walking to open studio night in Hospitalet de Llobregat

It was called Una Nita La Gloria.  I came up the metro into twilight in an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Barcelona and then down winding crisscrossing streets and up an overpass.

South of Montjuic and west butting up against a railway yard lies the building, Gloria, home to the artist space known as La Nave and its downstairs studio neighbor a much more caliente vibe in comparison to the cool blues and shadows of La Nave.   La Nave was founded by expat artists Paola Masi and Sophie-Elizabeth Thompson.  I was invited by one of their recent additions, the ceramicist and a former head of knitwear at Benetton, Caroline Swift.

Since Una Nita La Gloria, Caroline’s been over for a Ceviche and spiced chicken dinner party where we talked about life in Barcelona, London, her former life in fashion and whether I should make the studios my own office space in which to conduct What Women Make business. Here are my photos of a visually arresting night of thrown shadows and delicate art in southern Barcelona.

Paola Masi

performance piece

performance piece

Sophie-Elizabeth Thompson 'Soforbis'

Caroline Swift

Caroline Swift

Paola's desk looking out on sun setting over Barcelona train tracks and industria

Caroline Swift's bone china spoons

Caroline Swift - porcelain leaves

walking to open studio night in Hospitalet de Llobregat

I didn’t have a set of interview questions. I merely walked into Few & Far, an eclectic design and treasures shop on Brompton Road in London. It was on my design map. I spent the first few minutes eyeing the delicate leaf plates (made of brittle leaves and therefore impossible to buy and tuck into a suitcase), a red stool with a base of fanned pages made by Paola Navone, and white plates, bowls and dishes that look like they fluttered down from the treetops  with their uneven leaf-like edges by Brigitte de Bazelaire.

A tall striking man with sweeping gestures and a gentlemanly demeanor almost immediately offered Priscilla to me after I explained my visit. “I’ll go see if she’s free?”  His instant receptivity gave me a smile.

This is one woman who truly has made an imprint on our visual imagination as design director at Conrans and head of styling for a product group at Habitat (where in the 60s the sales women had Vidal Sassoon haircuts and wore Mary Quant dresses), alongside her brother, Sir Terence Conran who opened the first multi-disciplinary design studio in England. Conrans was heavily influenced by the American modernists. According to the Conran history slideshow on the site “Habitat embodied a world in which more women worked and people increasingly took holidays abroad.” Hallelujah.

While I waited, I was ushered downstairs by a very knowledgeable and affable young woman who explained a line of architectural clothing that you tie, loop, and tailor on your own body, with conceptual styling in the vein of Rei Kawakubo.  I took a moment to walk out to Mint next door and the Libby Sellers pop up gallery and when I returned ten minutes later Priscilla was there waiting for me wearing a blue tab collar blouse, pants, and no makeup, just a summer glow, with tousled well cut gray hair and bright blue eyes. Cappuccinos were placed in front of us and she folded her hands ready to begin. It was obvious that she was a seasoned interview subject.

Here’s what I learned:

Priscilla believes that women are natural at managing design.

She believes that design has focused too much on designer personalities, which to her, isn’t the point.

The point of design is  beauty, utility, and the material.

She believes the recession is an opportunity to change that.  People have a chance to connect to design again.  To place value on quality, to pay for the better made object and go for longevity.

She says, ‘cheap things are historically made under terrible conditions, you know.’

She advises to save for the thing of quality. To buy something you have an emotional attachment to.

She also thinks we have lost the art of living life where some of the best things are indeed free.

It’s that spectrum between free and costly quality that bothers her most.

Priscilla is not a retailer. She’s a shopkeeper.

She explains the difference: Shopkeeping is about having passion for the things in your store.

Shopkeepers can sell buckets and string but they know their customers. They sit down and have a cup of tea.

‘I’m not buying into any kind of a market.’

What matters most to her in her store are beautifully wrapped parcels, care taken, an informative staff.

I ask her about women starting businesses.

“This might not sound terribly liberated but one of the most creative thing you can do as a woman is bring up a child. But don’t juggle. It’s not on,” she says. “You don’t have a child like you have a washing machine. That’s why there are so many problems. It’s not the government or the schools responsibilities. It’s the parents responsibility.

She advocates a simpler way of life. A way of life that is not so demanding.  Maybe this is a shift in her thinking after a long and busy career and with her current pared-down focus.

