*Tokyo: Onzaline’s Ai Kurahashi and partner preparing their collection

I’ve been on the hunt for a web designer to ramp us up for the London Design Festival and readying our roster of 10 designers and artists.  I’m so very excited. I find the whole process of preparing this show and working with these talented and lovely people so incredibly invigorating.  I am also looking for a drinks sponsor for the event at the Sense Loft in Soho where we will be meeting and greeting and chatting about our five criteria for being featured on WWM .

These are the five heat seeking missiles of the What Women Make mission. The individuals chosen  possess one or more of the following qualities (in abundance):

1. Cultural and social relevance -bringing a fresh voice to the conversation
2. Sustainable practices
3. Problem Solving – a fresh approach to the world’s problems
4. Innovation and successful experimentation with new materials and methods
5. A sense of whimsy

…and of course aesthetic excellence!! (that is a given)

Downloads–>>

• download our press release &
• see our simple  slide presentation that describes the beauty of What Women Make ~ Women in Design 1st edition.

We’d love to have you write about us in anticipation of the fair. Contact details below.

Here is the press release text:

Introducing “What Women Make™ – Women in Design 1st edition” making its debut at the 2010 London Design Festival

What Women Make™ brings together award-winning, emerging female designers and artists from around the world at two venues during London Design Week

London (WWM) July 4^th, 2010 – What Women Make™ (www.whatwomenmake.com) a website showcasing global female creativity and entrepreneurship by writer and futurist Chauncey Zalkin, will be showcasing 8+ emerging designers from around the globe with various viewpoints highlighting innovation, sustainability, and cultural reflection. The exhibit will take place at DesignersBlock from September 23^rd – September 26^th and will be accompanied by a night of talks and discussions held on September 23^rd at the Soho loft of creative strategic consultancy Sense Worldwide (www.senseworldwide.com).

Confirmed designers include: Helene Steiner from Austria and her otherworldly wall pod storage; Lynn Jackson from Canada and her delicate and irreverent copper ‘knit’ mesh hanging sculpture; Shuyu Lu from China borrows from the dancing girls of Chinese tapestry replacing bundles of flowers with more contemporary images – embroidered pizza, burgers, and fries.  From Japan, Ai Kurahashi explores the potential artificiality of the organic movement through her ceramics, Chisato Ishikawa creates striking shapes while playing on themes of Western fashion and consumerism with her wall art, and Natsuki Shigeta does a mash-up of the traditional Japanese Yukata with her sure-to-be-a-hit collectible designs.  We’ll also be presenting Pauline Van Dongen from the Netherlands and her award-winning 3D printed shoes made of powdered nylon; Edyta Cieloch from Poland who reimagines traditional Polish objects interestingly echoing the shapes of Chisato’s work; and Tiffany Burnette from the U.S. (NY) who offers a solution to metro maps that makes you wonder why her creation didn’t exist before.  And now Diane Ruengsorn of Domestic Aesthetic, dedicated to sustainable building practices and approaching our world’s problems with soul and beauty.

“I wanted to bring together women from around the world who offer not just great design, but bring outstanding thinking to their work. I looked to combine best practices and innovation with work that reflects the cultural moment from a variety of viewpoints,“ says founder Chauncey Zalkin. “We hope this is the start of a lot more to come for What Women Make as a social business championing the best of the best in female creativity and entrepreneurship.”

—–

TWO EVENTS:

The DesignersBlock design exhibition, at The Bargehouse Oxo Tower, runs from 23^rd of September to the end of the day on the 26^th of September with an opening night party on the 22^nd. Speakers TBA. We thank everyone at Sense Worldwide for hosting the event.

The ‘What Women Make – A Night of Discussion, Mingling, and Drinks’ will take place at The Sense Loft, 4^th Floor, 68/70 Wardour Street, on Thursday, September 23rd, 2010, from 18h30 until 21h30.

—–

About What Women Make:
With a keen interest in innovation and user-centric design and services that herald the future of the global community, www.whatwomenmake.com showcases and celebrates the female makers of the lot – designers, creative entrepreneurs, innovators, artisans, design students – from around the world.

Contact:
Chauncey Zalkin, founder
What Women Make
+34 663 914 153
chaunceyzalkin at gmail dot com

###

Related posts:

1. WWM debuts at the London Design Festival!! We’re on!
2. Tent London 2008 – London Design Festival
3. August – Steady, Get Ready..

