s Printed Textiles A behind-the-scenes look at how Finnish company Marimekko creates their vibrant fabrics. Since 1951, they’ve been making highly-recognizable and nostalgia-inducing patterns, which are printed at the Marimekko-house in Helsinki, Finland, the heart and soul of the company.
Lindsey Adelman’s Signature Lighting Lindsey Adelman’s innovative chandeliers, which are a unique cross between industry and nature, are all made by a team of 15 and a network of local artisans that manufacture each piece to order.
David Rasmussen’s WUD Platters David Rasmussen walks us through the process of creating his updated take on the wooden plate he calls the WUD.
French design brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have designed a collection of flatware for Alessi called Ovale that goes along with an earlier set of tableware they created with the same name.
Slight curves and a balanced weight were worked out through a lot of trial-and-error prototypes to get to the finished product. Made of 18/10 stainless steel, the cutlery is made with a simple and modern aesthetic, basically a no frills approach to flatware that is the perfect complement to their original Ovale tableware collection.
Fashion or no, comfort is always on everybody’s mind while choosing what to wear and opting what not to. But add the spice of eco friendly with a mix of fashion and comfort, the product is a winner. With the environmental concerns reigning high, the market and demand for eco friendly products have been constantly on the rise. About everyday some or other new brands come into fray for a share of customer’s attention, but the majority of what is making waves is eco friendly into the market. Big stand alone stores to high end fashion, there is plenty of focus on sustainable environment friendly.
Now that the market is looking up and awareness is spreading far and wide, the retailers have started merging sustainability and eco friendliness with fashion consciousness, the product just disappears into the hands of the products before the competitors can even realise what hit them.
Been gone long? Here she is back with a bang
This is what entrepreneur Tracy Strandness of Kirkland must be thinking right now. After a prolonged absence from the scene, here she comes bursting with news and activity. She has launched an e commerce website with mostly organic, sustainable and eco friendly products which mostly are eco-friendly athletic apparel. Another merit that counts in benefits for the business is that the products are mostly recycled. The eco-friendly athletic apparel products go with the tagline that goes “celebrate and support the athlete in everyone, whether it’s a child learning to ride a bike, a senior doing a mall walk or the seasoned athlete”. These lines very rightly capture the spirit of the products which actually covers all the walks of life and has been designed for people from all the age groups.
Barefoot Athletic Company
Tracy has named the initiative as Barefoot Athletic Company. As is customary with the launch of a company, her mission and vision statements are crystal clear. The mission statement spells like “The company’s mission is to inspire and encourage the notion of personal health, fitness and confidence through products and practices that support the most basic elements of global health: the earth, its wildlife and our children.”
Environment Concern and Social Responsibility
The company has also taken into account the social responsibility. Tracy Strandness has put forth that a portion of the benefits from the sale of eco-friendly athletic apparel from the website will be bestowed upon the organisations that support the cause of humanitarian welfare or environmental issues.
The company as obvious has a very functional website which the users and the customers can browse and use to their content. The words that very rightly describe the colours and spirit of the garments are very evident across the website “Bold & Vibrant- Can’t ignore it”. Tracy Strandness hopes to catch the visitor’s attention, strike a chord with their attitude and captivate them in a big way so much so that they keep returning for more.
Product Range from Barefoot Athletic Company
The product range is commendable. There are 100% cotton t-shirts, in organic fabric and treatment in vibrant colours, sustainable water bottles, hand-crafted vegan lip balms, lead-free pewter sport-themed jewellery, baseball caps, hair ties, towels among a wide variety of other products. Apart from these, the company aims to include content from local areas and include inspirational stories from around the areas.
Tracy has been away from the limelight and with apparent reasons. She has spent a lot of times in wording the content of her website, both merchandise and literal. But the good thing is that those words are not only aimed at creating a well rounded hype around the new venture of eco-friendly athletic apparel, but also reflect the true thought and over all spirit behind the initiative. The tag of eco friendly does not reduce the dynamism of the product and also does not compromise and the comfort quotient.
Tracy Strandness Brings eco friendly products to Eastside
Philips unveils plans for its first truly commercial application of the company’s Lumiblade OLED technology.