But you had a career, I say, a long one.

“Yes but I had my children first.”

I hesitate and say, that happens less and less.

She nods at what my grandfather would call ‘a conundrum in a vacuum’ then I take a look around me and the conversation moves back to design.

‘I’m a photographer by training. It all started with an eye for the picture’ she tells me.

She tells me she changes things all the time.

“It’s important to be constantly changing,” she says.

store taken another time by Blueprint Magazine

store with Indian Summer theme

-Chauncey Zalkin

Paola plate

The Chair Arch at the V&A

*F means feature to follow in the coming weeks

The week transcended all expectations.  With a day’s distance from my time at the fair, I see the trends as follows: Reality skewing shapes, new world order inventions for sustainability rocketing us into better mousetraps, intellectual pursuit, bold against black, color and self-assuredness. Here I recount my path of discovery:

9/19

The day of my arrival in London was spent gearing up for a week of design immersion. I went to Sainsbury’s to get cereal and yogurt so I wouldn’t be slowed down by morning hunger and was wowed by the convenience of automatic check out. A system that dispenses bills no less. Much easier than Ikea’s system. Do we (America) have that anywhere? Easy, clear, convenient and fast. My good branding and service loving side was in heaven. (I’ve been living in Paris and Barcelona for the past three years.)

Then I went to W.H. Smith and browsed the London city guides looking for something that wasn’t going to consider Big Ben the vital destination and ended up with just an A-Z mini map because everything from Time Out to Not For Tourists felt too commercial or too broad.

9/20

Ceramics in the City

It was only when I got to the beautiful, green and tranquil Geffrye museum for Ceramics and the City that I found Max Fraser’s London Design Guide which as it turns out had just been published and would be all over the place within days. It has clear maps by neighborhood and covers everything from big commercial design stores and hotels to the small and independent but it doesn’t consider fashion to be design other than a few biggies like Paul Smith and Dover Street Market and therefore misses the design worthy independents like No-one on Kingsland Road which I found to be a bit of a shame.

Geffrye Museum

At Ceramics in the City, a one day sale of local work, the big winner for me was Hitomi McKenize. Her pieces are a refined snapshot of the spinning ceramic wheel in motion. (F) The museum itself is like a hidden oasis in East London. Along the back there is a hall with small wooden benches and a wall of windows facing fluttering green leaves and dappled sunlight. A great place to sit and read or write.

I looked through all the Brick Lane and market stall stores stopping on my way back to talk with the owner of semi permanent pop up shop, Marsh-mellow, a store dedicated to festival goers in the UK. No longer just the one-off viral marketing stunts they started out as, pop up stores are now the norm for testing the marketplace before leaping. The vibe in London was palpably one of moving forward in creative, thoughtful and innovative ways though. I didn’t get a sense of doom and gloom or the impression creative types were holding onto a safety raft.

Next was dinner with a Japanese exporter who showed meticulously crafted leather goods at Maison & Objet in Paris for the first time and was only in London on his way out of town. We discussed a shared passion for the dying ancient traditional crafts of Japan at Sake No Hana in Mayfair which only made me long for the real thing. When I asked him why the Japanese always eat Japanese food when they’re abroad he said he can do with a few days of European food or Chinese but then he just finds anything but Japanese too greasy.

9/21

In the morning I went to pick up my press card and looked through the V&A Telling Tales exhibition of expressionistic escapist furniture and design.

I am trying my hand at agent as well as brand strategist to female led projects so I checked out a handful of recommended stores supporting independent designers. One of these was Beyond the Valley off Carnaby street where I met the affable but fashion week rushed buyer and had a chat.

Then I made my way to the famed “b store” on Saville Road which left me markedly underwhelmed. It’s one of those concept stores that are dark, cold, housing a paltry collection of overpriced garments exalted way beyond their level of originality or interest – with the requisite shelf of independent handmade magazines, “Me” magazine, the newspaper format magazines focusing on one very specific banal obsession, in this case ‘light’, and a self-involved sales staff that never looked up to say hello. There are one or three of these in every fashionable city.

me at Skandium

This was a surprise because everywhere I’d been in until now, the friendliness and charm had been total which I think is way more modern than aloof unfounded snobbery of past years (or of Paris in general) so with b store, I really could not see what all of the fuss was about.

