Garbage Warrior

I watched a programme on more4 last night entitled Garbage Warrior a film by Oliver Hodge. Michael Reynolds an American architect and his team build sustainable houses made of rubbish. They are completely self sufficient from heating to sewage systems. I think this is such a clever way of using waste materials we are dumping into landfill sites in a productive way:) Not only are they using this 'junk' to build the accommodation or Earth Ships as they call them but once they are built you have no outgoings on bills, which is good for your bank balance and also good for the environment as no non-renewable energy sources are needed. They also grow their own vegetables and have a few livestock so are completely free.


Reynolds says that his community is 'a method of living that allowes people to look after themselves.'



http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/a-sustainable-architect-casestudy-michael-reynolds.html

Check out the above link for more info on Michael Reynolds and the Earth Ships:)

Minna - Estethica - Lonon Fashion Week 08

Minna was one of the companies showcasing at Estethica inLondon Fashion week this fall. They use Scottish lace and organic fair trade cotton to make stunning garments. Even the remenants are utalised to make trimmings and accessories.



see http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2008/sep/17/londonfashionweek.catwalk?picture=337714111 for more information on Estethica

and http://www.minna.co.uk/ for more information on Minna and Maguy's label.

Innovation Showase

This looks like it will be an interesting day full of info for anyone wanting to start up a buisness after the masters:)

'The Innovation Showcase is an essential event for any business wishing to increase their business competitiveness through innovation. As well as presenations from leading figures in the world of business the event will showcase cutting edge technology and expertise from the University of Dundee, University of Abertay Dundee and the Scottish Crop Research Institute.'

For more information see http://www.innovationportal.co.uk/events/events/2008/11/18/170.html

Ewgeco

Tanya Ewing has created a meter that displays your energy outputs on a display pannel. This ingenious device can not only help save you money but can help the environment to by reducing the amount of power we are using. Many of us including myself just dont realise the amount of gas, electricity and water we are wasting every day. This easy to read and use monitoring device seems like a perfect solution.

Tanya says "people do not realise just saving 1p an hour can save you over £87 a year - a small change can make a big difference."



This year they have won the Observers Ethical Award:)



Check out their website for more info on the Ewgeco

Illustrations

This one by Natalie Dee (Above) http://www.nataliedee.com illustrates the problematic nature of 'fast (disposable) fashion'. It makes a good point and highlights the danger of throwaway fahions by likeing it to such a major issue as terrorism it shows just how serious it is.

This one (Above) by CartoonChurch .com highlights the issues of wasting energy and resourses, while pointing out we need to be senscible with our actions, and the fact that it is all very well to want to live ethically but putting this theory into practice can be problematic.

http://cartoonchurch.com/

Above is another illustration from http://www.nataliedee.com
We are running out of un-renewable resouses at a fast pace, we cannot simply make more...

Green is the NEW Black

Found this Video on the Telegraph.co.uk intitled Green is the new Black:)




Check out this link also... http://www.bbc.co.uk/thread/video/index.shtml?video=make-a-difference

Paintings

I am enjoying all the reading and research I have been doing of late but I do miss making things. I will need to get back into the print room or convert my garden shed!!:)

So painting canvases of some of my friends have helped to quench my need...

Printing at DCA

I was able to do some screen printing yesterday at the DCA in the style of Sister Corita a Roman Catholic Nun from the 1960's. Below is one of her iconic images.

My Images are not political or particularly revolutional, they were based on Alice in Wonderland. It was nice to get my hands dirty and to learn a new way of printing:)

Here is one of my efforts...

Photo of the week...

We have been set the task of documenting our year of Masters studdies by means of a weekly image. Something that somes up our week...

Here is my image from week two...

A big pile of books, I had been doing lots of reading trying to narrow down my focus and come up with a final research question.

My Image from week three a photo of my wall. It is starting to fill up with images and useful articles and other ideas that I have found through my research.

Innocent seling out...

Innocent has been getting a lot a stick recently for 'selling out' they are trialing some of their smoothies in McDonalds, while I dont like McDonalds or eat there many people do, they have a lot of power and sway on what people consume as I have said in my McDonaldization entry. It is a tricky situation but then I think this ethical living thing is tough, baby steps, we cant change the world or how peopl think and shop overnight. I dont view Innocent as selling out Id like to think that they have the ability to make a positive change from the inside out. Mabe their ideals and ethical commitments will rub off on McDonalds...




Richard Reed one of Innoents founders admitted that the McDonald's trial was clearly a business decision but insisted the company would not alter the way it produced its smoothies or any of its other ethical commitments, saying "our principles aren't for sale, but our smoothies are."

