Before the Thaw – Women Bursting Into Spring 1
What do these incredible critically acclaimed major visual artists or our time have in common? It’s (in order of appearance followed by image of their work) Phyllida Barlow, Nathalie Djurberg, Tacita Dean, Klara Lidén, and they make up the spring line-up at New York’s New Museum, an all-female line-up. Most importantly, it has not been overtly publicized as such.
- Tipped off by Art Info and my friend Amy Mendizabal.
Links – New Museum Upcoming Exhibits (New York)
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RedDot 2011: Tuesday July 12 Ultimate Deadline!
Deadline: July 10, 2011 (2 more days also, see here)
Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2011
Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2011 is now calling upon designers, companies, design institutions and design studios to submit their latest and best ideas, as a product with good design, to the competition. As the largest and most professional international design competition in the world, this is a great platform for new, upcoming designers to display their talent as well as for studios to showcase their creativity and innovativeness.
via Core77
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3 Female Design Students Who Shake The Kitchen Loose: Household Appliances of the Future
Electrolux 2011 Competition Female Finalists
Every year Electrolux puts out a brief on one of today’s design challenges. Open to design students who dare to dream about ever-advancing household convenience, it’s fun to see the innovation that emerges. This year’s brief for “intelligent mobility” is explained here in this video:
“From a field of 1,300, the top 25 concepts have been chosen from designers based in 14 countries across the world. Australia, New Zealand and Poland are represented by three entries each whilst Canada, the Czech Republic, France, South Korea and the USA have two representatives each.”
Sadly, out of 25, there were only 3 women chosen. I can’t say this is the fault of Electrolux but maybe just a case of the number of qualified women who entered so let’s put the number aside and give a round of applause for the 3 women who have been named finalists (in no particular order):
(1)
Simona Hruskova (Czech Republic) created the EMS Cooker, a band that wraps around your wrist, uses your natural bodyheat, and is then used to heat food a hotplate or keep your coffee warm.
(2)
Elizabeth Reuter (USA) created a mobile kitchen which takes up almost no space and offers everything you need to prepare a meal.
(3)
Roseanne de Bruin (New Zealand) made a game out of blending a smoothie at home with the Smoobo Blender. Bounce this space age ball around and the kinetic energy gets the blades moving.
all images via electroluxdesignlab.com. See the rest of the finalists here.
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Taiwan: Red Dot Design Award Winner Breathes New (Plant) Life Into Chair Design
“Re: Industrial Design graduate Yu-Ying Wu, Tatung University, Taiwan
“Taipei-based industrial designer Yu-Ying Wu’s Breathing Chair resembles a block of aerated tofu. Closer inspection reveals that the triangular voids vary in size, and their placement has been carefully calculated; the large triangles at the top-front-center “give” the most, creating a chair-like shape when compressed by a human body.
Wu’s chair, inspired by plant cells, took home a Red Dot Design Award in the home furniture design concept category earlier this year.”
via Core77 via cctv
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2010 Female Fellows: Winners of the First Buckminster Fuller Graduate Fellowship
If I had to give a prize to a school, it would have to be Pratt. They are definitely an institution that is on the cutting edge of what needs to happen now with educational institutions in the world: solve problems, involve community.
I met with Deb Johnson the director of Director of the Center for Sustainable Design Studies there back in May and was duly impressed by her and her programs. In my inbox today, I was pleased to see two women among those awarded the inaugural 2010 Buckminster Fuller Graduate Fellowship award in conjunction with Pratt’s CSDS.
Ashley Thorfinnson with her Demerara Table:
The table, inspired by the fencing in Guyana, was made during a trip there as part of a Social Entrepreneurship venture.
Sahar Ghaheri’s Minor Differences Arabic/Hebrew necklace:
“Being of Arab descent and growing up mostly in the states with close Jewish friends, I have been aware of both sides of the long standing tension between Arab and Jewish cultures. My experience has also made me acutely aware that many aspects of these seemingly dissident cultures are more similar than many tend to acknowledge. I’ve created a piece of jewelry which allows the two languages to interact on one stage, using one Arabic word and one Hebrew word to form the phrase MINOR DIFFERENCES.” – Sahar’s description of the project.
Project H
The site says both are involved with Project H which has been on my radar since I started wwm. It’s a volunteer-run chartitable organization that uses industrial design to solve global problems on a local level. Read about Project H and/or watch the video at right.
What is the Buckminster Fuller Challenge?