Here’s a regret. On the other end of the humanist spectrum, I missed the ‘Reclaim’ exhibit at Eco Age. It was just too out of the way of everything else. I had really wanted to meet Orsola de Castro who with partner John Teal made art out of unclaimed luggage. I hope to catch up with them via email. I thought of them when my eyes landed on a quilt made from dolls and baby toys at 100% Design. They made a similar quilt out of the contents of the luggage.

9/22

Tuesday the pace increased exponentially. I missed Responsible Design – and not because I was irresponsible! – but because the website said the talk was at 9:30 and it was actually at 8:30 but I recovered from the glitch while perusing the Brompton Design district. The Knit Wit exhibit at Skandium was lovely though I wouldn’t say terribly unique. The store itself is a joy, especially Klaus Haapaniemi’s Iittila cups. Afterwards, I sat down with the striking Priscilla Carluccio, owner of Few and Far and of brother Terence Conran and Habitat fame (F) and then went around the corner to Mint, a gallery shop that sits on the border of design and art, cherishing concept and metaphor over strict functionality. The staff were knowledgeable, unpretentious and welcoming and the content, strangely beautiful. The highlight was the “At One” couch made from ash, latex, crushed velvet, and foam by Charlotte Kingsnorth who was influenced by rising obesity and the paintings of Jenny Saville. The work is a comment on  the relationship between a human being and their furniture “which has been devoured by its obese occupier.” This bulbous melting structure was actually pretty comfortable.

luch at Portobello Dock

Next I went to interview Dieneke Ferguson, founder of Hidden Art. For the duration of the London Design Festival, Hidden Art took up residence at Tom Dixon’s temporary exhibition and showroom space at Portobello Dock which also housed nascent designer projects. Dieneke who is Dutch, has been a kind of fairy godmother for independent designers and artisans in the UK for the past twenty years, eleven of which under Hidden Art (F). It was day one in the space for her and we took some time trying to figure out the process for ordering lunch. She had the rabbit. I’d eaten a sandwich in transit and had my third cup of coffee of the day which didn’t hinder my sleep one iota by the time I went to bed.

I ended the working day with an interview with Danish designer Nina Tolstrup whose Pallet Project created a second life for “pallets” (wooden crates) as chairs. She commissioned artists Gavin Turk and Cornelia Parker to paint a chair each. The chairs were auctioned off for a charitable organization where women in poor neighborhoods in Buenos Aires come together to make pallet chairs for their community. The woman who set up the foundation approached Nina with her idea after seeing her chairs online. (F).

9/23

Wednesday: the actual fair now a day away, I had a packed schedule. I attended the book launch of “Discovering Women in Polish Design: Interviews and Conversations” which to date was the most eye opening and relevant to What Women Make’s global / local female focus (F).

glass house at Wapping Project

At night I ended up missing Lee Broom’s opening that I’d RSVPd to as well as the London Design Medal which I do regret, but I made a new friend who creates textiles and innovates design processes, one of which will be used to ornament hospital ceiling tiles. I was introduced to her by the Blueprint Magazine product editor, Luca Amadei, who led and wrote the Polish Design book project. I’d met him the night bfore at Nina’s party and we hit it off right away. Ana Aranjo, who moved to London from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, teaches at Oxford when she’s not running her company, Atelier Domino. She invited me to a talk at the Wapping Project. We had dinner in the converted factory and she filled me in on London creative entrepreneur life as I considered a move there.

around the corner from Persephone Books near Russell Square

The highlight of my week was between breakfast and dinner. It was my interview with Nicola Beauman of Persephone books. It had nothing to do with design. After all, What Women Make is not just about design but about creative women and female leaders leading creative businesses. Ten years ago after stints at the Financial Times and the Observer, and a book of her own under her belt about women writers, Nicola founded her publishing house and bookshop in Bloomsbury. Persephone Books publishes out-of-print female authors from the 19th century that she personally loves. I won’t say any more. You’ll have to wait for the interview to post. (F)

9/24

The fair arrived. I started with Designers Block where I stopped four or five women designers whose work caught my eye, from recent grads to new entries, to the hugely successful founder of Ella Doran. The rest of the day was spent walking a maze of delight around 100% Design, definitely concentrating on the back center and right quadrant for new and experimental design and concepts dealing with sustainability. (F)

9/25

Reluctant to admit this is my last day, I was slower than the rest to make it out the door. When I did, I headed right to Brick Lane’s Truman Building for Tent thinking its at least a half-day event but I ended up seeing only one or two items of note and finish the single floor in forty minutes including a chat with a woman who upholsters beautiful antique trunks with her hand printed textiles.

