the intelligent optimist
The Intelligent Optimist London Design Festival 2015 Lethaby Gallery and Windows Galleries at Central Saint Martins, London 19 September 2015 – 17 October 2015
The Intelligent Optimist The Intelligent Optimist exhibition goes to the heart of everything we do at Central Saint Martins. The work of our students is almost by default optimistic – why design the world as a worse place? – and is always shot through with a canny intelligence. This intelligence takes multiple forms: the rigour of traditional inquiry, emotional intelligence of empathy, tacit intelligence built through experience, haptic intelligence where hand meets mind, and so on. In all cases the intelligence is deployed in a productive manner to transform the status quo or to imagine new and better futures. Last year’s highly acclaimed Restless Futures exhibition at CSM explored the societal issues that designers are engaged with; this year’s exhibition presents the types of designer that are needed to achieve positive change within those issues: Future Gazers, Material Explorers, Social Agents, and The Fixers. The Intelligent Optimist has never been needed more than in the current era of political and social despondency. We are all looking for alternative visions, but not naively hopeful ones. In their various combinations of wit, rigour, lateral thinking, sensuousness, ingenuity, social engagement and all round intelligence, these Central Saint Martins graduates provide a brilliant riposte to the novelist Howard Jacobson’s provocation that he “has never met an intelligent optimist.”
Professor Jeremy Till Head of Central Saint Martins Pro Vice-Chancellor of University of the Arts London
Future Gazers
Social Agents
06 The Exquisite Corpse Ava Asaadi & Camille Auclair
22 The Shape of the Self to Come Yi-Chun Chen
07 Fuji Skatepark Milligan Beaumont
23 Skills Exchange: Bankside Craft Centre and Pop-up Market Moetaz Fathallah
08 Ting Bridgette Kwok Ching Chan 09 Hindu Tales Souvenirs of a Future Anne Couvert-Castéra 10 HighLight Hortense Duthilleux 11 Ündertåker Louis Grosperrin 12 Hello, Stranger! Han Kim 13 Legacy Scape – A place to remember Vania Kristiani 14 The Excessively Long Shoes Paulina Lenoir Guajardo 15 TMO: The Mars Odyssey Alexandra Ilona Lucas 16 Blank City Wei Shao 17 Another Skin Akiko Shinzato 18 Trehalose Artifacts Jaime Tai 19 Supervive Xinyuan Xu
24 On the Shoulders of Giants Martin Hanly 25 Project “Seen” Emil Kozole 26 Border Crossings Marta Monge 27 Industrious Neighbourhoods Carlotta Novella 28 Banta Evangeline Pesigan 29 Revolution Listen Saeeda Saeed 30 #Flashtag Ben Silvertown 31 62 Pendants, 62 Stories The Diary of a Couchsurfing Host Yuxi Sun 32 Apple Tree Hills Cider Bottles Dominic Upson 33 Tits Up Misha Venter
The Material Explorers
The Fixers
36 Elastic Lights Marta Bordes Blanco
52 Mind Wandering Bloom Caroline Angiulo
37 MKNB Matty Bovan
53 CastAway Furniture Ilaria Bianchi
38 Are you going to leave that there? Stephanie Buttle
54 Collaborative Cally Luiz Conceicao
39 Teri Dancer Persiis Hajiyanni
55 Carpet Everything Georgia Fleck
40 XI系 Jim (Chen-Hsiang) Hu
56 MA Collection Hayley Grundmann
41 Chasing Colour Natha Khunprasert
57 Auxiliary Tools Gareth Ladley
42 Hyper-Opera Kakia Konstantinaki
58 Met Office Rebrand Sidney Lim
43 Extending the Body, Skin and Hair Oliver Thomas Lipp
59 Counter – Creating Habits by Design Sherif Maktabi
44 Constructed Reality Harriet Rose Paynter
60 Buttermere Walk High Street Emma Twine
45 MA Collection Beth Postle 46 Materia Madura Ana Cristina Quiñones 47 Material Emotion Anna Laura Schlimm 48 Colouring Book Gabriele Skucas 49 The Refugee and the Burden Esna Su
61 Memetry Pan Wang 62 Delightful. Diffusing. Disgusting. Abay Zhumagulov
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These are the designers who project into future worlds, jumping out from the here and now into as yet unfound possibilities. They dream of things that do not presently exist and of spaces without boundaries. One needs utopian dreamers to allow us to see potential that otherwise is shrouded by the exigencies of everyday life. And if sometimes these utopias become black with despair, become dystopias, then we need those too to understand quite which way we might be heading unless we change direction. The future speculator starts with a ‘What If?’ and then follows the trails that the question sets up. A healthy suspension of disbelief is necessary as a part of the process, because only then can the full potential of the original hypothesis be found. The best speculation might start in a very strange place, but end at a point where the project appears almost self-evident, even rational. A place like Central Saint Martins would be dead without curious future gazing.
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BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
The Exquisite Corpse Ava Asaadi & Camille Auclair ava.asaadi@gmail.com www.avaasaadi.com Instagram: @cava.assclair auclaircamille@gmail.com www.camilleauclair.com Silk, rayon, wool, velvet, hand-dyed silk yarn and viscose embroidery thread Sponsor: Loro Piana Photography: Alex Kessler & Justin Gong
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Future Gazers
The narrative behind this collaborative project is based on an alternate reality, where future creatures co-exist harmoniously on earth. Although with a mind of their own, these mutants cling onto humans for survival to form a glamorous symbiotic relationship with their host. Initial inspiration came from the surreal and voyeuristic atmosphere created in 1970s interior magazines. The project continued as an exploration of the concept of mood being implanted into one’s psyche through ‘setting a scene’. Inspired by Hitchcock’s theory of the MacGuffin, and the sense of trace, that someone was there before you; also in relation to the voyeuristic connotations of Stanley Kubrick’s work. From that, the ideas developed further into alien like forms reminiscent of René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet. Samples began to come together and grow into a clan of opulent mutant creatures. The knitted pieces represent a timeless ‘dystopian utopia’, where everything looks ambiguously beautiful and yet nobody is quite sure for what purpose.
BA FASHION: WOMENSWEAR 2015
Fuji Skatepark Milligan Beaumont milligan_sarah@hotmail.com Embroidered kimono, hoodie, shorts/trousers, skateboard. Sponsors: Swarovski, Dickies Workwear Photography & styling: Niall Underwood & Anna Taylor
Future Gazers Fuji Skatepark depicts a fantasy cartoon world which Milligan Beaumont created on the backdrop of a nineteenth century woodblock painting by Hasui Kawase. Using a variety of techniques you will find antique embroidered eagles on skate boards, hand cut silk flowers, screen printed Japanese writing and flocked dragons smoking spliffs. All brought together with an abundance of bead work using sparkling Swarovski crystals. It’s a piece in which you can appreciate the fine details and intricate embroidery when static but when in motion (skated in) it becomes alive, floating as if the wearer were flying.
