This module has allowed me to open my mind to multiple aspects I will be considering when setting up my own business in Jewellery. The subjects that have stood out to me during lectures and seminars are ethics, our manifestos, technology and innovation. Relating back to my practice I have found I must allow myself to discover what I want my work to be recognised for and how sourcing materials is important as it shows my future customers my morals. The technology seminar with Cerys made me think a lot about the future as schools are teaching various things I didn't get taught in education but at the same time they're taking skills I have learnt away and because of machinery and technology moving forward, art and hand making is devalued within the education system. Once I graduate I believe technology will keep moving forward with machinery such as 3D printers, so keeping on top of current trends and computer programmes will help my work become innovative and accurate.
I have discovered a new passion in myself when considering what kind of designer I would like to be and how putting more work into something will help me get more out of a project and pushes me to discover how I enjoy working and how I prefer learning.
I've enjoyed learning about new exhibitors, designers and companies such as IDEO, I could relate to their design thinking innovative mind set. I felt the lectures were very interesting as we got a chance to add our thoughts so they became a discussion.
I believe this module will help me greatly when it comes to professional practice as this blog is filled with inspiration and articles I find appealing. We have been questioned about what we want our manifestos to be and what we want our generation to be known for, throughout this module and when looking back at the Bauhaus scheme. I feel like my class had similar ideas that shown us moving forward while appreciating the past. I look forward to the future of Applied Arts as I believe there will always be a market for hand-made products even with new technology and mass production as quality products are still appreciated and during the past, technology has innovated a time period then once the hype has died down people look for something fresh and different,old fashions make their way back and real craftsmanship is appreciated.
I believe as a practitioner in Jewellery techniques and processes have been lost in time and less people are aware of hand making design courses so someone with my skill set will be sought after.
This module has gave me more confidence when speaking about my future and what Applied Arts stands for, it has allowed me to not shy away from the word Craft even though the word loses it's true meaning in the commercial media such as magazines. I have come to terms with what different peoples perceptions of my practice and I believe by allowing myself to enjoy making and learning I'm becoming more confidence in my own practice and I believe these lectures and seminars have being a great influence.
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Ethics/Morality.
Thursday 6th November, 2014.
Today we had a lecture on Ethic and Morality with Adam, he told us how Ethics can change our relationship to society and how ethos was a way of life and morality was how we treated others and this is an influence on everyday life.
My understanding of Ethics before this lecture was how to source materials in a way that every sector was getting fairly paid for their hours work. This would relate to my discipline as I source materials before crafting my pieces but try to look for the best deals to keep my costs low without thinking who and how were they sourced to make it that cheap?
Adam explained how there's different sections of morality such as;
Legalties- copyright and plagarism- which is copying others work and labelling it as your own
Integrity- Spec work, crowd sourcing and clients- make sure you research enough to make a moral decision.
Morality- Moral choice sustainability, cultural influence- Making a choice to do something in favour of your culture or making choices that match your moral compass.
Moral Compass-
This is something everybody has and it differs person to person where someone's instincts tell them if a decision is right or wrong but clients may look for a matching moral compass when commissioning work from a company or person
Rapid Response-
when something happens or takes place that's popular or marks a moment in time the V&A go out and collect it before it's gone or changes adding it to their collection.
This Lecture reminded me of the "Fawcett Society's campaign" for equality for women, where they printed shirts with the message 'This is what a feminist looks like' and celebrities jumped on this campaign wearing the shirts in public.
"Woman who has devoted my life to the rights of women, both as the founder of the ground-breaking feminist magazine Spare Rib and as the editor of two national newspapers, I am ashamed and appalled that the society has scored such a monumental own goal – and betrayed its own principles – by having the T-shirts manufactured in a Mauritian sweatshop.
Today we had a lecture on Ethic and Morality with Adam, he told us how Ethics can change our relationship to society and how ethos was a way of life and morality was how we treated others and this is an influence on everyday life.