All in all, my evenings this week were spent mostly with friends and not at parties, save one. That might bore you, but on my last evening dead tired and unable to make it back to East London for the festivities, I spent it gathered at a bottle of wine with a new New York acquaintance lamenting our city’s dwindling steam, both of us for the first time considering moves to the dynamic, engaging, poised, diverse, and somehow seemingly more intellectual and daring, London.

And that’s my trip. Please follow me on twitter and my RSS feed to be alerted to the interviews and features as they post. A selection of photos of women and their work will post next and a video of the week will be coming shortly after.

-Chauncey Zalkin

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:

1. Designer-Makers who produce hand-made items. For example, a potter whose work does not involve mass production.
2. 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.
3. 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.

1. 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 Martens.
2. A retrospective of the work of Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovi.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
   
6. Paula Wallace, president and co-founder of Savannah College of Art and Design, guestblogging for Fast Company.
7. A piece on the Women’s Monument in Memory.  Female Victims of Political Repression, Santiago, Chile.
8. 

   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.

9. Jean Madden’s beds for the homeless, Street Swags, won the Index:Design award. ‘design to improve life.’
10. 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.
    
11. Miranda July,  filmmaker, writer, installation artist of sorts, and now… pillows!
    
    
    

    11. Miranda July when will you stop being so wonderfully, whimsically fantastic?

-Chauncey Zalkin

Monie.ka was the first interview I pursued in launching What Women Make and I’m happy to now introduce this Austrian designer who lives along the River Danube making beautiful and optimally useful objects. I love her interview answers and I learned a new word. Haptic. characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch. That’s Monie.ka.

Monie.ka works with her partner James to make beautiful – or maybe handsome is the word – lifestyle accessories from felt. I was drawn to their simplicity and elegance without being stuffy, drab or ordinary. They one better Filofax and Moleskin in their ability to solve space and organizational challenges with wit and grace using pockets, straps, and leather detail. They have a store and great inspiration blog called Life is Hard Graft, both worth checking out.

Monie.ka of course was a jumping off point to begin an investigation into Austrian createuses and crafts. I browsed “MAK”  the Musem of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art in Vienna.

I browsed the University of Applied Arts which houses an impressively comprehensive Art & Technology department and a slightly enigmatic “Centre for Art and Know-How Transfer” department which includes “the handling of unusual constellations, problem-solving competence, a contemplative ability.” (Sign me up!)

Through Pure Austrian Design, I discovered Lucy D’s vein glasses (“Ro”), Creepy but coolly elegant, Renate Hattinger’s organ inspired ceramics (“Think Tank”) and Dejana Kabilijo’s table made of a paper tablet (Scriboman) which is included in MAC’s permanent collection. Sonja Vrbovsky’s product design also enticed, with her easy wellies with pull-up handles and handcrafted cellulose 3d place mats.
Austria’s female talent is endless so without further adieu, here’s Monie.ka.

Where were you born?
I was born and grew up in Austria in a small village in the foothills of the Alps.

Where are you now?
I work in a castle in the Wachau, One of Austria’s well know wine and apricot regions right on the Danube.

Did the place where you grew up influence your design?
I had a very romantic and imaginative childhood – playing outside with my friends in the woods and inventing stories. Definitely one of the reasons why I like down to earth design, the natural haptic experience.

What are the advantages of working in a design partnership over working solo?
I love to work with my partner James as we come up individually with ideas and bring it to the next, much greater level by talking and brainstorming together. We are a very good team and inspire each other to achieve the best with everything we do. It’s this interaction I would really miss working solo.

What is the most important thing that you learned in design school?
I went to a fashion college in Vienna and developed my style and passion for natural sustainable
Materials there. In being in a class full of different personalities and characters the most important thing I learned is that tastes are very different and as long as you love what you create, there will be someone out there which shares the same feeling about it.