Getting into detail about Buckminster Fuller’s contribution to Design Science is too big a task and one I am not remotely equipped for. Instead, I pulled this from a website which at least gives you the conceptual anchor, and its a big one:
“‘Anticipatory Design Science’, or ‘Design Science’ for short, is a wide-ranging field of study, which focuses on the process of how to go about solving problems. It was pioneered in the early Twentieth Century by R. Buckminster Fuller, and has now expanded to include several generations of architects, planners, engineers, and designers. It is comprehensive because it seeks to find an underlying problem or issue, and solve for that general case, rather than for only one specific instance of a problem. For example, one of my primary interests is in understanding the causes of, and designing solutions for, the problems of homelessness on a global scale; Not simply why one person is homeless on the street in my town, or in yours, but why we have more than 400 million homeless people all around the world. It is Anticipatory because the Design Scientist seeks to understand not just the problem at hand, but how this problem, or similar ones, may manifest themselves over time. Also, to try and foresee what problems a proposed ‘solution’ might bring up, and to plan accordingly.” -Miquel.com go there to read more
-Chauncey Zalkin
A bit more on Buckminster Fuller added 10/29 via If It’s Hip, It’s Here and Dexigner.com:
"Methodically teaching himself structural engineering after failing college, Richard Buckminster Fuller believed that getting rid of what didn’t work was the first step forward. Studying networks such as beehives and fishing nets, Fuller created his geodesic dome, an inspiration for many structures around the world including Disney’s Epcot Center."
Definition of a Designer-Maker + 11 Things To Love
from ffffound, work of Roland Tiang Co
The apt definition of designer-maker given on the hidden art website is worth repeating here:
“Designer-Makers design and make their own unique work, on a small or large scale. Hidden Art promotes and supports designer-makers who design and make functional items in three main categories:
- Designer-Makers who produce hand-made items. For example, a potter whose work does not involve mass production.
- Designer-Makers who design and then in some or all instances sub-contract out the turning of the design into a product. They may oversee the making of the product, but they do not produce it themselves.
- Designer-Makers most possibly with a degree in product design, who develop a new design or concept, and then look for a manufacturer to produce it. Their ultimate aim is to become a pure designer and they themselves do not ‘make’ their designs into tangible products.”
Marie Langaa - teapot cast from textile. Doorknob handle. Danish Crafts on DesignBoom
Here are some things that I’ve run across and twittered about but haven’t had time, preparing and presenting my ethnography seminar and now my trip tomorrow to London to confront the onslaught of design euphoria, to share — but as I make way for more, here I give you a “check it out” rundown of all I’ve starred over the past weeks.
- Narrative Identities by Nadia Troeman, on dezeen.com. She’s created a color wheel identity and branding system that shifts and changes based on the culture of the student body. She’s a graduate student at Central Saint Martins.
- A retrospective of the work of Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovi.
- The Cardinal Club. Somehow eating in the private backyard of someone’s East Village apartment seems like the freshest idea. Not about a woman maker but, well, partly. Caitlin Zaino reports.
Supermarket Sarah, creative female entrepreneur. Like the Cardinal Club she’s opened up her home, a welcome respite from the maddening crowds of overwrought luxury stores and fast fashion stampedes. She moves between her Portobello Market stall and her home as Swiss Miss reports, “offering teas and cakes” to shoppers of her eclectic collection.- Repurpose. Weed through Margo‘s slapdash crafts page to find some real gems and inspiration. I can see someone re-imagining, for example, some of her work with china wreaths and swags.
- Paula Wallace, president and co-founder of Savannah College of Art and Design, guestblogging for Fast Company.
- A piece on the Women’s Monument in Memory. Female Victims of Political Repression, Santiago, Chile.
-
PIG 05049
Christien Meindertsma’s book of photographs shows the path of a pig from the day it is slaughtered to all of its disparate uses – and it is the first ever communication design entry to be a finalist at the INDEX:DESIGN awards.
- Jean Madden’s beds for the homeless, Street Swags, won the Index:Design award. ‘design to improve life.’
Lisa Maria Grillos bike bags write up in the New York Times, a feature entitled Plan B about businesses after the pink slip, reminds me of when I was similarly featured in a Daily News article entitled “Meet New York’s Newest Entrepreneurs” after 9/11. My ‘dog hoodies’ and I pictured big on the front. While my hoodies were indeed cute, a big hit, and told the story of my 2003, it takes a lasting passion for a product and its trajectory from homemade to a full fledged large scale distribution channel to make it work. For me, hoodies weren’t my longtime passion but I had a fun run. Maris Grillos bike bags show keen insight into a problem and if she can and has the desire to grow big without compromise, she may have more than what the Times calls ‘accidental entrepreneurship’ on her hands.
- Miranda July, filmmaker, writer, installation artist of sorts, and now… pillows!
-Chauncey Zalkin
Call For Entries: Creative Graduate Prize 2009
-sent to me by my Friend Melissa Sterry of Societas. Submit!