Help! I am trapped by my wordpress template! I have been afraid to just simply blog because I have a magazine style site where I forgo my writerly urges to post the result of my endless female creativity talent search. Women who I find through my endless trolling for the best of the best in all manners of creative entrepreneurship, innovation, problem solving, and fresh cultural expression. But I want to be able to do both. I want to be a regular blogger too. I’m seeking a web developer to help me get there. Consider this a RFP.

I am researching the various ways to go to market, communicate, and stay simple. I love the possibilities available through QR codes, any way to bring a story to life and integrate story with the things we make. Also, not that this is my domain but I think how can these women with these ingenious ideas and amazing designs produce in small quantities so the fog of supply chain doesn’t wary them from getting down to business. From Makerbot to Ponoko to all the myriad of personal manufacturing possibilities championed by Thingiverse, the dream is there but the access to tools have not caught up. And when they do, what will that even look like? Dreaming and communicating ideas ad infinitum is one thing but materializing ad infinitum is quite another. But back to brass tacks..

It’s August now so everything moves slower but the fact is I can’t. I have a 9 amazing designers to show off before the big day when Designers Block opens on September 22nd, I have an event to prepare for at the Sense Loft on the 23rd of September and then the rest of the London Design Festival with Tiffany, Edyta, Ai, Chisato, Natsuki, Shuyu, Tiffany and Lynn (and now possibly 1-2 more, we’ll see) up through the 26th. Then two days later I fly to New York to get ready for my wedding in October. I’m also tending to my secret other project that takes up a bundle of editing time. (No its not a book about women or design or anything like that, it truly is ‘other’.)

Anyway, that’s me in a nutshell right now. I just had a nightmarish trip to Andalucia, a slight diversion a bit like a horror movie short if you will, but I’m back in hot as hell Barcelona sitting in my Borne apartment with Peter while he edits photographs and I write.  I’ll end this now and I’ll be back with more in the next few days.

Please stay with us as we unfold the What Women Make exhibit at DesignersBlock during the London Design Festival. I’m very excited. I couldn’t have asked for more talented people to showcase.

-Chauncey

Related posts:

1. WWM debuts at the London Design Festival!! We’re on!
2. Tent London 2008 – London Design Festival
3. Back in the Lab – Five Weeks to go until the London Design Festivities Begin

Looking for innovative, envelope-pushing, culturally diverse female designers to come forward and join us to show at the 2010 London Design Festival.

We have 8 award winning or otherwise lauded designers, most of which have been written up right here on What Women Make, some brand new to WWM, coming together to show at the 2010 London Design Festival, from New York to Tokyo to China to the Netherlands, we’ve all come together. We’ve made it affordable for the best of the best of the emerging to come together and produce a high taste level, next level event and represent what women are creating and contributing all over the world. Now we’re missing one ingredient very important to the WWM vision: sustainable design / eco-design, ecologically sound design or design that solves some of the environmental and social problems plaguing this earth.

If you are an industrial designer or other female innovator or artist that could fall into the design category and you want to be considered for inclusion in a What Women Make design exhibit to run in London between September 23 – September 26th, please send me your portfolio as soon as you can. We have our core group but we’d like a few more superb thinkers to join us.

DESIGNERS, please send us your goods.

FRIENDS OF DESIGNERS, Please spread the word.

You can find us here now on the London Design Festival listing of events.

Looking forward,

Chauncey

Related posts:

1. Tent London 2008 – London Design Festival
2. Back in the Lab – Five Weeks to go until the London Design Festivities Begin
3. Women Stand Behind Their Work: 100% Design London & Designers Block

Nina Judin Books

I’m a writer who considers each journal I buy very carefully. It can make or break the next month of writing, so I can appreciate Nina Judin’s work. She knows how to weave and glue a heartfelt handmade journal to perfection. She’s on Etsy.

Laura Spector

Wood gone wild. So incredibly beautiful.

Ronel Jordaan

Are you ready for this? These are made of Merino Wool.  She taught herself. She makes everything by hand. She provides jobs to female artisans in Gauteng, South Africa. This is one of the best design items I’ve seen in months and months. Truly original, desirable, and useful. Hard to find all three or even two in one item!

Åsa Westlund

Swedish Clog designer Åsa makes these beauties. These from her 2008 collection are my favorite.

Sandi Calistro Wood Macbook Skin for Karvt

Well, I’m not sure if this is exactly rustic but there are plain ones in a variety of wood veneers and ones designed by other artists. Check the site for details.

Jeanne Bayol’s Restored Gypsy Caravans (In French, un roulotte)

I found Jeanne Bayol through first falling in love with Les Roulottes de la Serve in Beaujolais, France and then researching more about these dreamy caravans. Essentially, this embodies all of my escapist dreams come true. I’d like her to decorate my future. Where are you Jeanne?