How do you think the role of design is changing? / What will the future role of design be?
Design is a very important factor these days and I’m happy that the appeal of non mass-produced products with a high standard of quality is growing.

What is your favorite time of day to work?
For me the evenings are the best time of the day to work creatively as the business side of our company has been dealt with throughout the day and my mind can finally relax.

Do you consciously bring any regional or cultural influence into your design?
For us the regional influence is very important. James, being the English expat he is, definitely re-opened my eyes about Austrian culture. The quality, the materials and seeing small inspiring things all around me.

Fabric seems to be key with Hardgraft. I live in a city, Barcelona, which seems to be crazy about felt. Why felt? What other materials do you like?
I’m fascinated by felt and leather as they have such a long history. They are natural, sustainable and absolutely durable. It’s the feeling of these two materials juxtaposed which for hard graft is the perfect combination.

Do you participate in any other art form? If so, what? (writing, fine arts, dance, etc)
As well as fashion design I also have a passion for graphic design. A while back I taught myself all the important programs like Photoshop, Indesign,… and worked successfully as an art director in some of the biggest ad agencies in Austria and Germany.

Any other female designers that you think readers should check out?
I love everything wool so my insider tip would be Yokoo. Her approach to knitwear is really refreshing and inspiring.

Where do you sell?
We sell our products direct from our online shop as it’s a great way to reach people all around the world who share the same eye for design as us.

Any blogs or design resources you like in particular?
I love tumblr for inspiration and it’s a great creative and varied community full – our tumblr is hardgraft.tumblr.com

Here she is, Denise Julia Reytan

I found Denise Julia Reytan among recent grads whose stuff really struck me. I like to explore the space between product / industrial design and jewelry / fashion design. Mostly because fashion as an industry and as a concept so bores me now (from the first few minutes of Bruno that I just saw I feel I have a new friend) and design continues to prance on the pin of pure creativity. Hers are items you can wear for a time, or just a party, you choose, and then the object can continue its life as mantelpiece or bookshelf decoration, as conversation piece, as sculpture. These are treasurable lasting objects prime for the time capsule. Again, I’ve made some language tweaks but the words are essentially her own.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in Düsseldorf, Germany, in the beautiful Rhineland.  After my school examination I started my education as a state-qualified designer for  jewelry and objects at the goldsmith school in Pforzheim. After these three years I went to the University of Applied Science in Düsseldorf to do my diploma.  It was a great time – good schools and really good teachers.

Where do you work now?

I am living and working as a self-employed jewelry and product designer in Berlin, which is a wonderful fascinating and inspiring place. Everyday something new pops up.  Cultures are mixing (and the results are) crazy new styles.

Did the place you grew up influence your design?

The house I grew up in, (as well as) my parents and my friends have influenced me a lot. My parents are very interested in art and traveling which is why they have such a multicultural style and lots of beautiful things. Since I was a little child I loved to draw and my parents would hang them up. My mother is a graphic designer and has a great style.   My father is a goldsmith master and I grew up in and around his workshop.  I fell in love with all the glittering stones, and I feel the same for the fancy buttons and colourful bead collections of my mother not to mention all of my beloved stickers. I knew as a little girl, that I wanted to become a designer. Later, a lot of my friends were great  illustrators and graffiti writers and I was influenced by them.

But while my home life and my friends influence me (a lot),.. my love for colours and materials influenced me the most.

What is your vision of the future?

Design is where the personality is shaped and reflected.  It’s its own language. Democratic design and the sharing of ideas will always be important to me. I want to connect people of all cultures.

What is your favorite time of day to work?

It depends on the work;  I like to design and do paperwork in the morning. (I prefer to) paint and concept in the evening.

Do you consciously bring regional or cultural influence into your design?

Yes. For example my degree project was entitled “EINTR8”.  For the project, I designed (my own version of traditional costumes, (ones that) I myself would wear. These costumes represent the divers(ity) of cultures that surround me, my social status, the scene I move in, and my interests.

I wanted to develop  costumes in harmony with fashion … (taking into account) colours, materials and a brotherhood of regional and global aspects. It is not just one culture that influences me and my style – which is why I combine clothes and objects from my (own) culture and (from) all over the world.

Talk about the materials you use. How did you come to use silicone?

My work is about … the unconditional beauty of colours and shapes and about decorative equality. My jewelry and installations are made of materials which fascinate me, of objects from everyday life, objects of consumption and the environment, which represents me, my culture and the time I am living in.