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BA CERAMIC DESIGN 2015
Ting Bridgette Kwok Ching Chan bridge.chan@gmail.com Slipcast ceramic, glaze
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Future Gazers Mindfulness: “the intentional, accepting and non-judgemental focus of one’s attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment”. It is a form of reflection through meditation. The ability to reflect is a natural reaction to the environment that often happens when one is alone, it is how humans grow to become better. However, constant human engagement, physical or technological, has created a problem in our society. Ting is a one person tea-set inspired by the Zen garden that is designed to promote alone time and personal well-being. An object created for the pleasure of holding and using it when alone. Its size forces you to repeat the process of brewing tea, to ensure every cup of tea is a fresh cup. This gives you time to reflect and be mindful of the task in hand. Let us forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
MA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 2015
Hindu Tales Souvenirs of a Future Anne Couvert-Castéra anne.couvert.castera@gmail.com www.hindutales.jimdo.com www.anne-couvertcastera.tumblr.com Mixed media The Cab Altar Raj is a cab driver in London, he connects back to his roots and family during his prayers, via a "connected cab altar", featuring a set of smart objects. Raj receives sensorial messages from home ( prayers, scents…). It is based on the sensorial and the emotional immersion.
Future Gazers Research and feedback in collaboration with Hindu communities in London. The design questions the interactions of spirituality and technology. It focuses on Hindu devotees and imagines how they might use new technologies in their religious practice. Testimonies gathered from Hindus identified key questions about Hindu identity, Hinduism’s capacity to embrace the sociotechnical evolution of society, and to regenerate itself made me realize that it is an admirable topic for designers. Hindu Tales does not claim to predict the future. It’s about raising questions, ‘whatifs?’. It offers 3 "fragments" or vignettes of a potential future for the Hindu Community in a technological age: ‘The Cab Altar’; ‘The Love Guru’; ‘Connected Festivals’. Each fragment depicts a scene from the everyday life of a persona from the Hindu diaspora. It imagines design responses to overcome the remoteness from Mother India, bringing to Hindus around the world a new way to live their spirituality, affording the sense of a global Hindu community.
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MA MATERIAL FUTURES 2015
HighLight Hortense Duthilleux duthilleux.hortense@gmail.com www.hortense.co.uk Mixed media Collaborators Sami Amin – Assistant: engineering Vinay Chaudhri – Assistant: PR Julien Bechu – Assistant: 3D modelling Clement Louis – Assistant: film making
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Future Gazers One of our strongest primal and tribal needs is to seek something greater than ourselves. Yet, in a hyper- and over-stimulated society, it feels as though the self is more forsaken than ever. In response to this, new Western practices of 'mindfulness' have emerged, to help people switch off their brains and access the mind. Duthilleux has sought to explore a different way of satisfying this need through Light, a universal energy, experienced sensorially by all humans. Her work is an attempt to restore a sense of balance by completely suffusing the mind with light.
BA GRAPHIC DESIGN 2015
Ündertåker Louis Grosperrin louisgrosperrin@hotmail.com www.louisgrosperrin.com Animation on screen, interactive environment: marbles, mixed media, objects Collaborators Mika Barroux — Foley assistant Izzy Bizu — Vocals on soundtrack Photography: James Barnett
Future Gazers This animation is based on a brief to build a burial machine for an undertaker. Inspired by the Rube Goldberg machines that have flooded my imagination through cartoons and comics since childhood, I have created a complex and fully automated contraption that uses diverse mechanisms of chain reaction and dynamic movement to transport a body to its burial pit. The design is a sort of cynical parody of Ikea. The aesthetic of the work is close to the style that defines the brand, which symbolises the current trend and taste of our capitalist society – forever consuming by comfort rather than taste, accumulating standardised objects with no humanity or sentimental value, hiding behind the clean, surgical and consumer friendly mask of the brand. We are voraciously hoarding things to remind ourselves that we are alive in a physical world, accumulating mechanically.
BA FASHION: PRINT 2015
Hello, Stranger! Han Kim kkekhani@hotmail.com Lace, Alcantara, Embroidery (thread and wool), glitter Samsung Fashion and Design Fund Award, Sophie Hallette Prize, Alcantara Award Sponsors Sophie Hallete for lace, Alcantara for fabric, Inditex, Zara for shows, Richard James Savile Row for technique completion Photography: Niall McInerney
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Future Gazers People hold their own worlds in their minds. In childhood, we read storybooks, but they still affect our daily lives. Han Kim still thinks a storybook is not just a book, it is a small world instead of the real world we live in. Kim’s own world produces many stories and is his source of inspiration. It triggers the ideas which develop his designs. Each and every project Kim has worked on is drawn from this narrative in his head, helping him build his own world. It allows Kim to apply this world to a body by dressing it. Kim’s work takes traditional clothing forms, such as the suit and the shirt, and distorts them by how he imagines them in his world; turning city life into a wild wonderland.
MA NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENTS 2015
Legacy Scape – A place to remember Vania Kristiani Krist.vania@gmail.com www.democracyofdeath.wordpress.com www.vaniakristiani.wordpress.com Digital, mixed media Collaborators Hera Winata – Concept Development and Brand Identity Amanda Choy – Visual and Graphic Direction Micky Ju – Visual and Graphic Direction Amadea K.S – Research Dong Lee – Test Facilitation Tin-Chih (Fiona) Chang – Modelling Kuang-Yu Cheng – Modelling Kusnadi Sasmita – Proofreading Rini Widjaja – Research and Proofreading Szu-Chia Chen - Workshop Documentation
Future Gazers Legacy Scape is a digital platform that allows people to prepare their legacy as a complex online narrative space. Their loved ones would then be able to explore it and learn from it after they have passed away. In their turn, the next generation will be able to expand the legacyscape by adding their own repository of memories and digital artifacts to it. Over time, the legacy-scape would build into a collective memorial that Future generations would be able to access the better to understand their familial and cultural heritage. The aim of this project is to create a platform that would allow co-creation between the deceased and the bereaved.
BA PRODUCT DESIGN 2015
The Excessively Long Shoes Paulina Lenoir Guajardo paulinalenoir@hotmail.com www.paulinalenoir.com Leather, rubber, wood, mixed media Collaborators Mick Duggans – Cordwainer Jesus Alonso, studio Jesus 4lonso – Monterrey based designer/cordwainer Photography: J McGill Winston
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Future Gazers Efficiency has overtaken most of the daily interactions, architecture and objects in an urban context. As a consequence, we have lost control over our individual pace and interpretation of time. Objects and architecture composing the urban landscape dictate the pace of the people inhabiting it. Every person has an individual rhythm which is often concealed, contained and limited by these external structures and systems. Yet the familiarity of urban routines, spaces and objects make it difficult to be aware of how we conform our diverse rhythms to our daily lives. The Excessively Long Shoes are a way of consciously imposing a slower pace on oneself. Their shape, weight, and length exaggerates and slows down daily movements, making them less familiar, thus creating a contrasting pace. Through imposing a rhythm on oneself with an object of the everyday one can transcend the ordered structure created by the urban environment by becoming aware of how we are succumbing to externally imposed rhythms.
BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
TMO: The Mars Odyssey Alexandra Ilona Lucas alexilonalucas@gmail.com alexandralucas.net Instagram: @alexandrailonalucas
Future Gazers Many major space agencies are predicting a manned mission to Mars by 2030. My collection takes place in a future where, thanks to the effects of climate change caused by humans, colonising our nearest planetary neighbour might be our only hope for long term survival. Surviving on Mars would require what I have called the Mars Exploration Suit. This would consist of six protective layers: a radiation layer, three pressure layers, an oxygen and temperature layer, as well as a sensory membrane layer which reads biometric data. After a certain amount of time human bodies would start adapting to the conditions of Mars. When a layer is no longer needed, it could be taken off and would reveal the next layer of the space suit. Over time, the Mars Exploration Suit would no longer be needed, thanks to the human body adapting to become a native Martian. This collection is inspired by the excitement surrounding future space exploration and celebrates the alien beauty of the Martian landscape.