Creative Graduate Prize 2009 Launches. Founded in 2005 by web platform Medium Magazine and innovation agency and think tank Societás – the Creative Graduate Prize kick-starts the careers of talented visual arts graduates, bringing their work to the attention of leaders in the creative industries. Supported by media partners jotta.com – digital community for the arts founded in partnership with Central Saint Martins and The University of the Arts, London, Creativepool – the UK’s creative recruitment and directory resource and Eye Petrol – the user-generated magazine of creative talent, the Creative Graduate Prize is a platform to recognise the best emerging illustrators, photographers, painters, animators, short filmmakers and installation artists worldwide. The Creative Graduate Prize annually attracts entries from around the world; past winners have come from as far a field as a remote province in rural China, Washington DC and Cardiff.
2009 Creative Graduate Prize entrants are invited to submit original works exploring the theme of ‘Change’. Each entrant may submit a maximum of two entries across a maximum of two award entry categories. Each entrant must submit a short description of their entry, provide the date of completion of the entry and provide details of the university or art college they attended when taking their first degree, along with their year of graduation, country of residence and country of birth.
The entry deadline is Friday 30th October 2009 and winners will be announced in November. The awards jury is made up of innovators from the international creative industries including contemporary artists Stuart Semple and Tessa Farmer, Penny Martin of the London College of Fashion, photographer Ellis Scott, Design Laboratory/Jotta.com Director Yann Mathias, sculptor Lone Sigurdsson known for her collaborations with amongst others Hussain Chalayan, Award-winning creative director Justin Champney, digital artist Eileen Botsford, Fake Magazine editors Lola Fernandez and Rafa Rodriguez, Error ezine Editor Nacho Jiménez Bas, Duane Melius MD of Sense Media, Creativepool MD Michael Tomes and awards founders Laurie Cansfield publisher of Medium Magazine and Melissa Sterry founder and CEO of Societás.
Editor’s Notes: ONLINE MEDIA PACK – http://www.mediummagazine.net/cgp2009.html
Creative Graduate Prize Categories:
* Best Static Art (all genres of static 2D art including photography, illustration, painting, graffiti)
* Best Moving Art (animation and short film)
* Best Installation Art (all genres of static and moving 3D art that engage their environment)
Entry Details: Entries should be sent to submissions@mediummagazine.net marked ‘CGP 2009’.
Please note that any entries that do no embrace the Creative Graduate Prize 2009’s theme of ‘CHANGE’ will automatically be disqualified.
Past Creative Graduate Prize winners and runner-ups include amongst others: Canadian photographer Edith Maybin – Static Art Prize 2008 Filmmaker Carla Pott of Mozambique – Moving Art Prize 2008 French Artist Matthieu Gadoin – Installation Art Prize 2008 Irish Artist Emmet Kierans – 1st Runner-Up 2008 English artist Emma Perry – 2nd Runner-Up 2008 New York photographer Carrie Schechter – Static Art Prize 2007 Cardiff-based Filmmaker Gareth Lloyd – Moving Art Prize 2007 Artist Cai Jia Eng of Singapore – 1st Runner-Up 2007 Italian photographer Elena Arzani – 2nd Runner-Up 2007 Illustrator Li Li of China – Static Art Prize 2006 Photographer Lyza R. Perrenoud of Washington – 1st Runner-Up 2006 Photographer Judith Erwes of Germany – 2nd Runner-Up 2006 British Photographer Jessica Zetterstrom – Winner 2005
Creative Graduate Prize Prizes:
* A Key-2 Luxury (see www.key2luxury.com) worth £5000 for the overall competition winner – the finalist with the highest overall vote from the jury members.