Sharing my messages of these, my collected and unique objects, is important for me. The rather unconventional technique of silicone casting is a snap-shot of my time and also the culture I am part of.

Do you have a design philosophy?

I work in different directions at once and search for ways to combine diverse disciplines from painting, installation, fashion, to graphic design, video and jewelry (and make it) into something new. That helps me to reflect authentic me, my own style and the culture I’m living in. I like to combine tradition with the spirit of the time and changing values (employing) shape languages, materials, techniques, designs and (various messages circulating) in the world today. I am open minded and always curious..

Do you participate in any other art form? If so, what? (writing, fine arts, dance, etc.?

I love to paint on big canvases and walls. I love to draw and I love to dance. I’ve done these things since I was a little girl. For me everything is connected and these things belong together. When I create jewelry I feel like (I am) painting with materials and when I am painting, I feel like (I am) dancing with colours!

If you have any favorite female writers, artists, etc who are they?

Yeah of course!  I love Jenny Saville, Jessica Stockholder, Frida Kahlo, Kara Walker, Iris Bodemer. (And she makes the joke..) “Keitha” Haring, “Christy” Lacroix, “Neolita” Rausch, Muto by Blu and Italo Disco.. haha, I love them all!

Any comments on being a female designer? Is it tough in particular?

I think it is very tough to be a designer in general. Especially when you are self-employed and in the beginning, because you have to manage everything on your own and designing is just a small part of it all in the end.

Where do you retail? Do you sell online?

At the moment I only sell my jewelry by request and I ship all around the world. Just send me an email.

Any blogs or design resources you like that we should check out?

Itsnicethat.com

Totalinspiration.blogspot.com

Hel-looks.com

DJR's "Cable Chain"

How big a part does the Internet play in your design? In design in general?

The Internet is an important and inspiring source for my work, (or sharing, communicating, looking online for inspiration. (My one digital design was) a “cable chain” with audio- and USB-cables, but other than that I am more influenced by nature in my work.

-Chauncey Zalkin

A different kind of jewelry designer, Naoko makes jewelry for your clothing. She decorates by changing the shape of shirts, shoes and shins – some of the more overlooked sculptural materials of our day to day selves.  What drew me to her was her work with soft metals where the wearer can change the shape of a garments with a simple squeeze. Naoko’s “gathering” pieces create new draping, a new visual focal point.

She is from Japan and lives and works in Berlin.

Here’s the interview which I’ve edited for the language but only slightly.

Where were you born?

In a small town.  Odawara, in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo. I lived there until I was 18. Then I left to go to Tama Art University and Tokyo National University of Fine arts and Music both in Tokyo.

Where do you work now?

Berlin.

How did the place you grew up influence your design?

the view from Naoko's studio

As a child, I was surrounded by woods and I spent a lot of time playing alone in nature. My favorite game was to play ‘treasure hunt.’ I’d gather small shiny things, a fragment of broken glass, a part of a broken buckle or vivid colored leaves and nuts, and show them to my family. It brought me great pleasure that my found treasures surprised them and made them happy. I wanted to expand on that experience and make something as beautiful as those found treasures.  When I was five years old, I created my first piece of jewelry with acorns and thread. I’ve been making jewelry ever since.

Another way my town was an influence was that it inspired me to be different.  My hometown was small and the people were conservative. They were not accepting of strangers or heterogeneity. Our family moved there from another town and it took time to acclimate. I liked the place, but didn’t like the group mentality. My reaction to this was to embrace being unique.

Talk about the materials you use.  How did you come to use moldable metals in your “Gathering Jewelry” the pieces in particular that drew me to your work?

I majored in traditional Japanese metal crafts (metal hammer and curving works) in art school. I studied the properties of various metals. When you expose metals to too much heat, they become soft enough to manipulate into shapes. You have to watch out for metal fatigue though. Too much heat can break your material but I use aluminum plate for the Gathering Jewelry. Aluminum is soft and light, has strong plasticity, and can tolerate being manipulated over and over again.

What is your design philosophy?

I look for an element of surprise and to create joy, the jewel of life. I consider jewelry to be indispensable for a happy life – it’s like spices are to food.

Do you participate in any other art form? If so, what? (writing, fine arts, dance, etc)

No.