I hope so anyway, I like what the Innocent guys are all about and drink their smoothies frequently, they have a positive message... or mabe they just have a clever brand. They sure do taste good though.

People & Planet

I went to my first people and planet meeting last night to see what they were all about and how they are trying to make a difference.

Their agenda this year is to 'Target Topshop' they want Topshop and the company Arcadia that houses them and some of the other large highstreet retailers like Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Evans etc to join the Ethical Trading Initiative. See their website for more details and actions.

http://peopleandplanet.org/redressfashion/highstreet

While I am not sure that I agree with their gorrilla warfare tactics as this often can have a negative effect I am going to help them with a fashion show/swapshop/charityshop/customising event they are going to be holding in the union in mid november... watch this space... I feel that trying to re-educate ourselves on the way we consume and trying to do this in a more ethical way can only have a positive effect.

Deviants

This afternoon we had a lecture by Louise Valentine, she talked to us about the deviant exhibition.

Task...

We had to visually evaluate the artworks displayed in the exhibition. To choose one piece and critique it.

I chose Freddie Robins Hand of Good, Hand of God piece.

I noted...

at First Glance I thought this was a comical piece that served no purpose, as it is a functional everyday object that has had the function removed due to mutation. I didn’t view it as an object of great beauty, and the colouring is grey/blue, which is often linked to signs of depression or sadness.

So...

Why was it created and what was it trying to tell us, is there a hidden message? How was it made? It is knitted and technically accurate although it doesn’t appear to be anatomically correct.
After reading Robin’s history and what she was trying to convey my initial reaction was changed. She presents her theory’s in a playful way, but to me it is about how you intemperate the world and the things you see. The relationships between conventional and unconventional.
The glove is a very conventional object that is a given and a certainty-it has a clear function and always can fit into its neat little box of why it exists.
Robins offsets this given by making it into something uncertain and questionable.

Should we question everything, even the things in our life’s we deem as certain. Can anything ever be certain, is there a right and a wrong or just different perspectives and views.

What it says to me...

Question everything, nothings a given. Always try to find a meaning and purpose. Look at objects and situations from different angles. Don’t always go on first impressions and snap judgements.
Discussions are valuable to gain different perspectives, can use or adapt these ideas and theories along with my own to get a better overview and outcome.

Also...

Would we view the object differently if it weren’t behind glass, would our experience and relationship to it change if we could actually touch it. It is a tactile everyday object that is normally worn, enveloping a form which animates it. But here it is left empty and flat. In its static state it appears sinister and strange like an abnormality of nature that has been put in a jar to be analysed... a 'freak of nature.'

Ultimately I think I was drawn to this object above the others in the exhibition because I identify with it, it is tactile and to me it didn’t seem cold like the other objects. I like the initial humour I felt upon seeing it and the wonder that followed.

Wicked Problems & Sticky Toffee Pudding/ Research Methods

Today we had a series of lectures by Professor Seaton Baxter and Emma Murphy all about research methods and methodologies.

Seaton outlined the importance of establishing your problem within your chosen subject matter as a base to work from. We need to work though our 'domain of obstacles' from our 'given state' to our 'goal state'. In essence through our research try and find a solution to our problem. He gave us some interesting insight on how to go about this. The idea that looking at one thing leads to something else and something else, its like pandoras box, you cant just stick your hand in and retreive one question or answer without this leading to 3 more... I guess he was just trying to reinforce the point that research is messy so it is important to narrow down your subject area and come up with a question that is important to you...

Emma delved into this idea further and spoke about the differnt methodologies we could use. She spoke about action research, grounded theory, case studies and ethnography as all possible vehicles of our research. I think that my main methodolgy will be that of action research as that is more about working with people to find a solution rather than the observation of people and their actions. However I feel these lines of methodologies are blurry so I dont think it will be possible to stick rigidly to one.

I am finding these lectures very helpful as they are challenging me to look at myself, how i research and why I research. Hopefully this will help me to have a more considered and worthwhile project. I really want to understand why I want to design, who im designing for and what purpose does this serve...




This cartoon sums up the problems we are faced when designing, nobody thinks the same or views problems from the same stance... how can we simplify down our 'problem' so we can research and design the best solution to our problem...

McDonaldization

Yesterday we had a lecture by Terry Irwin on the phenomenon of McDonaldization and how it works by its four dimentions of desire, predictability, efficiency, calcubility and control. By following these four basic and systematic human desires people can be influenced into buying into a companys ideologies and lifestyle. This Is the power of branding.

Is it all about control and fear? We need to feel certain about ourself and where we fit in to the world, so we buy into large companies and their identities and adopt them as our own, mostly without realising...