My understanding of Ethics before this lecture was how to source materials in a way that every sector was getting fairly paid for their hours work. This would relate to my discipline as I source materials before crafting my pieces but try to look for the best deals to keep my costs low without thinking who and how were they sourced to make it that cheap?
Adam explained how there's different sections of morality such as;
Legalties- copyright and plagarism- which is copying others work and labelling it as your own
Integrity- Spec work, crowd sourcing and clients- make sure you research enough to make a moral decision.
Morality- Moral choice sustainability, cultural influence- Making a choice to do something in favour of your culture or making choices that match your moral compass.
Moral Compass-
This is something everybody has and it differs person to person where someone's instincts tell them if a decision is right or wrong but clients may look for a matching moral compass when commissioning work from a company or person
Rapid Response-
when something happens or takes place that's popular or marks a moment in time the V&A go out and collect it before it's gone or changes adding it to their collection.
This Lecture reminded me of the "Fawcett Society's campaign" for equality for women, where they printed shirts with the message 'This is what a feminist looks like' and celebrities jumped on this campaign wearing the shirts in public.
"Woman who has devoted my life to the rights of women, both as the founder of the ground-breaking feminist magazine Spare Rib and as the editor of two national newspapers, I am ashamed and appalled that the society has scored such a monumental own goal – and betrayed its own principles – by having the T-shirts manufactured in a Mauritian sweatshop.
While London fashionistas and point-scoring politicians brag about their right-on credentials by wearing the £45 shirt, the predominantly female migrant workers who actually make them have to work a gruelling 45-hour basic week, live in barrack-style dormitories, 16 to a room, and are paid a derisory 62p an hour to make ends meet."
"Fashion chain Whistles has been distributing the tops, worn by celebrities such as Lena Dunham, Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch, which are being sold for approximately €60 each, is also conducting an investigation.
..
Deputy chief executive at the Fawcett Society Dr Eva Neitzert said she was assured by the retailer the itesm were created in keeping with ethical standards.
..
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Whistles, said: “We place a high priority on environmental, social and ethical issues. The allegations regarding the production of T-shirts in the CMT factory in Mauritius are extremely serious and we are investigating them as a matter of urgency.
'We carry out regular audits of our suppliers in line with our high corporate social responsibility standards.' "
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Our Manifesto.
Tuesday 28th October, 2014
Last week we were asked by Cerys to send her no more than 3 photo's to visualize what we wanted our class to be known for. We spoke a few weeks ago about different decades and their movements in the craft world, we spoke about the Bauhaus movement about how they credited the craftsmanship where their designs were often functional pieces with simplistic forms but a breath of fresh air in History with limited decoration.
This helped me to think of what craft is known for today and how the meaning is constantly changing in a commercialized way. The word 'Craft' is often thought of as hobbies, something you can learn from Youtube and magazines that's easily accessible. I think it's great learning new techniques this way but in reality I find it slightly discrediting to someone such as myself who would like to make a career out of this and sell my work as original pieces that have been thoughtfully designed.
We all explained what our photos meant as we went around the table, explaining what we wanted to be known for and why we thought we weren't, I find these seminars so helpful as they change and widen my mind the more we discuss various subjects.
I want our class of 2016 to be known fr giving Craft it's true identity, taking craft from the mainstream and focussing the attention back to us as designer makers, We should speak confident about our work and support our small community of makers with collaborations as wearable jewellery becomes more extreme and a walking work of art.
Last week we were asked by Cerys to send her no more than 3 photo's to visualize what we wanted our class to be known for. We spoke a few weeks ago about different decades and their movements in the craft world, we spoke about the Bauhaus movement about how they credited the craftsmanship where their designs were often functional pieces with simplistic forms but a breath of fresh air in History with limited decoration.
This helped me to think of what craft is known for today and how the meaning is constantly changing in a commercialized way. The word 'Craft' is often thought of as hobbies, something you can learn from Youtube and magazines that's easily accessible. I think it's great learning new techniques this way but in reality I find it slightly discrediting to someone such as myself who would like to make a career out of this and sell my work as original pieces that have been thoughtfully designed.