Lara Donatoni

This Brazilian artist and designer (as I watch Brazil play North Korea in the world cup, 2/0 is the present score…)  takes discarded wood and gives it new life. On Treehugger.

Kate Burger

Paper lanterns and Mason jars, as pretty as they are, are everywhere you look from big box stores to Martha Stewart weddings — but these camphor vine wrapped lanterns made by a woman in Southern California are different and they have a warm honey glow. Perfect for the porch of that caravan.  Also on Etsy.

Sandra Correia

Cork umbrella, on backorder, at Moma store (umbrella links to site)

p.s.

here are 2 blogs to visit next – one that is all about beautiful wooden things, and another that is specifically about things that are not wood. Enjoy.

-Chauncey

Related posts:

1. Salone del Mobile 2010: What Women Exhibit

article excerpt:

—————–

In the fall I presented an ethnography seminar in Barcelona in partnership with a company called Brain Ventures.  During the session, I relayed stories of media-producing eleven year olds, rap industry insiders who vehemently denied the validity of a client’s research, and stuffed animal nostalgia that offered insight into grown up identity. It was a mixed bag to say the least.  But that’s what I do; I wade through the messy reality of contemporary life in order to find the nuances that offer opportunity and change.

- The key three principles of this type of research are: become a participant; be aware of your own subjectivity; listen without prejudice.

- Most often products have a second life not intended by the manufacturer. Keep your eyes open for discoveries.

- You’d be surprised how much people want to share with you if you show sincere curiosity and respect for differences.

The bottom line is that you need to be standing next to your consumer serving their needs, not selling them smoke and mirrors.  The future is theirs and they are just too smart for that. After all, they’re you!

—————–

from the article I authored that just hit the presses, published in Comunicas the magazine of Spain’s leading financial paper, Expansion and this year’s winner of the Gold Quill.

-Chauncey Zalkin

Want to read the whole article easily but you don’t subscribe to Spain’s financial paper, Here it is.

Related posts:

1. Ethnography: Immersive, Dynamic, and Unscripted
2. Vision of the future
3. Vision of the Future, Part II. Sustainability is?

*This picture was taken from the FastCompany article: “Swedish/German designer Katrin Greiling plumbs Arab traditions in her furniture designs.”

It’s been a busy month and I haven’t been updating the site so here I’ve decided to wrap up the important news in creativity and leadership that may have been missed.

1) Fast Company named the 10 Most Creative Women in Business for 2010.  They include already very famous people like Stella McCartney and Nora Ephron who, if it were me, I might have skipped but there are some inspiring quotes I’d like to share from others like game designer Jane McGonigal who said “My goal for the next 10 years is to make it as easy to save the world in real life as it is in online games.” Now that piques my interest. I’ll definitely buy her book when it comes out.  And with a name like Padmasree Warrior, how can you lose;  Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer is leading the way to getting business on board with her right on target message that says “video content and cloud computing (is a platform for collaboration” that needs to be addressed. And now. Bonnie Hammer‘s SyFy channel is firmly planted in the future as well and she’s been making all the right moves. Of course they’re all worth mentioning. I’ll add the very photogenic Neri Oxman “whose work attempts to establish new forms of experimental design and novel processes of material practice at the interface of design, computer science, material engineering and ecology.” I wrote about her before at some point. She was on last year’s list. She does seem a little bit unreal.  I wish I could see her exhibit in Boston before it disappears but I’m sure there will be more.

2) On the lighter side, I’m digging Anthea and Cass Somas’ online shop Collection of Cool. Do you know any other great online shops? Do the little ones ever press on through to greatness and profitability? Would love to hear your suggestions on this front.

3) Grain’s purses inspired by Guatemalan women weavers. Their site explains: “Founded in 2007 at the Rhode Island School of Design, Grain is a collaborative of design thinkers with the shared vision of a more sustainable future.” Just my kind of project. Lovely bags as well.

4) Kate Gilmore’s “Walk the Walk” art installation in Bryant Park. What a fresh everyday urban detail to art upon.  I’m always perplexed by the lack of urban intelligence in certain cities. I’ve observed a lot of getting out of other people’s way in London for example and in Paris, how rushing headlong into someone is completely normal, without a word of apology or even a look of defiance. Human barrier to my path? What human barrier? Boom.  In New York, you have to walk on the street with the cars down Canal street for example in order to get anywhere. And everywhere in the world, its the tourists that create frustration just standing in the middle of the sidewalk obliviously taking pictures and strolling in slow motion. This walking, stopping, dodging, pushing through, and holding back is part of the stress, pleasure and pulse of living in a city.  It’s worth this kind of look and then some.