I find this whole topic fasiating, especially as when we start to see through the fasade of these big corparate giants they change the game and adapt to what we want them to be, or at least they look like they do, so we as a consumer can feel secure in our choice of product. Mcdonalds as Terry said is a prime example of this fact, they have recently rebranded themselves as being 'green' so as not to lose customers as people are becomming more ethically aware. I think people fundamentally want to do good or at least for their conciences feel they are doing their bit. We are easily swayed though, convienence and familiarality are always going to be at the forefront of our comfort zone. To actually make a real shift towards a more sustainable future we may have to 'change our posture of certinty' and re-educate ourselves.

I was looking on youtube for the newest mcdonalds tv ad and came across this, subliminal advertising? Find this to be very worrying, advertising already has such a major inluence on the way we buy...

Sustainable by Design

I have been reading this really interesting book, Sustainable by Design - Explorations in Theory and Practice by Stuart Walker.





It gives great insigt into how we are designing things and how we should be designing things. It poses the question that we have the capability to make things last for a very long time but should we. Walker poses


'To think we have the ability, at this point in our history, to design long-lasting products that fully address the complex, multifarious issues inherent to sustainability could be seen as arrogant, not to say foolhardy.'


Walker makes a good argument so instead of manufacturing things that will last for an eternity but are out dated and unwanted we should design for todays society where fashions change quickly. We should adapt our knowledge of practice to produce products that are less harmful to the environment but at the same time disposable. Disposable is always seen as a bad word in the fashion sence but I think that if we can produce a disposable fashion that can be less detrimental to the environment, made with bio degradable fibres, grown in an organic way, eliminating toxic pesticides and chemicals, dyed and printed in a more ethical way and not produced in sweatshops, disposable fashion might not look that bad after all.

'Instead of relying on product longevity, we should be exploring design with humility, and assume that whatever we design for today will not be appropriate in the future. Whatever we produce should be designed in a way that places little burden on the planet, in its production, use and disposal, while also providing healthy and fruitful work.'

(Walker, 2006, p75)

Style Magazine, Fashion Special in The Sunday Times

I was at the cinema last night and saw this advert, started me thinking about my project work this year, a fashion that could be ripped off and put in the bin after use...

Style Magazine, Fash..
Watch the ad...

Fast Fashion, Dispoable Fashion, Enviromentally Friendly Fashion.....

The image this ad gives off at first I feel is all about disposability of your clothes wear once and throw away... not the best impression, I want to see if I can use this idea and theory to make an ethically sound model for a new type of fast fashion.

Tacit Knowledge

I had my first one to one meeting with Hazel (course director) today and she talked abou tacit knowledge as that is the type of knowledge i have most of comming from a craft based disapline. I have looked up the meaning and have found out some interesting things that i had never concidered before. Below are my findings.

'We know more than we can tell.'
Michael Polany




Tacit Knowledge is a 'know how' knowledge rather than a factual 'know what' kind of kowledge. It is learning thorough doing, practice rather than study, this makes it problamatic to share information easily as you need to aquire the skills as you go along. Below is a good example of the difference between what tacit and explicit knowledge.



Also it can be difficult to get your point across as you can do an action but cannot easily explain this action.

Mind Mapping with Tony Buzan

I find the idea of mind mapping fasinating, especially when colour and images are aded, it really would help you make connections and remember information than traitional note taking.




I like the idea of it being an organic entity, growing and changing rather than being rigid and unchanging.





I found this one on creative intelligence very useful as it outlines all the main points and proceses I go through when im designing.

Mind Mapping my project

Trying to work on my mind mapping technique, find it so much easier when its my own thoughts and not in note taking form. It really lets my mind wander but focuses my thoughts and helps to group togeather ideas.

Where do I fit in and what can I do to make a positive change in my chosen subject area.

My mind mapping needs a bit of work, after looking at Tony Buzan's theroys and ideas my attempt looks a bit rigid and i have small questions or phrases instead of sole words, which might inhibit my ideas from growing and evolving. I have no colour or images either which could make useful sign posts in my brain for remembering certain facts.

Strategy

Today we had our second lecture by Prof. Tom Inns. It was all about strategy and how we get to where we want to be by setting out a clear plan(mission) and following a certain set of rules and regulations to get us to our final objective. Below is My Personal Analogy from today...

I also learned the difference between proactive and reactive and where I sit in relationship to this, I think I am a mixture of the two but for my project this year and throughout my masters course I think I should be more proactive in my approach. Tom also said that we should be more proactuve on a global scale to deal with more of the global issues before they arrise, I agree think we should try to prevent huge problems not try to fix them after the damage has been done.

Tom gave us this great quote by Dwight D.Eisenhower


'Planning is everything, plans are nothing.'

Here is my mind map of todays lecture, I really need to work on a better way of doing them.