We all explained what our photos meant as we went around the table, explaining what we wanted to be known for and why we thought we weren't, I find these seminars so helpful as they change and widen my mind the more we discuss various subjects.
I want our class of 2016 to be known fr giving Craft it's true identity, taking craft from the mainstream and focussing the attention back to us as designer makers, We should speak confident about our work and support our small community of makers with collaborations as wearable jewellery becomes more extreme and a walking work of art.
Azza Fahmy Jewellery.
I chose this piece by
..
About Azza Fahmy Jewellery.
"We are an independent purveyor of hand crafted jewellery inspired by 7000 years of culture & defined by contemporary minds.
Our spirit is proudly Egyptian whilst the appeal of our creations is now global with stores on four continents and pieces worn by those with spirit worldwide.
As an international fine jewellery house of provenance Azza Fahmy brings different cultures and heritage to life through its unique and contemporary designs. Founded in 1969 with Azza Fahmys great passion for design and a desire to translate this passion into jewellery, the Azza Fahmy brand now has an exclusive international reputation with clients including world leaders, royalty, celebrities, and connoisseurs of jewellery worldwide.
Our journey started with a leap of passion in Egypt in 1969. We traveled the universe and back and our pieces have traveled with us. It was time that we bring all these travels back home with us, celebrating with a commemorative collection for Egypt’s icon Umm Kulthum. Each jewel has been made with love, taken on a journey together with more than 200 skilled artisans, designers and creative individuals. Every piece unveils an emotional story capturing a moment in a time capsule and a place in history. This story has become ours and is now becoming yours to tell."
I chose this piece and the story behind it because I appreciate the journey of being a designer and growing the business into something magnificent as this still keeping the same inspiration behind each piece using heritage, traditional techniques and keeping that quality amongst quantity.
The next image I chose was my own work which was inspired by building structure and body structure, these pieces appear to be growths as i played around with scale. I made these pieces using silk organza, starch, silver and magnets.
I found the comparison between the two pieces interesting as the heritage of what I was surrounded by inspired me the same as the founder of the company Azza Fahmy Jewellery.
I think it's important to research and find out about our heritage, experience different cultures and appreciate surroundings and history.
The craftsmen orignal techniques, how they achieved their work and spreading it allows people to have an insight into handmade, designed product.
As a group we spoke about how schools curriculum is more based around academic subjects rather than the arts suggesting these creative techniques and thinking process dieing out. I believe it's important to pass down these traits even when new technology arises as they're a huge part of history within design.
At the end of our discussion in expressing our thoughts on what our manifesto would be, a kind of deep brief after having each of our says. A lot of people mentioned they wanted their work to be beautiful and wanted people to feel something positive when looking at it. We all wanted to be appreciated highlighting the fact there are people out there that want these handmade pieces even if they cost more, where quality is priority over quantity. Toni mentioned she wanted the extraordinary to become ordinary and for people to open their mind about unusual work which we agreed on as making work technically beautifully and using the correct materials makes a piece desirable not just the overall look. We agreed on bringing back heritage and collaborating on projects or working in various medias and experiment to move forward in design we agreed on brightening the world with our designs and starting conversations with them which is a huge part of getting our work out there, if our pieces had nothing to say they wouldn't be as satisfying to make, we need to get up and return to our workstation or think about design each day as it takes 10,000 hours before we can call ourselves craftsmen.Sunday, 26 October 2014
Innovation.
Today we had a lecture on Innovation by Dan, I found this lecture really interactive and Dan would let people discuss their points of view. We spoke about privacy on Apps and how innovation has allowed Apple to become successful, thinking about the customer and how we view a product.
He spoke about radical Innovation, how inventions can change our lives such as the light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1800, this may have not been the first time this had been experimented with but it's taking that idea and making it appeal to people. The first Apple computers were intimidating bulky and invented for scientists yet adding a handle and changing the shape and colour to make it friendlier appealed astonishingly to this market.