5) This exhibit – Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain at the Textile Museum. “Three women designers were pivotal in this artistic revolution: Lucienne Day (1917- 2010), Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) and Marian Mahler (1911-1983).”

6) Women are Heroes, which I wrote about before What Women Make dot com started, debuted at Cannes last week. Juxtapoz reviews.

7) “Women without Men” by Shirin Neshat which explores gender in Islam opened in New York last week . I’ve also written about S.N. at some point on WWM. here is the review by the NYTimes.

And that it for now. Enjoy the week!

Chauncey

No related posts.

*lead photo: Jessica Carnevale debuting a line of chairs at Salone del Mobile 2010 right now..

Simone Völcker on her beautiful lounge inspired by butterflies.

In a sea of repeats, Lisa Hilland feels fresh

Ivanka Beton's Hübler Applied Literature project inserting out of print, outdated political books a project in conjunction with Hungarian concrete artist and designer János Hübler is part of the Hidden Heroes 2010 exhibit at Salone del Mobile 2010. Reminds me of a grown up version of the fairytale like work of recent grad Holly Palmer shown at LDF last year and featured on this site.

Ivanka Beton

Sarah Turner hits the big time with her debut at Salone Del Mobile. Her decorative lighting made from used plastic beverage bottles feel more elegant than most recycled design items I come across. They don't have a trace of rough edge or a gritty statement sensibility which feels like a nice change of pace.

I especially like this - Sarah visits schools and teaches kids. Most creative people find ways to provide additional services using their creativity, which is great and as it should be, but this is the absolute best way. I wonder what percentage of total emotional reward comes from days like these for the young designer? Is it the press and accolades that makes her most satisfied or traveling home after a morning teaching kids to make a lampshade?

Love these 'bow bins' by Cordula Kehrer

Eva Marguerre makes baskets of elastic yarn in her MOA Basket Series

Wooden Carpet by Elisa Strozyk. Earlier this year the German Design Council awarded her the German Design Award for Newcomers. She graduated from Central Saint Martens.

Joanna Grawunder's mirror for Glass Italia - colored glass and a reflecting glass (a mirror). Simple but very bright and very inventive. A piece that makes you wonder why it didn't already exist. I think it would look great in a white room with black accent pieces and no other color, acting as the focal point.

Jessica Carnevale's (RISD 2004) Stretch Chairs debut at Salone del Mobile this year.

Wonderful photo taken at the Salone del Mobile going on now in Milan, from the "Kris's Color Stripes" blog by Kristina Klarin. She has one of the best blogs I've ever seen for color inspiration. The photographs are as good as the palettes. She's a designer with one hell of an eye and sensitivity.

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1. When Women Make Fashion with a Future – an A/W 2010 Review
2. What Women are Making: Africa via Italy
3. Woodsy Goods – Women who Rock at Rustic

Thought I’d show you the palm of my hand from the RethinkHer conference last month. Some interesting stuff to help you along which echoed a lot of what I’ve been proselytizing in innovation for years. But here it is. Just the facts ma’am.

Systematizing Cultures: measures, controls market, controls organization, works in hierarchy. Cornerstone of companies which produce and sell systems. e.g. finance, tech, auto industry. Most big corporations work this way.

Empathetic Cultures: People + Ideas => What’s Being Sold. Organization flat. Fosters intuition. Nurtures ideas.

Declaration —> “There is a new economy, the Female Economy.”

Systematizing Cultures impress with a show of strength.

“World’s favorite airline”
“Ultimate driving machine”

Biggest, Best are highly motivating in a system culture. Not so in empathetic cultures where CONNECTING and NETWORKING are what motivates.

Key Characteristics
(as far as i’m concerned, also key characteristics of contemporary entrepreneurship, future thinking)

(shared concerns, other-focused)

(people, ideas)

(women = heightened sensory perception. Women drawn to environments that feel welcoming, safe, aesthetic.)

(things that feel in good order reduce complexity in decision making, create a context that feels comfortable, saves time.)

The Ying and Yang of it. Male like this. Female like that.