Mixed media
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MA COMMUNICATION DESIGN 2015
Blank City Wei Shao sweet.at@gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/weishao Paper, pencil, printed media, sound recording Photography: James Barnett
Future Gazers The year is 2115. The city is full, There is no sky, no ground. Everything is being categorized. Houses only exist as cubes, Every cube has a function. Every function should follow the rules. Life in Blank City lives in human life-sized cubes, Every life follows the simple rules: Every life has the same apartment, job, garden, religion, lunch, times… Every life does everything “right” in the “right place”, Life is regulated by the same rhythm, same lifestyle.
BA JEWELLERY DESIGN 2015
Another Skin Akiko Shinzato akonnu0514@gmail.com www.akikoshinzato.com Gold-plated brass, vegetable tanned leather, mirror, cultured water pearls, Swarovski crystals Photography: Runa Anzai Hair & makeup: Yoko Minami
Future Gazers Akiko Shinzato’s collection is about people’s obsession with their appearances. We treat our appearances according to how we want to be seen by others and put this alternative veil of identity on our faces. In other words, our appearances can be modified and manipulated as we wish. Since facial features are the most important for first impressions, this collection is a series of pieces of jewellery focused around the face. It explores how simply and easily you can change your appearances with a piece of jewellery, and it consists of two series, Wearing Make Up and Putting on Someone's Identity. Akiko has used the aesthetic and structural idea of a pair of pince-nez as an element to intervene and alter the face, to be attached and detached at will. Each piece of the collection partially hides the facial features of the wearer whilst revealing a whole other identity.
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MA MATERIAL FUTURES 2015
Trehalose Artifacts Jaime Tai jaime.taiyx@gmail.com www.jaimetai.com Trehalose, viscose, emulsion Collaborators UCL Centre for Nanotechnology and Regenerative Science Supervised by Dr Achala de Mel, Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine Photography: Jaime Tai & Ben Pendlebury
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Future Gazers We face a future of changing climates. Whether on Earth or other planets, the human race may need to adapt to environmental conditions drastically different from those of the present. Trehalose Artifacts is a project about enhancing human survival during drought using trehalose, a natural sugar that protects cells from dehydration. It explores how trehalose-based products may be developed to enable humans to live on less water by reducing water loss through skin surfaces. The project is focused on two separate but complementary solutions: a range of skincare products, where different concentrations of trehalose are available for a variety of user needs; and micro-encapsulated clothing, where the sugar is embedded in fabric and delivered to the skin when required. These solutions are made tangible through the use of artifacts to offer a new perspective on a global issue, stimulating the imagination of audiences and encouraging further problemsolving and debate.
MA FASHION: WOMENSWEAR 2015
Supervive Xinyuan Xu xinyuanxu0415@hotmail.com Bonded nylon mesh netting, polyfoam Photography: Catwalking
Future Gazers
Xinjuan Xu’s MA graduate collection nods to life's most intrinsic and visceral need: survival. Referencing artists such as Mark Klett, and having always been drawn to the power of Mother Nature, inspiration gradually took form from desert cacti. The collection features sophisticated designs in form, developing an original technique that manipulates the quality of bonded foam sheets to create natural ridges. Sectional shaping moulds them into subversive and odd postures that echo the vitality and varied shapes of cactus, whilst the minimal yet bold colours draw attention back to the figure. The collection conveys the narrative of a cactus's undying urge to survive its harsh environment, its need to 'grow savagely and [be] forever young'.
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These are the designers whose work is embedded in social and political contexts, and whose aim is to transform the status quo for the better. Often they are critical realists, starting with the given, the real, and then operating on it. Critical here does not suggest a negative turn, but rather something that starts out with an unravelling of the social and material reality of the given condition so as to be able to understand how to reshape it into something better. Social agents expand the actions of design beyond the object, paying attention to the spatial contexts and immaterial processes in which design is always situated. The designer can often operate most productively by intervening in these processes. Sometimes these social agents use design as something whose primary purpose is to empower others, deploying their creative nous to enable other citizens to realise their hopes, using art or design as a political act to achieve transformation. 23
MA NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENTS 2015
The Shape of the Self to Come Yi-Chun Chen Yichunchen1147@gmail.com www.yichun-chen.squarespace.com Video, mixed media Collaborators Kuang-Yu Cheng – Spatial Design Fiona Chang – Spatial Design and Curating Cheng-Ru Chang – Graphic Design Kohei Kanomata – Graphic Design Caroline El Chidiac – Director of Photography James Beadnall - Soundtrack Composition
Social Agents The Shape of the Self to Come is a one-toone participatory performance that enables the audience to enter a story-world, based on their online identity, that has been created by search engine algorithms. The experience prompts participants to reflect on how search engines control and manipulate their data and, therefore, how search engines contribute to orchestrating users’ realities and sense of self. This performance can be incorporated into exhibitions and events that critique the construction of representation.
BA ARCHITECTURE: SPACES AND OBJECTS 2015
Skills Exchange: Bankside Craft Centre and Pop-up Market Moetaz Fathallah moetazosman28@hotmail.co.uk Mixed media
Social Agents The Bankside Craft Centre and Pop-up Market aims to create a space of mediation between stakeholders within Bankside. The Craft Centre offers an opportunity for meeting and participation based on shared interests in craft, making and small scale retail. The building provides a platform for collaboration, through local production, leading to a self-sustained network, organized by the community. The Pop-up Market occurs once a month and is designed to encourage economic activity that aims to unify different social and cultural groups; engendering a greater sense of community that bridges perceived social/economic/cultural boundaries through a celebration of making, reviving the social qualities that were so fundamental to the heritage of Bankside such as the Frost Fairs.
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BA FASHION: WOMENSWEAR 2015
On the Shoulders of Giants Martin Hanly martinhanly15@hotmail.co.uk Feathers, crystals, recycled bullion, sequins and organza The Swarovski Foundation Scholarship Sponsor: Lemarié Photography: Niall McInerney
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Social Agents Martin Hanly’s collection references the working class, specifically the idea that human dignity shouldn’t be relative or dependent on socioeconomic status. He looked at John Constable’s melancholic landscapes, especially the colour palette, composition and representation of working dress to create a poetic representation of labourers The embroidery techniques in the collection unite traditional methods and materials with contemporary ideas of class and the nouveau riche. Hanly uses feathers, crystals and beading to create his own embellished fabrics. He has grown up in a very working class environment and wants to reflect these experiences with humour whilst also remarking on the predilections of the luxury market.
MA COMMUNICATION DESIGN 2015
Project “Seen” Emil Kozole emil.kozole@gmail.com emilkozole.com projectseen.com Digital and print media
Social Agents Seen is a project that deals with the interception and filtering of our communications by the NSA, GCHQ and other security agencies. It is a typeface with a preloaded set of “trigger words” the agencies are targeting when scanning through our online communications. The typeface can be installed and used as any other font, but once any of the “trigger words” is written, the font immediately crosses it out. This way it automatically highlights and points out the content prone to secret surveillance. The project explores linguistic systems through the analysis of everyday words and investigates the connection between language, data and surveillance. By denouncing the issues surrounding dataveillance while using language that “cannot not be mentioned”, it works as an auto-censoring tool to stimulate a conversation about this taboo topic.