He spoke about radical Innovation, how inventions can change our lives such as the light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1800, this may have not been the first time this had been experimented with but it's taking that idea and making it appeal to people. The first Apple computers were intimidating bulky and invented for scientists yet adding a handle and changing the shape and colour to make it friendlier appealed astonishingly to this market.
"I liked the iMac. The modem worked from day one. And it had a handle on top, which was useful now I was 100% freelance and my home was my office, or a rented office was now my office. Moving house or office was much less hassle with the iMac. I switched from the iMac to a Mac PowerBook in around 2004, as I was doing more scriptwriting and wanted the freedom to write wherever I found myself collaborating and had moved out of London."
The interesting thing about this concept is the fact everything about this computer was the same except the appearance, this showed me that prototyping is so important to being innovative, feedback and group work, having roles within a group and knowing you can trust people to be honest can allow you to become a radical innovator.
Craft hard, Die Free
In our seminar with Cerys this week we discussed the political side to craft.
I found this subject really interesting because it involved designers, makers and general public getting involved in a subject they feel strongly about to create something visual.
Although the knitting a square and adding it to a piece shows support visually I found work by designers individually something further interesting as it becomes more into the mainstream.
Kali Arulpragasam.
Super Fertile is a London based artistic jewelry design house that highlights world issues through highly original pieces that push the traditional boundaries of form, design and reason. After graduating from Central Saint Martin's college, Super Fertile founder and creative director, Kali Arulpragasam, held senior positions in top flight advertising agencies in London, Los Angeles and New York. A decade later she returned to London and brought a new dimension to jewellery design, combining her creative advertising skills with her passion for global politics.
"Her work is highly influenced by social issues with collections titled “Rich Girl vs. Poor Girl” and “Endangered Species”. Her latest collection is called “Terrorism Affects Tourism”. The collection celebrates the positive side to countries that we think of as war-torn and poverty stricken. From the Times:
“There’s more to these countries than guys with guns standing in rubble,” said Ms. Arulpragasam, who fled Sri Lanka with her family 20 years ago. “What are the plants like? What music are the kids listening to? That’s what I wanted to show.”
"London-based jewelry designer Kali Arulpragasam's line, Super Fertile, from her Murder Collection"
These pieces are very effective and stand out to me from the details and materials used.
Using precious materials to express a political view that is wearable feels a lot stronger to me than a propaganda poster or a knitted political statement and although that involves countless people to get involved these pieces have longevity they speak about current situations and look fantastic on their own or worn. These pieces raise awareness to situations that are overlooked in the media, countries that gain reputations over war this work brings new light too and expresses what they really stand for.
Bauhaus
In our lecture with Adam today we discussed the Bauhaus, their unusual teaching methods and how the students there lived, breathed and slept design.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/
I was very intrigued by how their curriculum was set out
I thought it was great that in the first 1/2 year they studied materials and workshops which gave them time to find out who they are and what they want to do.
This curriculum was great for all different types of roles within the industry, everyone experienced working in various workshops before deciding what materials they prefer.
I was also quite confused how Kandinsky, a typographer at Bauhaus created the colour and shape theory.
"It's unfortunate that most of the color theorists since Chevreul have been abstract painters rather than representational ones. I like to thumb through my Itten, Albers and Kandinsky color books once in a while but I have to admit that they're not very usefull. They are a lot of fun, though. Here just for the heck of it, are a couple of Kandinsky color theories. Maybe they'll spur you on to make theories of your own."
"A hexagon is midway in interest between a square and a triangle so it gets the midway color it deserves, orange. Toilet cover seats get green."
Kandinsky
Composition VIII
1923 (140 Kb); Oil on canvas, 140 x 201 cm (55 1/8 x 79 1/8 in); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/
Through the lecture I was very inspired by the collages by Herbert Bayer, since there wasn't anything such as Photoshop available then, all his work was purely; photography, collaging, drawing and painting.