* An editorial in Mediummagazine.net
* Coverage in the magazine of jotta.com
* The opportunity to have your work seen by the judges, their agencies and the creative orgs attached to the Creative Graduate Prize, which include creative platform jotta.com and Creativepool.co.uk
Creative Graduate Prize Organisers:
Multi award-winning sustainable innovation think tank, incubator and agency Societás was founded in 2004 as a creative catalyst to launch and promote visionary creative concepts and groundbreaking first-to-market ventures globally. Pioneering and experimental in approach Societás bring together expertise of the visual and audio arts, cutting-edge design, state-of-the-art communications, next-generation strategy, sustainable solutions, commercial acumen and a global network spanning the full spectrum of the creative industries. Societás brings outstanding creative and commercial talent to a wide range of projects. Trend creation gurus Societás work with some of the most influential companies in the fields of communications, design, music, film, fashion, media, publishing and the arts. Societás are engaged in several sustainable design and eco innovation projects, working with pioneering concepts in the environmental arena and leading international design, engineering and academic institutions. Societás have jointly founded and run two annual international visual arts awards that celebrate the best emerging creative talent globally; the Creative Graduate Prize launched in 2005 and the Iconique Societás Awards launched in 2007. http://www.societas.ltd.uk
Medium Magazine (MM) is an online platform where creative people from anywhere in the world can show off their work. The website is updated four times a year with new projects from emerging artists. It features work in any creative medium, which is presented in four sections: Stories, Pictures, Live and Music. The idea for MM came about when Laurie Cansfield (now the Editor / Creative Director of MM) left university and thought, “What next?” There are plenty of opportunities to exhibit work and meet potential employers whilst studying, but after graduation you’re on your own. So MM exists to help people have their work seen by the public and by creative industry leaders. MM began in April 2005 as a printed publication with an accompanying website and exhibition. Although the printed and live elements of the project enjoyed some success, it was the website that really took off. Now the project is entirely online and has regular contributors from all over the world. Now MM welcomes submissions from all levels of students as well as graduates and professionals and features work from both established and emerging artists. http://www.mediummagazine.net
Creative Graduate Media Partners: jotta.com – art, design and communication jotta.com is the new digital community for the arts founded in partnership with Central Saint Martins and The University of the Arts, London. At its most basic, jotta offers a huge online creative gallery. Explore artwork by discipline, format, location, most viewed or artist background. Save and organise your favourite work using our fun Lightbox feature. Stay up to date with the community and beyond in the Magazine.
0 CommentsWinner: Sustainable Bags from Ethiopia
Before What Women Make, I had a Webby nominated site called girlonthestreet.com. There was no blog software back in 1999 when I started it and I hand coded the entire site in HTML myself every time I wanted to update it. I thought I’d resurrect that site after going to work in advertising from 2004-2006 but I realized I’d changed a lot since then and Girl on the street gave way to What Women Make. In the interim before I discovered that, I rebuilt Girl on the street in 2007 for $3,000, an all flash site which was a complete waste (but very pretty). When it launched, I was asked to do a trend report for a jewelry site where I could give away a pair of earrings. I decided to look for the most creative entrepreneurial, high-quality ideas in design. It was hard to find people at first, I must admit but Makeda’s bags were a blend of two cultures – Ethiopian textiles (supporting craftsmanship in her native country) and fine Italian leather. Not only were they beautiful, but it was a business close to her heart. Unfortunately, she had to stop the project and go back to work but I’m confident she’ll find a way to have a creative business again one day. Here she is in her own words:
I was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the 70s to a mother who was a flight attendant for Ethiopian Airlines and a father who was a record producer and entrepreneur. I emigrated to the United States in the 80′s and lived in Washington, DC, where there’s a thriving Ethiopian community, before moving to NYC in late 1998.
I worked in corporate media for a number of years, where I enjoyed my role and responsibility as web producer, writer, and television field producer. But I was eager and itching to find a new creative outlet, away from my Midtown office. So I started sketching and a lot of ideas emerged for a handbag line. Coincidentally, my mother has a wonderful sense of style and her closet happened to be full of vintage bags from the 70′s and 80′s.
I went to Ethiopia a year ago to visit my father and I was blown away by the textiles that I saw in the market and knew that I wanted to someday incorporate these textiles into a handbag.
In the fall of 2007, I finalized the four samples that I wanted to debut and began the process of launching Makeda Collection NYC in Brooklyn – a unique line combining colorful, patterned textiles from Ethiopia with leather. My inspiration was iconic, beautiful Africa. The creative process was unlike anything I had experienced in the corporate world and knew that I wanted to pursue it as a business venture. Interestingly, during my research into the leather industry, I discovered the environmental impacts of the leather tanning process, so I decided that my line would only use vegetable tanned leather and organic cotton. As a treehugger and a longtime pescetarian, it’s important for me to be environmentally-responsible. So I have made a commitment to use a green supply chain and services to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
Additionally, I want consumers to be aware of the social and environmental challenges facing Africa. One of these challenges is access to clean water. In Ethiopia, 76 percent of the population doesn’t have access to clean water. In order to support the numerous charities that operate in Africa, I am planning to launch an e-commerce store where a percentage of the bag’s proceeds will go to various charities like Charity: Water and The Ethiopian Children’s Fund. I believe that consumers can have a direct role in helping to improve the lives of many with their purchasing power.
I debuted my Fall 2008 collection in February at Platform 2 New York, a ready-to-wear and accessories trade show. At this time, the bags are not sold in stores yet. My goal is to start manufacturing a limited quantity in Ethiopia. I’m fortunate to make it this far, especially with the support of family and friends. And I welcome the challenges in the future.
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