OLEDs have been touted as future of lighting (and skin cancer treatment) for years, but major technical obstacles have stood in the way of widespread adoption. That may slowly be changing. Last week Philips, one of the biggest corporate backers of the emerging technology, unveiled plans for its first commercial OLED desk lamp.
In case you’re not familiar with OLEDs (which stands for organic light emitting diodes), here’s the gist. The super-thin technology is made up of several layers of organic molecules, which emit light when activated by an electrical current. OLEDs use less electricity (and mercury) than normal light bulbs or LEDs, they give off a soft glow comparable to daylight, and they can be rolled and bent into new shapes without becoming hot or losing their intensity. Philips calls them “an entirely new form of light,” which isn’t far off the mark. But while companies like Philips have designed some pretty remarkable ambient light installations with OLEDs, obstacles like high cost and a low lumen count have kept them from the commercial market for years. Moorea, the company’s first OLED desk lamp, is an attempt to bring the technology to the desks of consumers.
Moorea was designed by a young Berlin industrial designer named Daniel Lorch, who connected with Philips almost by chance. “Daniel visited one of our free OLEDs workshops, which we offer on a monthly basis for designers and architects,” Philips’s Dietmar Thomas tells Co.Design. “He came back to us with a clever design for a lamp with OLEDs. He wanted to know if this concept would work with the new technology.” It turned out to work quite well, and Philips asked Lorch to redesign it to incorporate its newest OLED model, the GL350--the first OLED bright enough to serve as functional desktop lighting.
Lorch’s lamp is a simple and elegant reinvention of an object that’s been around since electricity was invented. The base is connected to two OLED panels with a piece of spring steel, an alloy with an incredibly high yield shape (meaning it springs back into place no matter how it’s bent). A black cord running up the neck lets the user tension the steel into place--a bit like a blind--either pointing down at the desk or out into the room. The cord contains the power wires as well, which makes extra cords redundant. Lorch says the shape was inspired by the brass and green-glass lamps often seen on the desks of Film Noir lawyers. "I knew I needed to have at least two panels to have proper light for the desk,” says Lorch in a Dezeen video. “When I put two OLEDs together it immediately reminded me of the old bankers’ lamps because of the proportions.”
Thomas says Moorea will come to market--fingers crossed--by the middle of 2013, though there’s no word on how much it will cost.
The world of eco-fashion world really impressed us this year with amazing, innovative creations and some mind-boggling stories! From an extreme minimalist who owns only 16 items to a real-life Harry Potter-esque invisibility cloak to newly unearthed lingerie from the 15th century, 2012 was definitely a year to remember in weird and wonderful eco fashion stories. Read on for the top 7 most popular stories of 2012 on Ecouterre, Inhabitat‘s eco fashion site, and vote for your favorite!
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-31 09:26:29 UTC
The Wattcher consists of a sensor, a sending unit and a display. The sensor can be placed on any electricity meter (analog meters with a turning wheel ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-28 09:11:45 UTC
This fabric is made of a biodegradable fiber which is the result of research in starch and other grain byproducts.
Working with overspun yarn experts ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-24 14:41:50 UTC
Maximal functionality and comfort within minimal space, getting rid of the unused stuff. And this all without boredom! Like transformers go furniture. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-21 13:16:56 UTC
The geman developed Loremo, which stands for Low Resistance Mobility, combines airodynamic desing with low weight construction to achieve high fuel ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-19 09:28:34 UTC
I happen to have done a bit of research in sustainable value of vacuum cleaners lately so I keep my eyes open for new sustainable vacuum clean solutions. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-17 17:45:55 UTC
The activity of repairing is a form of re-appropriating control on our material world, allowing us to understand how things function and acting as ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-13 20:51:05 UTC
Pollution due to contamination in building interiors continues to be a relevant topic. Numerous studies have proven that off-gassing in interiors has ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-11 13:51:14 UTC
This light, Fonckel One, is fun! It invites to touch it and then reacts to you, where you touched it and how in a very precise way.
That it can ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-11 07:30:21 UTC
The "grasshopper" is a classic shoe that has got cult status. Comfortable to wear and walk in. it main characteristics are excellent quality and low ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-12-08 09:18:29 UTC
The Zeno Lamp brings natural sunlight indoors through a system of light collectors and fiber-optic cables. The beauty of the Zeno lamp lies in its ...
Comments by our Users
Be the first to write a comment for this item.