Under the direction of Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus sought a union of art and technology, with an emphasis on developing prototypes for industrial production. Brandt, the sole woman enrolled in the school's metal workshop, designed this silver teapot while still a student. By interrelating a number of pure geometric forms, including the hemisphere, circle, and cylinder, Brandt's design explores their formal relationship in space. Its very form and materials serve as the teapot's sole decorative elements, reflecting the Bauhaus emphasis on simplicity in design, without applied ornament. Like other functional Bauhaus items, the teapot was designed to work well in addition to looking good—it is well balanced and easy to pour. Like many of the metalwork designs of the Bauhaus, the teapot was conceived as a prototype for mass production, though this example is made of brass, silver, and ebony, expensive materials that would have precluded the broad audience hoped for by Bauhaus leaders."
"Tea infuser and strainer, ca. 1924
Marianne Brandt (German, 1893–1983)
Silver and ebony; H. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm)
The Beatrice G. Warren and Leila W. Redstone Fund, 2000 (2000.63a–c)
Silver and ebony; H. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm)
The Beatrice G. Warren and Leila W. Redstone Fund, 2000 (2000.63a–c)
Under the direction of Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus sought a union of art and technology, with an emphasis on developing prototypes for industrial production. Brandt, the sole woman enrolled in the school's metal workshop, designed this silver teapot while still a student. By interrelating a number of pure geometric forms, including the hemisphere, circle, and cylinder, Brandt's design explores their formal relationship in space. Its very form and materials serve as the teapot's sole decorative elements, reflecting the Bauhaus emphasis on simplicity in design, without applied ornament. Like other functional Bauhaus items, the teapot was designed to work well in addition to looking good—it is well balanced and easy to pour. Like many of the metalwork designs of the Bauhaus, the teapot was conceived as a prototype for mass production, though this example is made of brass, silver, and ebony, expensive materials that would have precluded the broad audience hoped for by Bauhaus leaders."
“When Bauhaus designers adopted Sullivan's "form follows function," what they meant was,
form should follow function. And if function is hard enough, form is forced to follow it,because there is no effort to spare for error.Wild animals are beautiful because they have hard lives.”
I'm very fond of this quote because I do believe form follows function and not just in objects that have an important role in a domestic setting but decoration, such as a painting being a certain size for the expected reaction from it's audience.
I love the simplicity from this movement and how the geometric shapes were a huge part of the Bauhaus work whether it be 3D objects, furniture or graphic work.
I love the simplicity from this movement and how the geometric shapes were a huge part of the Bauhaus work whether it be 3D objects, furniture or graphic work.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Back to the Future: Crafts Interaction with Technology.
Tuesday 14th October, 2014.
Today we spoke about Technology integrated into Craft and our disciplines, I found it interesting how designers jumped at using 3D printers even though the work wasn't amazing it was the idea of how it was made but now this technology has been access-able for a while the work has improved and the results are amazing.
"Nylon collar necklace with complex foldable form using articulated modules; 3D printed jewellery design // Nervous SystemNylon collar necklace with complex foldable form using articulated modules; 3D printed jewellery design // Nervous System"
I love this piece of jewellery, it shows how precise you can make jewellery using a 3D printer and it's software especially for a scientific subject as the nervous system.
I believe this technology will only allow us to push our ideas and skills further and sometimes it's not a time saver because the files you have to create and experimenting is expensive and time consuming but for finishing results like the image above it may be the only way to create your design.
What I found more interesting was the products that weren't entirely made with technology but are a piece of technology themselves, such as this product
"Energy Addicts by Naomi Kizner - an invasive jewellery collection that converts kinetic energy from the body's involuntary movements into electricity"
"Energy Addicts by Naomi Kizner - an invasive jewellery collection that converts kinetic energy from the body's involuntary movements into electricity"
The websites reads "A constant pursuer of missed compositions that believes in simple design with complex capabilities. Designs graphic experiences and a trend theorist that is looking to define the new black.
Practicing everyday escapism and likes literal minimalism.
A Designer."
These pieces have a scientific function but are beautiful objects by themselves created for scientific research that becomes a small technology by themselves.I find objects such as these so interesting from their detail to the reason why the form follows it's function, the materials that are used by the designer and how they're photographed. This whole white background and white material surrounding the products creates a futuristic ambiance.
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