MA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 2015
Social Agents
Border Crossings Marta Monge atram.monge@gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/martamonge www.investn-border-crossings.tumblr.com Woven PP, space blanket, hand-woven cane, plastic sheeting, cargo lashings, heavy cotton, print and lensbased media Detail of item from the “stowaway set”: circular bag and collapsible mylar shield
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Border Crossings aims to raise awareness and trigger debate on the current state of illegal migration. It focuses on African migrants and their perilous journeys, chasing an elusive European dream. The project paradoxically twists the vision of clandestine immigration provided by news media, by exploring the migrants’ point of view, looking at someone’s journey and many ordeals, revealed by the “discovery” by immigration authorities of fictional, improvised objects. This project exaggerates the public fear of “the other” that fuels anti-immigration sentiment and portrays the migrant as a threat lurking outside the gates of Europe. The result is a series of tainted objects, whose harmless appearance conceals the story of an invisible reality, much closer to us than we realise.
MA ARCHITECTURE: CITIES AND INNOVATION 2015
Industrious Neighbourhoods Carlotta Novella c.novella@hotmail.it Mixed media Collaborator: Andreas Lang (public works) Photography: James Barnett
Social Agents Home-based working is a well-established and accessible model that offers many social and economic benefits – but as an architectural category it has not previously been investigated. Despite the number of people working from home increasing year by year, the current government and local authorities’ policies appear unclear and contradictory in relation to social tenants setting up businesses in their homes. Design for home-based workers as a community, especially for social housing tenants, is therefore a live policy issue. The Industrious Neighbourhood is an infrastructural and organizational strategy in which home-based workers are encouraged and enabled to create new self-sustaining and sociable practices by working together. The project explores urban retrofitting and spatial adjustments to support and facilitate different home-based businesses within a housing estate in East London. The strategy includes tactical and strategic design interventions within existing local networks and resident facilities and seeks to create versatile and accessible spaces for residents interested in working, making and producing from home.
Industrious mobile unit
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MA DESIGN: CERAMICS, FURNITURE OR JEWELLERY 2015
Social Agents
Banta Evangeline Pesigan Banta means design or intent in Tagalog; in Chinese, it is derived from Lu Ban, the master of architecture and craftsmanship; in English, it is an informal conversation or discussion involving two or more people.
info@evangelinempesigan.com www.evangelinempesigan.com Wood veneer, wood, metal, abaca fibre, recyclable polythene Collaborators Tirintas veneer loop chair developed with Vivere Lifestyles Co. Inc. Pista tassel chair developed with A. Garcia Crafts Photography: James Barnett
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Evangeline Pesigan explores a collaborative process between design and artisan craft cultures to generate furniture, an embodiment of contemporary ideas inspired by cultural influences from the Philippines. The collection highlights a sophisticated hybrid of heritage and modern production methods that celebrate culture and community within a changing global landscape. The structural frames support a secondary woven layer characterized by unique qualities from traditional techniques of basket weaving and dwelling construction. The fluid forms and dynamic interwoven lines create a translucent environment within the chair. By engaging with artisans, Pesigan helps foster meaningful collaborations that advocate uniqueness of design and quality of craftsmanship.
MA COMMUNICATION DESIGN 2015
Revolution Listen Saeeda Saeed www.2015.csmcommunicationdesign.com Mixed media Below are the first 10 people who trusted Saeeda enough to project their voices on the radio transmitter as creative outlets or for more pressing social needs. Without them the project would not have been possible. Mohammed J underground erotic poet / broadcasted: encrypted poetry VM and BH underground music liberation activist and Saudi dj / broadcasted: their music Z nudist artist/ Saudi vj / broadcasted: her art Mr Moon and Friend engineers for humanity / broadcasted: educational content outside of the Saudi wahhabi public school curriculum Social Outlets Aziza and Malik illegal immigrants / broadcasted: warning signs against police raids as well as broadcasting those in need of medical/financial aid Mohammed A truck driver / broadcasted: neighbourhood watch system Mona divorced housewife / broadcasted: her story of a 7 year physically & mentally abusive relationship & her advice to other women Maha middle school student / broadcasted: an offline rotating social media system for her friends.
Social Agents Revolution Listen is a guerrilla platform for communication that transgresses state censorship and transmits directly from within Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s most underground safe spaces. The platform takes the shape of a DIY Pirate Radio that has a frequency of up to 300 meters. It was designed in collaboration with 10 people, each with different narratives alternate to the State Controlled Media. A three stage procedure was designed which involved embedding the Pirate Radio into an object from the person’s safe space as well as designing a manual to be introduced to their trusted community. Through joint incremental collective action, broadcasts were transmitted throughout apartment buildings, neighbourhoods and local parks challenging the country’s physical architectural spaces built on the notion of privacy and gender segregation. The broadcasts were aired between April 6th – 23rd, 2015.
Photography: James Barnett
Once broadcasting systems were developed within each of the subcommunities; Manuals were designed in order to introduce the platform to the next 10 trusted people.
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BA GRAPHIC DESIGN 2015
#Flashtag Ben Silvertown Ben.Silvertown@gmail.com www.bensilvertown.com Digital media, mobile laser projector
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Social Agents #Flashtag turns the world into your canvas with a finger. Using laser projection you can draw, tag or type on any surface. Make your mark in the physical space and spread it in the social: it’s graffiti for the digital age.
BA JEWELLERY DESIGN 2015
Social Agents
62 Pendants, 62 Stories -The Diary of a Couchsurfing Host Yuxi Sun heibaixixi@hotmail.com www.yuxi-sun.squarespace.com Selected types of wood, magnets, printed and digital media Collaborator: Shua Jiang – Book layout design & type setting Sponsor: Moss & Co Specialist Timber Merchants
Yuxi Sun’s personal collection explores the traces our interactions with others have on our lives. She develops unique forms based on experiences she’s shared with guests who have stayed in her home over the last year. Using a systematic formula, each piece reveals details of the visit, the season, the person, the length of their visit. Every pendant –each made in carefully selected woods- bears witness to the mutual trust that has made this collection possible.
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BA CERAMIC DESIGN 2015
Apple Tree Hills Cider Bottles Dominic Upson domup3@hotmail.co.uk Hand thrown, glazed ceramic Collaborator & Sponsor: Stoke Farm Orchard
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Social Agents Drawing inspiration from traditional English and Japanese craftsmanship Dominic Upson designs and makes objects that are both functional and decorative. Apple Tree Hills bespoke cider bottles are inspired by Dominic's family's traditional English apple farm in the heart of Suffolk. The family turns the apples they grow into juice and cider with the juice currently being filled into mass-produced glass wine bottles. With the knowledge gained of ceramic as a material whilst studying ceramic design, Dominic considered a ceramic vessel hand thrown on the potter's wheel would more eloquently represent the craftsmanship of the apple juice inside. The focus on refilling instead of recycling also opens up potential for sustainability and the development of stronger customer ties. Incorporating the landscape the farm is set in as well as the family's apple farm emblem into the branding is therefore at the forefront of the design of these cider bottles.
