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.

"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."

http://wherediditallgorightblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/apple-machines-of-self-loving-grace/

http://fptr.co/category/apple/

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.”— PRIYA PATEL"These pieces are plated gold and silver and start at $800http://niralimagazine.com/2008/01/kalis-jewel-box/

"London-based jewelry designer Kali Arulpragasam's line, Super Fertile, from her Murder Collection"

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/46302702393891125/

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.