This month I have been asking myself some of the following:

What can be learned from historical craft ideologies and philosophies?
Why is there a lack of understanding regarding the principles of craft?
What is the value of craft to the development of culture?

My area of research has not changed, it obviously develops and evolves the more I find out, as certain questions are clarified.

I have been lucky enough to talk to some really helpful people, especially at Craft Central.   They have agreed to let me observe more workshops and meet their interns.

I am also booked in to visit the Craft Council to use their research centre in the first 2 weeks in January.

The survey was sent out and I am getting some great replies, a lot more than expected and I fear I may have to wait until the Christmas break to work through them.  This month I feel there has been a real step up in the pace of my project, things are falling into place very nicely.

I have spent more time with designer makers, they have all been extremely positive about my project.  I feel this is definitely the right project for me and the my question iteration is jumping around a lot less.  At the moment my question is:


How can traditional practices and values be maintained by combining crafting with contemporary culture?

This month we have also had a project, 'Life in a box' which is extremely interesting, it has definitely helped most of the group collect their thoughts and ideas together.

Powerless Illuminating Tubing

This flexible glow in the dark plastic can keep glowing for up to 20hours after only 5 minutes of exposure to sunlight. 

Life in a Box

My initial brainstorm for this project is documented below:

Then I thought further about life forms, different types and their needs:

carbon-based
water-based
habitates
signalling and self-sustaining processes
metabolism
homeostasis
grow, repsond to stimuli, reproduce
bioshperes
plants, aniamsl, funghi, archaea, bacteria
community
symbiosis
energy, water, temperature, atmosphere, gravity, nutrients, solar protection

I felt like part of this project was to slightly predict the future, what would happen in this coming year, what my project needed and how it would evolve.  This led me to think of tortoises, who of course have their own box, and this box in traditional chinese cultures was used to make predictions.  They used to call tortoise shells, oracle bones, and would crush them up and use the powder to predict what was going to happen.

The tortoise is very reclusive, it has its own home, it can hide, be protected, needs light, water and vegetation.  It has its own transport method, space to grow and development, and is known for being slowing moving!  Less haste!

I decided my life form would be a tortoise, and that the different parts of its shell would represent decisions, milestones, goals, aspirations, nourishment, fears, and that I would display the decision making process on it. 

When thinking about my challenges, I came up with the following:

time - organisation
confidence
momentum
fear
engaging with stakeholders/gate keepers
ebergy
creative and metaphorical leaps
the whole balancing act

My design process went through a number of phases, the main being a patchwork quilt type tortoise shell, with different words and pieces to dimensionalise my challenges.  I gave the tortoise a lift raft, it was held in place by milestones that once completed released the tortoise, once it was confident enough to fend for itself.

My life in a box can be seen below:

Apparati Effimeri

APPARATI EFFIMERI Urban Reflex from Apparati Effimeri on Vimeo.


So amazing
So beautiful
So inspiring
I need to see this live for myself...

Video Ethnography

Today I was thinking about how craft people communicate craft knowledge, and wondering if I could carry out an ethnographic study to understand this better.

Life in a Box

 MADS YEAR ONE PART TIME MODE 2010

Term 3 Project:  LIFE IN A BOX

Wednesday 10 November – Wednesday 24 November

Introduction

This project invites you to employ the skills you have developed in giving dimension to your question, in order to construct an artifact-critique of your journey to date and the goals that it represents. You will be working on this project over a two-week period, in the run-up to the Academic Tutorial on 24 November.

Brief

Your question and your artifact should by now have acquired a life of their own. This life-form currently needs the protection of a box – and its own dedicated life-support system – before it can flourish independently in the outside world. “LIFE IN A BOX” invites you to give dimension to this life-form that you have created, as well as the life-support systems that support its fragile existence. Life support systems provide all of the sustainable needs required for continuance of life – and remember that these needs can go far beyond biological requirements. In time, your life-form may grow to maturity – and leave its protective box. 

Your design and making skills should be focused on clarification of the connections between the various parts as much as the parts themselves. We are much more interested in your ability to communicate ideas and knowledge than your ability as designers/artists. Please remember that if you lack the confidence to create your own artifact then it is perfectly legitimate to find someone to help you realize your needs

Presentation

Your artifact must be portable, and must be available to show to your tutor on 24 November. Technological requirements should be kept to a minimum. Your box and the representation of your project as the life-form within should address at least the following questions:

• What kind of life-form represents your project?
• What kind of box is it contained in?
• What life-support systems have you included?
• What is the connection between your goals and the decisions you have made?
• Why have you designed your box and life-support systems in this particular way?
• How exactly do your life-support systems operate?
• How will your life-form be enabled to develop?
• How will you increase your understanding of the life-form you have created?
• How, and why, might your life-form die?
• If your life-form survives, what might be its future?