BA JEWELLERY DESIGN 2015
Tits Up Misha Venter mv.mishaventer@gmail.com www.cargocollective.com/MishaVenterJewellery Plated metal, pearls, leather Misha Venter would like to acknowledge her parents as wonderful sponsors. Photography by Annalaura Masciavè
Social Agents In 2015, despite societal changes and advancements, female toplessness, unless it is for male consumption, remains a taboo subject. With dress codes being enforced and stigma surrounding breasts in all situations from sunbathing to breastfeeding, this collection aims to reclaim the female body through decoration. Venter aims to instill confidence and strength over shame and fear of sexualisation. Using elegant frames, the pieces highlight the breasts and nipples with lingerie-inspired body pieces made of plated metal rods, some decorated with pearls. The beauty of the female body is emphasized, not fetishized.
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These designers focus their work on the sophisticated exploration of material. In the process of investigating the creative potential of stuff, the material explorer often finds new applications for matter or even invents a new material. The base substances can come from all areas and disciplines: they can be cutting edge and technology-led, have a longstanding heritage or might be considered pre- or post- consumer waste. In all cases the materials are repurposed through assiduous attention to detail and the act of making. Materials are thus transformed, with the designer acting as contemporary alchemist, operating on the edges of scientific enquiry and sensualist engagement. What unites the material explorers is their interest in how material properties can be turned into imaginative design propositions, and how an attention to materials can transform raw matter into things of aesthetic delight. They are at the forefront of the reinvention of craft, taking a term that used to have backward-looking connotations into completely new areas.
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MA DESIGN: CERAMICS, FURNITURE OR JEWELLERY 2015
Material Explorers
Elastic Lights Marta Bordes Blanco hola@marta-bordes.com bordes.marta@gmail.com www.marta-bordes.com Ceramic, elastic cord, customized electrics
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This collection of articulated lamps brings movement and play into ceramics. The lamps explore an articulated system of elements inspired by technical applications of ceramics in engineering and medicine. The project challenges common assumptions about ceramics, enhancing the potential of the material and interaction with a user. Geometric components linked by elastic cords celebrate the functional potential of flexibility and directionality. The system playfully allows manipulation of the lamps, enhancing the tactility and visual experience. Seen here as architectural applications the system is designed to work at domestic scale to large scale and in the future at a possible micro scale with different types of technical ceramic and elastic materials.
MA FASHION: KNITWEAR 2015
MKNB Matty Bovan mknb@hotmail.co.uk www.cargocollective.com/mattybovan Instagram: @babbym Velvet, scuba jersey, two colour jacquard knit, hand cast resin and clay brooches and embellishments, boning, lurex jacquard knit The Isabella Blow Foundation Scholarship Photography: Catwalking
Material Explorers The collection is an extension of the way Matty Bovan dresses and puts things together, as he has made all his own clothes since he was 16. Bovan wanted to enhance these collages of materials to make something more ambitious, pushing the shapes into a more extreme silhouette. The textiles are an amalgamation of colour and texture, each look having its own character. Bovan wanted the shapes to be organic around the body, both following the lines and pushing out from them, creating a new silhouette. The idea of constructing garments with brooches and jewellery, and questioning the relationship between function and decoration, runs throughout the collection; in the final looks they are pushed to exaggeration. The materials used include plastic cords loosely hand knitted with lurex sprouting out in huge tufts, machine knit jacquards with eyelash glitter yarn felted with lambswool, velvet, crochet nets, carved foam shapes painted and covered in gems, hand cast resin brooches and hand painted clay brooches.
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BA CERAMIC DESIGN 2015
Are you going to leave that there? Stephanie Buttle stephanie@stephaniebuttle.com www.stephaniebuttle.com www.vimeo.com/stephbuttle Slip cast & hand thrown ceramic vessels, rope, silk, rubber band
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Material Explorers The title of Stephanie Buttle’s work instigates the idea of conversation, even conflict, between two elements. The sculptural work is presented as an installation that demonstrates a continuing inquiry into the themes of balance, discourse and movement in relation to the immobility of materials. This work endeavours to present a dynamic discourse through the representation of a counterbalance of ceramic materials. This conversation is described through the use of two differing ceramic techniques and processes, on one side – slip-cast forms that represent the more conservative character within the narrative. The opposing weight of material demonstrates the gestural, creative character. This work is thrown on the wheel, each piece is unique within the collection. Stephanie’s former professional experiences within performance and lens-based mediums inform her dynamic approach within this current ceramic practice.
BA GRAPHIC DESIGN 2015
Teri Dancer Persiis Hajiyanni hajiyannipersa@hotmail.com www.persiis.com Dyed foam, weights, nylon, velcro, metal, wood Collaborators David Kam - Dancer, Trinity Laban Leanne Oddy - Dancer, Trinity Laban
Material Explorers Teri is a friendly creature who responds to your presence. He is a foam sculpture when you are not there, but when you give him a bit of attention, he springs to life. Teri is a responsive sculpture, one that is willing and happy to get into a mutual dance, where each side is influencing the other’s response. In Greek, Teri means: companion, match, mate, partner. Teri will become an extension of your body, your ghost limb. Have fun! Teri is one of a series of outcomes that evolved from my dissertation research, all of which are invitations to play. These works acquire meaning in relation to the participant and engage the whole body. I am interested in designing experiences to guide the audience to be in tune with their bodies and engage physically in new and fun ways, to help slow down and absorb their oversaturated minds.
BA FASHION: WOMENSWEAR 2015
XI系 Jim (ChenHsiang) Hu studio@onemoredimension.com www.onemoredimension.com Instagram: @one_more_dimension Polyester, linen, resin Photography: Zi Yu Make Up: Agnes (Shu-Han) Model: Marianna Janowicz
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Material Explorers Project XI 系 can be traced back to 2012 and emerged initially from the CSM ‘Turning Point Project’. In this project Jim Hu was searching for a means to represent thoughts about cause and effect, and the hidden formula behind things, which is mostly absent from our perception of the world. Realized as sculptural pieces woven with three-dimensionally crisscrossing red strings, the final outcome is an imaginary depiction of how fundamental particles collect. Red colour represents their heat, energy and mobility; the thread can be read as the motion of particles and the bond between them as well as being the most fundamental part of a garment. The innovative technique is also named XI, an inventive process of 3D weaving. Not to be confused with 3D printing, XI is more like a hybrid of composite material making and traditional weaving with one more dimension.
MA DESIGN: CERAMICS, FURNITURE OR JEWELLERY 2015
Chasing Colour Natha Khunprasert nathakhunprasert@gmail.com www.nathakhunprasert.com Acrylic, dye The dyes and facets on the material create a reflection of colour within the internal structure. The colour appears and disappears depending on the perspective from which it is being viewed.
Material Explorers Chasing Colour is a jewellery collection made entirely from clear acrylic. Each piece is intricately designed to reveal and conceal colours depending on the wearer and viewer’s perspective. By using the transparency of the material along with faceting and dyeing techniques, the jewellery pieces trap and reflect colour and light, creating an ever-changing appearance. The collection aims to redefine common perceptions of the material and challenges the existing aesthetic of acrylic jewellery. Three distinct collections have been created, each accentuating differing qualities of light and colour: Facets, Cubist and NIX. Facets: Transmission of colours within the internal structure and facets created by cuts on the material. Cubist: Offers simplicity of geometric forms with bold construction and deconstruction of colours creating a surprise factor of contrast. NIX: ‘Nothing’, where the perforated area is the highlight of the piece, framing the colours.