MALE SOCIAL CURRENCY vs FEMALE SOCIAL CURRENCY
jokes, factoids, sports —- gossip, real life, observation
(American, traditional)
MALE SUBJECT MATTER vs FEMALE SUBJECT MATTER
things, facts — people, feelings
MALE PATTERN vs FEMALE PATTERN
escalation, exaggeration — getting beneath and under, granular, detail
MALE FORM vs FEMALE FORM
soundbites, headlines — detail, nuance, texture
UNSPOKEN OUTCOME, MALE vs FEMALE
establish status by competing — build closeness by sharing (find similarity)

& on to Leadership, Talent, and Markets…

-Chauncey Zalkin
*HBR were the source of a lot of stats. Not all.
**Please note that this in no way endorses or supports the owner of the hand pictured above. That’s just a little joke.

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1. Women in Sustainability – Part I
2. Ad Age columnist has to tell marketers: there is a black middle class

*my retro visual pick for women at the helm

Meet 28 year old Katori Hall from Memphis. She won Best New Play at the Olivier awards. The Mountaintop is an imagined account of Martin Luther King's last evening before his 1968 assassination. The play started at a small South London theater, went to the West End where it won glowing reviews and nightly standing ovations and is now headed for Broadway, says the Guardian.

Design Student Pauline Van Dongen 3-D Printed Shoes. Featured on Fast Company.

Rorschach test reminiscent design from Shanan Campanaro. The images are parts of the artist/designer's paintings. Her bespoke wallpaper and textiles were at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show over the weekend. See more of her bespoke wallpaper at eskayel.com and her art work on her site (her name dot com, having linking issues on captions).

Related posts:

1. Nagi Noda’s Death – too young to die
2. “The privacy, dignity and security of women” – a pledge to the untouchables in a UN fashion show

The list -- WWM has been up since the summer 2009. (GOTS, of course, much much longer). I thought the coming of the sun would be a good time for the first benchmark, a moment to check in on who’s been talked about so far so nothing gets lost in the shuffle. For that purpose, I’ve compiled this list. I have to warn you, it’s not complete because there’s way more content than I thought possible when I started putting it together but I think it will at least set you on your way to navigating through the site as it starts to have a past.

Next bit of news: There’s now a video page here where the incredible women featured on the site and others can come to life. Top notch creativity and thoughtfulness to engage and inspire you. I’ve replicated it here as a single stream but it will be a page (above, in the black top nav) forever and constantly growing:

- Chauncey Zalkin

WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

(a partial yet substantial list of women featured on What Women Make)

Greece

Venia Bechrackis

Fashion Week F/W 2010

Samantha Pleet, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, Melissa Kirgan, Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard, JoAnn Berman, Lizz Wasserman, CooperativeDesigns

New Frontiers

Lorna Walker, Dr. Vicky Lofthouse, Angharad Thomas, Dr. Angela Lee, Beth Perry, Linda Relph Knight, and Rachel Cooper

Artists of the Decade

Rineke Dijkstra, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Dana Schutz, Tamy Ben-Tor, Nathalie Djurberg, Klara Liden, Ellen Altfest, Huma Bhabha, Cao Fei, Misaki Kawai, Mary Reid Kelly, Josephine Halvorson, Tacita Dean, Isa Genzken, Rachel Harrison, Julie Mehretu, Mary Heilmann, Cindy Sherman, Faiza Butt, Jean Shin, Swoon, Maria Lassnig, Janet Cardiff

What Women Bring to the Table – Designers, Artists, Thinkers, & Inventors to Start the Week

Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei, Edyta Cieloch, Front Design: Sofia Lagerkvist, Anna Lindgren, Charlotte von der Lancken, Capsters: Cindy Van Den Bremen, Lynn Jackson, Yin Xiuzhen, Dr. Annalee Newitz, Wieki Somers

Two to start the week

Eva Zeisel, Ma ke

Sisters of 2010

Girl Drive: Nona Willis Aronowitz, Emma Bee Bernstein

Hidden Art

Dieneke Ferguson

Anita Roddick, Zaha Hadid

Red Dot Design Winner Taiwan

Yu-Ying Wu

Biomimickry 1

Janine Benyus, Dayna Baumeister

4 Women on Top 11.09

Herta Mueller, Angela Ahrendts, Kazuyo Sejima, Malalai Joya

2010 Buckminster Fuller Fellows

Sahar Ghaheri, Ashley Thorfinnson (other mentions: Deb Johnson and Emily Pilloton)

Polish Women in Design LDF09

Too many. Go to link.

La Nave art studio Barcelona

Caroline Swift, Sophie-Elizabeth Thompson, Paola Masi

Priscilla Carluccio interview

Related posts:

1. What Women Bring to the Table – Designers, Artists, Thinkers, & Inventors to Start the Week
2. Women Stand Behind Their Work: 100% Design London & Designers Block