Criteria

The project will be assessed against the following criterion:

• Your ability to give dimension to complex ideas through an artifact
• Your ability to critique your personal journey
• Your ability to sum up succinctly how you have progressed
• The clarity and relevance of your artifact presentation – including your life-form, the box, and life-support systems
• Your ability to focus on essential points
• The level of risk-taking your artifact presentation displays
• It is vital to appreciate that any artifact you create in response to this brief will be assessed on its potential to give dimension to your project and journey to date – NOT on your ability to produce a finished or finely-crafted “shiny object”.
• Your ability to reframe your project in the light of positive and negative feedback/experience and other sources of relevant knowledge

I have designed the questions for my survey this week and sent it out to everyone I know using Impressity, the also advertise surveys on their website, so people I don't know can complete this, and hopefully I will get a better mix of answers.  I have also sent out a separate survey to people heavily involved in the craft industry, like the people at Craft Central and the founders of craft cafes etc.  

The main consumer survey:

 

What kinds of group activities do you do with your friends and family?

 

            Eating

            Drinking

            Playing

            Watching films/tv/listening to music

            Making something- baking, crafts, painting

            DIY

            Travelling together

            Reading

            Relaxing

Do you ever handmake gifts or cards?

  

Yes

No

No, but would like to learn

Have you ever been on an arts or crafts course?

 

Yes

No

No, but would be interested in attending one

How much quality time do you spend with your friends and family each week?

0-2hrs

3-5hrs

6-8hrs

10-12hrs

12+hrs

Do you think its important to spend time with your friends and family?

 

Yes

No

Yes, but struggling to find enough time

Have you ever learnt a skill from a friend or family member that you will pass on to other generations?

 

Yes

No

Have you ever taught someone a new skill? If so, how did it feel?

 

Yes

No

Please enter comments here:

Did your parents make things with you as a child?

 

Yes

No

How often do spend time each week with people from older and younger generations? 

0-2hrs

3-5hrs

6-8hrs

10-12hrs

12+hrs

How many hours a day do spend online?

 

0-1

1-3

3-5

5-7

8+

Are you an active participant in forums and social networking sites?

 

Neither

Forums

Social networks

Both

Have you ever read/watched a tutorial online to learn a new skill? If so, what did you learn, did you find this useful?

 

Yes

No

Please enter comments here:

Would learning face to face have been more enjoyable?

 

Yes

No

Not sure

How many times have you made flat-pack furniture? If so, did you enjoy this process?

  

never

1-2times

3-5times

5+ times

Please enter comments here:

Do you think it would be more enjoyable with the help of friends and family?

 

Yes

No

Have you ever customised an item of clothing or furniture yourself? If so, did you enjoy this? If not, would you like to know how to customise or personalise items?

  

never

1-2times

3-5times

5+ times

Please enter comments here:

Have you ever designed a piece of clothing, accessory or something for you home yourself?

  

never

1-2times

3-5times

5+ times

Do you recycle?

Never

Yes at work

Yes at home

Only certain things that I am told to

Yes I make the effort to reuse and recycle whatever I can

Do you ever reuse items for a new and different use?

  

Yes

No

Have you ever used objects you no longer needed in a different way, or combined them with something else to make something new?

  

Yes

No

I often try to reuse items

Would you prefer your belongings to be:

 

            Handmade

            Individual

            Customisable

            Mass manufactured

            Locally sourced

            Perfect

            Good quality

            Expensive

            Affordable

            Eco-friendly

Age Group

 

Under 30 years

31 to 40 years

Over 40 years

Sex

Female

Male

Marital status

 

engaged

married

divorced

single in a relationship

single not in a relationship

Children

Yes

No

The following are what I would like to find out from professionals currently working in the crafting industry:

Have you noticed an increase in interest in crafting, customising, learning new skills etc?

 

What courses are most popular?

 

What are the types of people coming to workshops? ages/family members/groups etc

 

Have you noticed an increase in the numbers of designer makers wanting to get involved and make the most of the facilities you offer?

 

What changes have you noticed that the recession has made for the creative practices and designer/makers?

 

What do you feel crafting can bring to contemporary society?

 

Make Do and Mend

An amazing evening - David Attenborough's First Life

An amazing evening - David Attenborough's First Life
Last night I went to a special Sir David Attenborough talk, I was so excited before, during and still now. He was as wonderful as on the TV, and answered all the questions of the little kids along the front row. He was passionate and dynamic, I was absolutely thrilled and captured by every word!

Today I have been carrying out a bit more online research looking to see if craft is becoming mainstream, the affect the recession has had on creativity, handmade items and consumer trends.

Areas of research:

Communities
People
Groups

Why they do crafts
Why they come together
What do they want to learn

What groups already exist?

Rose Wallpaper

"Once flowers have already bloomed, they are usually thrown away. So that they can be enjoyed for longer and to create something of value from the waste, Zoubida Tulkens made wallpaper from rose petals. She collected rejected roses from flower growers, removed the petals, and made each one smooth using a flat-iron. Using a natural glue, Tulkens stuck the petals on wallpaper. Each sheet of wallpaper has it’s own pattern, and four sheets together create a larger pattern."