MA COMMUNICATION DESIGN 2015
Hyper-Opera Kakia Konstantinaki k.kakia@gmail.com www.kakiakonstantinaki.com www.kakiakonstantinakiphotography.com www.hyper-opera.club Digital media, sound Devised and directed by Kakia Konstantinaki Music Nalyssa Green, Lyrics Aphrodite – Dimitris Anagnostopoulos; Athena – Noelia Diaz Vicedo; Eris – Dimitris Anagnostopoulos; Calypso – Nikos Erinakis; Hecuba – Melentini; Circe – Evie Kourtides; Clytemnestra – Vassilis Magouliotis; Penelope – Camilla Canocchi; Sirens – Ligeri MItropoulou; Thetis – Nikolas Kokolakis Voice Kalliopi Mitropoulou, Visuals Eris – Kakia Konstantinaki, Physical Performance PartSuspended group / Director Hari Marini; Aphrodite – Eve Zohar; Athena – Maria Jose Andrade; Eris – Valentina Rosati; Calypso Elena Mazzon; Circe – Hari Marini; Penelope – Camilla Canocchi; Sirens – Hari Marini, Maria Jose Andrade, Michelle Nicholson, Videos, PartSuspended Kakia Konstantinaki, Website Development Stylianos Kokkalis Website Design Kakia Konstantinaki Violin (in Eris Aphrodite k Calypso): Kaliopi Mitropoulou, Recording/Mixing/Mastering Spiros Livanis
Material Explorers Hyper-Opera is a website-specific online performance, in the form of a newly-composed, contemporary opera. It seeks to explore new perceptions of the operatic experience and new structures of narratives emerging by the combination of feminine narratives, hypertextual structures and virtual spatiality. Hyper-Opera, like every other opera, has been created to tell a story. The story to be told is the story of the Iliad and the Odyssey from a female point of view. Different archetypical women characters are investigated, this time, set against the background of a digital theatrical setting.
BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
Extending the Body, Skin and Hair Oliver Thomas Lipp olly.lipp@hotmail.co.uk www.cargocollective.com/oliverthomaslipp www.artsthread.com/profile/oliver-thomas-lipp Specialist yarns, fuse plastics, beads Sponsor: The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters
Material Explorers Oliver Lipp designs intricate, tactile and innovative fabrics inspired by the body, folds in the skin, hair follicles and cells which are then re-deployed almost as an abstracted second skin. Through material experimentation, Lipp investigates the way in which these shapes and textures move and interact alongside the body. Creating fabrics that transform as they are worn in terms of texture, drape or weight; mixing the traditional with a playful twist; developing heavily beaded fabrics with fine gauge knitted linings for comfort; using unconventional materials such as fuse plastic, beads, coated and fancy yarns in order to produce a collection that enables an androgynous aesthetic. Considering how the fabric will feel next to the skin is as important as the relationship between yarns. Which is why Lipp likes to combine specialist yarns with these unconventional materials.
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BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
Constructed Reality Harriet Rose Paynter harrietrosepaynter@gmail.com www.harrietrosepaynter.co.uk Lumex G composite, wallpaper, adapted screen printing inks Sponsor: 3A Composites with Lumex G, which became the primary material used within the project.
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Material Explorers Constructed Reality is an interiors collection concerned with creating accessible art for the home. Initial research was based on different design tastes understanding mundane everyday objects and reinterpreting them into modern design pieces. The starting point for this collection was an interest in developing drawings into 3D form. Exploring new techniques of combining print and vacuum-forming, screen printing inks were adapted to adhere to thermo-formable plastic and withstand the heat and stretch applied during the vacuum forming process. The final mix and match wall-panel collection is a surreal interiors scene, which represents a fantasy narrative of what Harriet Paynter’s own interior Utopia would be. The plastic wall-panels subvert the monotony of everyday interiors and create a playful dialogue with the wallpaper. The aim of the pieces is to inspire curiosity in the mind, whilst allowing people to construct their own custom living space.
MA FASHION: TEXTILES FOR FASHION 2015
MA Collection Beth Postle beth.j.postle@gmail.com Mixed materials including bonded jersey, white poly cotton and melted PVC. The J.Crew Scholarship, Chloe Award. Photography: Catwalking
Material Explorers Beth Postle’s work is always about process: it’s about testing and sampling new textiles by pushing and refining them. She creates wearable art works for the body, taking traditional craft ideas and developing a contemporary take on them. The graphic element is key: everything outlined with a thick black line, but never in the same thickness, and the handmade feel makes it seem less than perfect. Playing around with colour combinations is an important aspect of the work. Laid flat the garments resemble huge wall hangings; holes within the textiles make it possible to weave the prints around the body. The wiggly edges of the textiles and the shapes of the garments give a sense of ease as they fall freely around the body. The collection is inspired by artists Jean Dubuffet, Niki de Saint Phalle, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Jean Arp and fashion designers Agatha Ruiz de la Prada and Sonia Delaunay.
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MA DESIGN: CERAMICS, FURNITURE OR JEWELLERY 2015
Materia Madura Ana Cristina Qui単ones anacristina.qn@gmail.com www.anacristinaquinones.com Materia Madura: plantain, coffee, natural drying agent Photography: James Barnett
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Material Explorers Materia Madura is a furniture and vessel collection, made from an innovative material derived from plantain and coffee waste. This project offers an alternative to agricultural waste and recycling with a non-toxic, sustainable, locally sourced, and biodegradable material. Ana Qui単ones analysed food waste as a critical societal issue and a resource particular to her home country, Puerto Rico, inventing a new material from waste materials to open innovative possibilities for design applications. The production model is transferable geographically, across the plantain and coffee belts and methodologically offers future potential for alternative food wastes. Material Madura offers a globally transferable model.
BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
Material Emotion Anna Laura Schlimm Can anxiety be relieved through positive emotional association and tactility? anna@schlimms.com www.annalauraschlimm.com Silicone, sand, wood, cork Photography: Jacob Chabeaux
Material Explorers Material Emotion explores the idea of utilising positive emotional associations and tactility to relieve the symptoms of anxiety disorders. The concept is based on the positive effect that clothing and textiles can have on our well-being. A familiar example might be wearing a ‘lucky’ item of clothing for comfort and reassurance on an important or stressful day. The project aims to explore the benefits of amplifying this power, which we seem to ascribe to our clothing quite naturally. By creating bespoke textile collections based on positive material and imagery associations of individuals suffering from anxiety disorders, this power is channelled towards enhancing their well-being day-to-day. Material is pivotal to the project as one of the main vehicles for conveying the participants’ emotional associations. In order to increase the tactility of the textiles, Schlimm utilizes silicone to create moulded 3D surfaces and laser-cut materials such as wood and cork.
BA FASHION: KNITWEAR 2015
Colouring Book Gabriele Skucas gabrieleskucas@gmail.com Elastic cord, objects such as swings, inner tubes, snorkels, bunny ears, dolls Sponsor: British Fashion Council Photography: Niall McInerney
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Material Explorers Colouring outside the lines is incorrect, and as kids we are told that the only way to have a successful result is to stay inside the lines. Remembering her childhood with my younger brother, Gabriele Skucas wanted to capture and freeze moments by crocheting around a boy’s body while including objects, as reminders, in the garments. Swinging at the playground alongside her brother, swimming with an inner tube in the lake and sleeping with an oversized white bunny are a few of the memories Skucas captured. Using a crochet hook as a pen and elastic cord as ink, she coloured outside the lines. While crocheting this collection, Skucas was able to make the garments fully fashioned, avoiding all closures and seams.
BA JEWELLERY DESIGN 2015
The Refugee and the Burden Esna Su esnasu@hotmail.com www.esna-su.com Paper rush, willow, reed, bamboo thread, vegetable tanned leather cord Photography: George Madden & James John Petith Model: Johanne Adde Dahl
Material Explorers The Refugee and the Burden is based on the struggle of Syrian refugees who have been forced to abandon their homes and flee the conflict, continuing their lives in small tents in sprawling refugee camps. The first part of the collection is constructed and twined mainly with paper rush, representing the need for protection and expressing the isolation of refugees in their newly adopted homes. The works almost cover the wearer to give a warm, therapeutic feeling. The second part of the collection is informed by the belongings which refugees have to leave behind, and which can only be conserved in memories. Vegetable tanned leather cord was combined with sentimental objects to form hollow shapes, which in turn contain memories and the loss of the past.
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The Fixers directly engage with physical and social53 contexts, seeing them not so much as ‘problems’ – because seeing the world as a set of problems is rather miserable and so counter-intuitive to the intelligent optimist – but as situations to make productive sense of. The fixer requires critical ability, awareness and lateral thinking in order to establish that there might be a situation to be fixed in the first place. They then identify this situation as an opportunity and find an ingenious solution that expands the opportunity, finding something in it that others might have overlooked. The Fixers are both deeply practical and very lateral, seeing things from the side in order to get fresh vistas. Fixing is thus not a merely manual activity; the hand is always guided by the head, and vice-versa. Nor is this just a physical mending: the fixers also turn their attention to social conditions, using design to find new potential in what might at first sight seem intractable. 53
MA MATERIAL FUTURES 2015
Mind Wandering Bloom Caroline Angiulo carolineangiulo@gmail.com www.carolineangiulo.com Shape memory foam, silicone tubes, cotton, wool, acrylic, lycra, nylon, felt, foam, hi-loft polyester, sponge, rubber bands Collaborators Dr. Sophie Forster, Psychologist at the University of Sussex / Professor Paul Matthews, Head of the Division of Brain Sciences & Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at Imperial College London / Dr. A. Aldo Faisal, Senior Lecturer in Neurotechnology at Imperial College London.
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The Fixers How can we trigger mind wandering in our daily lives? Caroline Angiulio is interested in the potential of materials to encourage a state of ‘mind wandering’. That is, allowing us to disconnect temporarily from technology and our everyday lives to provide a moment of light relief, while introducing an element of the extraordinary and fantastical. Mind wandering occurs when you are executing an easy, repetitive, and relatively un-stimulating task, enabling you to lapse into ‘task-unrelated’ thoughts. Psychologists and neuroscientists have shown that mind wandering is healthy for mental well-being and can help stimulate creativity, imagination and contribute to reflection. Mind Wandering Bloom gathers a collection of material touch tasks that will provoke a state of mind wandering. Just like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, or the taste of the madeleine in the novel In Search of Lost Time, these ‘wander materials’ aim to facilitate mental time travel through material design and the sense of touch, providing a short escape.
MA DESIGN: CERAMICS, FURNITURE OR JEWELLERY 2015
CastAway Furniture Ilaria Bianchi Ila.bianchi.ria@gmail.com www.castawayfurniture.com www.Ilabianchi.com Wood, marble, metal, polystyrene, mixed materials Sponsor: Granite and Marble UK Ltd
The Fixers Can sustainable design develop new furniture aesthetics and possibilities? CastAway Furniture proposes and develops a new aesthetic language to embody the conceptual and physical implication of the presence of waste in our lives. Bianchi generates provocative concepts of furniture by combining and re-contextualizing both industrial and urban waste. The resulting collection embodies a critique of the consumerist society we inhabit and highlights current issues related to waste production and disposal. This project interro-gates the hierarchies of values consumerist society allocates to waste and the way in which almost every material can be converted into new functional artifacts through Bianchi’s process. In CastAway Furniture the materials found dictate the evolution of the design process and this approach offers a model that can be used in multiple circumstances and with different materials.
BA ARCHITECTURE: SPACES AND OBJECTS 2015
The Fixers
Collaborative Cally Luiz Conceicao luizandre1603@hotmail.com www.luizconceicao.com Mixed media
How can local economies readjust to take advantage of underutilized locations and the skills of local people along Caledonian Road? Collaborative Cally develops a framework for a new sharing network centred around the redevelopment of a series of vacant corner shops along the Caledonian Road. Each new contemporary corner shop acts as a centre for a different specialism – technology, education, daily-services, homeware or wellness – a network of different skills and exchange that is based on a detailed survey and understanding of the talents of various people in the local area.
BA TEXTILE DESIGN 2015
Carpet Everything Georgia Fleck georgie_fleck123@hotmail.com www.georgiaemiliefleck.co.uk Carpet remnants, mixed materials Stylist: Georgia Fleck Photography: Barney McCann
The Fixers Carpet Everything is inspired by the locations that Georgia Fleck’s grandmother used to visit during her time as a dancer in the 1970s/80s. The project focuses on Georgia’s passion for the mundane, taking reference from dilapidated bingo halls. Carpet Everything explores a new use for unwanted materials, with a focus on upcycling. It takes an everyday material and explores it through the use of none-traditional methods of carpet construction, challenging traditional views on domestic materials. It explores techniques such as; acid dye, screen printing, stitch, shaving and collage, bringing new life to an underappreciated fabric.
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MA FASHION: KNITWEAR 2015
MA Collection Hayley Grundmann hayley@grundmann.co.uk www.grundmann.co.uk Heavy gauge yarn, sponge foam, bin liners, felted wool The Isabella Blow Foundation Scholarship
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The Fixers It started with the ordinary tile, the kind found in the most luxurious spa and in the worst prison. The idea of combining opposites through the use of a shared material extended in the collection through the interplay of hard and soft, cheap and luxurious, angular and draped; crafting something special from ordinary materials. Hayley Grundmann’s research took the bathrobe as a garment found in both spas and prisons, and was inspired by an image of a man getting arrested wearing one. The texture of a vintage chenille robe and the geometry of the ceramic tile inspired a knit collection that combined heavy gauge yarn, sponge foam, bin liners and felted wool.
MA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 2015
Auxiliary Tools Gareth Ladley mail@garethladley.com www.garethladley.com Aluminium, PLA, motor Research in collaboration with Jose Pablo Molina Carrillo, Olde Glen Bar & Restaurant in Co. Donegal, Ireland. Aerator: Creates 'airs' for molecular gastronomy chefs.
The Fixers Auxiliary Tools is an exploration into idling technology and presents new opportunities for designers using 3D printing. Idling technology is defined as a technology that lies unused for the majority of its time. At the heart of this project there is an argument for open source tools with which to tackle the issues of wastefulness and obsolescence represented by idling technology. By exploring these issues, the project opens up opportunities in object and service design that exploit new manufacturing practices allowing designers to develop unique, bespoke resources for highly targeted audiences. The project scenario is that of a designer working with a chef of molecular gastronomy to produce tools with which to create unique epicurean effects.
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BA GRAPHIC DESIGN 2015
Met Office Rebrand Sidney Lim yixiangy@gmail.com www.sidneylim.com www.be.net/yixiangy Digital, print media
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The Fixers A response to a project brief to create a dynamic identity for a non-profit/governmental organization, this rebrand of the UK Met Office is responsive – the identity changes in relation to the weather, the dynamic logo reflecting conditions of air humidity, wind direction and temperature. The overall look and feel conveys the scientific precision, technology and modernity of the organization, while maintaining functionality and authority.
BA PRODUCT DESIGN 2015
Counter – Creating Habits by Design Sherif Maktabi sherif.maktabi@gmail.com www.sherifmaktabi.com Prototypes of pill case, charging dock, blood pressure monitors; Hygienic thermoplastics Taking medication and using the device become habitual. Both play a role in managing a patient’s symptoms. Blood pressure monitor and pill case in docking station. Their physical proximity is crucial to create the ritual of using both daily.
The Fixers In a world where health care systems are under increasing financial pressure, patients are encouraged to rely on self-monitoring to maintain health standards. Yet research shows that self-monitoring fails at creating the longterm behaviours needed for many chronically ill people. Counter is a medical product that helps users manage their blood pressure through habits rather than data. The device fits into the rituals of hypertensive patients and slowly instills the habit of therapeutic breathing, proven to lower blood pressure. The project involved extensive research in behavioural psychology and design ethnography. Insights were translated into behaviour design strategies that informed the product design.
BA ARCHITECTURE: SPACES AND OBJECTS 2015
Buttermere Walk High Street Emma Twine e.twine@live.com www.emmatwine.com @emma_twine Mixed Media The architectural proposal is not a finished building, but a tool for reclaiming the open space of Buttermere Walk. How might the high street evolve once it’s taken over by the community of the Estate? Perhaps it would look like this: over a period of 10 years, the whole street is taken over, turned into a place for people rather than vehicles. Series of 1:200 Elevations showing the proposal 1, 5 and 10 years after introduction.
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The Fixers Buttermere Walk High Street is a new public place in Dalston; reclaiming underused, open urban space on the Rhodes Estate, to establish new spaces for the local community. The project questions the decision-making process for regeneration in our cities. How do we decide on the use of urban space? Who should decide? Buttermere Walk High Street takes the form of a toolkit for reclaiming open space in the city; making the local community the decision-makers for the future of their neighbourhoods, and empowering them to take the regeneration of their neighbourhood into their own hands: “Dalston, who asked you?”. This isn’t a perfect future that’s being designed top-down for “the people”, instead a collaborative project between user and architectural system: a way of considering architecture as a tool, not an end. This project is not intended as something to be gift-wrapped and handed over with a flourish. This is architecture not as building, but as opportunity.
MA INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 2015
Memetery Pan Wang panwangwork@gmail.com Digital, mixed media
The Fixers An augmented reality interment service, exploring the meanings of memorials and cemeteries. More and more cemeteries are filling or full, and the choice of locations for the interment of loved ones are very limited and heavily regulated. In response I have designed 'Memetery', a location-based digital cemetery, a system that is connected digitally and physically to a specific location in the real world. The deceased person's digital legacy, can be linked to a real-world location which is triggered by data location services. It uses Augmented Reality technology to provide live responsive 3D visualisation of the tomb triggered by GPS at the physical location using mobile devices. Input to this digital memorial is enabled by attaching media to the place – voice messages, video, music and images – either on-location or through a remote application. With this system people might therefore inter their loved ones anywhere in the world on the basis of the location’s meaningfulness, rather than its accessibility or availability.
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BA PRODUCT DESIGN 2015
Delightful. Diffusing. Disgusting. Abay Zhumagulov abai@abaiz.com www.abaiz.com @AbayZhumagulov Prototype — painted PU foam, glass, styrene MEAD Scholarship awarded by UAL University of the Arts London Photography: J McGill Winston
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The Fixers Product design is about conformist easy pleasure. But the nature of human pleasure is more complex. One of the human paradoxes is enjoyment of objects and situations that innately give rise to fear or aversion. This project investigates emotions of disgust as a means of providing a complex aesthetic experience in product design. Disgust is amongst the strongest of aversions. Yet disgusting objects often exert a macabre allure. This emotion can constitute a positive appreciative aesthetic response. What could be more disgusting than parasite infestation? However, the hygiene hypothesis proves that the lack of exposure to infectious agents and certain parasites suppresses the proper development of the immune system leading to the rise of autoimmune disorders in western countries. Clinical trials demonstrated that ingesting certain parasitic worms could treat these ailments. The result of this project is Ova, a night-time bedside diffuser of parasitic pig whipworm eggs for immune system modulation in order to safely prevent or treat autoimmune diseases.
Credits Curatorial team Tricia Austin, Alan Baines, Peter Barker, Stephen Beddoe, Caroline Broadhead, Dr Melanie Dodd, Simon Fraser, Kathryn Hearn, Dr Matt Malpass, Anne Marr, Geoffrey Makstutis, Chris New, Dr Ulrike Oberlack, Alistair O’Neill, Fabio Piras, Nick Rhodes, Dr Rebecca Ross, Anne Smith, Caroline Till, Prof Jeremy Till, Willie Walters, Rebecca Wright Creative producer Dr Ulrike Oberlack –ultra-indigo Exhibition design FranklinTill Studio, ultra-indigo Exhibition graphics Prof Phil Baines JK font by Natalie Braune Creative producer CSM Gallery & Public Events Laura McNamara
Show build Andrew Baker, Paul Murphy Pursuing a ‘no more stuff’ ethos The Intelligent Optimist aims to re-use Central Saint Martins exhibition furniture as far as possible / Platform tables, Darragh Casey for MA Design; Ceramics, Furniture or Jewellery / Unistrut walls, Paul Murphy for MA Communication Design / Fluorescent lighting from MA Material Futures / Track lighting from BA Product Design / Plinths and pedestals from various CSM sources Catalogue editorial team Dr Ulrike Oberlack, Peter Close with input from the curatorial team Contributors Prof Jeremy Till and all exhibitors Catalogue design FranklinTill Studio Content editor Dr Ulrike Oberlack Unless otherwise stated photography is by the exhibitors. Press and publicity Jo Ortmans Lisa Shakespeare Colin Buttimer
Credits Special thanks to Peter Close, Simon Fraser, Dr Elizabeth Wright, Paul De’Ath, Kieren Jones, Amy Congdon, Dr Matt Malpass, Jo Ortmans, Nehanda Wright, Jess King, Jo Plume, Brian Whiting and the technicians in the 3D large and 3D small workshops, and the AV and Central Store for their generous and good humoured support. Thank you to the volunteers who have supported the setup of the exhibition, to the CSM reception and marketing team, to Matt Chesney, Matt Barrett, and the estates teams who have supported The Intelligent Optimist exhibition and events programme, and to the CSM Widening Participation Team. We would also like to thank David Tod and the team at Broadgate for their co-operation in using the Granary Building Foyer and the Crossing.
We would like to thank our sponsors Farrow & Ball GF Smith LAB Design UAL Postgraduate Community The Intelligent Optimist at London Design Festival 2015 Lethaby Gallery and Windows Galleries at Central Saint Martins, London 19 September 2015 – 17 October 2015 The Intelligent Optimist at London Design Festival 2015 is part of the 2015/16 Central Saint Martins The Intelligent Optimist programme. Find out more: www.arts.ac.uk/csm/csm-culture/ the-intelligent-optimist