Any other female designers that you’d like our readers to check out?

Yuka Oyama &  Susan Pietzsch (2).  They are Artists, and their art is also jewelry. They have own unique opinions about jewelry, and are trying to create the “next” context for jewelry, evolve the meaning of jewelry.

Any comments on being a female designer? Is it tough for a woman or do you find it to be quite neutral?

I don’t think that it’s tough being a female designer at all. Men have their own angle. Women have their own angle.

Thank you for your interests in my works.

Sincerely,

Naoko Naoko Ogawa

You can see the rest of her work here.

Dr Alan Knight outlined his 10 key points of focus for a sustainable lifestyle at the Goodenough Conference in July 09 as the following and I’d like to use it as a jumping off point for comment:

1)    I manage my own self esteem and health (What? Not being dictated to by a Lifetime Television for Women, Oprah, or Vogue? Not being overmedicated by my doctor. No miracle cream to make my marriage work? I can read and educate myself on illness, preventative medicine, exercise, and health? I can use my family and my inner strength as a compass to what is right for me, and not the next door neighbors Mercedes or my co-workers 500 euro heels? Hmmm.)
2)    I live within my own finance limits (triple star *** Living in continental Europe instead of the U.S., in France specifically, I learned how hard it is to get true credit cards. They are so closely tied to the actual money in the bank. That makes it tough to start businesses but people live in reality. They vacation in reality. They don’t put on completely false lives for the public with leased cars and McMansions because they can’t. It forces people to be more accountable. It’s less confusing and it creates less consumer anxiety. A rose is a rose is a rose. Now isn’t that refreshing.)
3)    The products I buy help local and international trade (This is a little vague to me. Of course the products you buy will “help trade”. What does this mean? ‘What kind of trade do you want to support’ is really the question. Buying with your values. Buying based on accountability.  The practices of the company you are buying from. How do we do that effectively? More transparency.  More ways to clearly see the records of the big brands, to see their operations flow. Where are their factories? How do they treat their employees? What are their quality standards? Who is in their top management and what are their personal records? No judgments, avoid rampant subjectivity, just the facts ma’am.)
4)    I only use clean and renewable energy (As an individual consumer, this is tough and I don’t know enough to decide.  How many of us do?  This seems a policy level issue. And again, an issue of education, transparency, clear choices offered to the customer without using guilt marketing. Please, no guilt marketing.)
5)    I am active in a vibrant community (In our solitude oriented technology driven lives, we crave togetherness, finding common ground with others, likeminded values, wholesome activity, nature, travel, peace, clean spaces, good services, easy interaction. This is huge and companies that make this happen or create the right environments to facilitate positive interaction will be the big winners. We like brands. We like business. Especially when business helps us to be a better, healthier, progressive, synergistic people and society.)
6)    I talk with, not at, people (YES. My cause celebre as an ethnographer. I never wanted to use women as a marketing tool, to learn how to sell them more soda and tampons. I want to work together to provide what we need and represent authentically.)
7)    I have found the right balance between technology, simplicity and stewardship (eloquent and right on the money, four stars ****)
8)    My political leaders have courage (Obama, and don’t forget freer press. The unpopular (but not sensationalist or divisive) opinion. See Noam Chomsky.)
9)    I use much less stuff (see my last post. this is took me the past three years living in France and Spain. Breaking away from shopping as filling a void. Shopping as something you need to do, a thing to get done, an accomplishment. Success in having more. Move house enough times and you realize its mental baggage to have too much. Find what is special. Get what you need. Eliminate the rest.)
10)  There is a New Economics – a new form of growth aligned to nature. (Nothing is ever as beautiful as it is in unspoiled nature. Everything else is a striving toward the original.)

Ten points as originally Reported by Olivia Sprinkel on the Sustainability Forum.

Good. It needs definition. We need definitions constantly defined and refined for this wildly viral buzzword.

-Chauncey Zalkin

Ever since I took on my first Japanese client and traveled to Kyoto with her, I’ve fallen in love with Japan like many before me.  I was reluctant to present Japanese makers so soon because when I start in on Japan, its an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole.   Time freezes and all my other work is left undone.  But I took the risk because I happened to find a small gem of a design graduate,  Naoko Ogawa,  and so off I had to go. I limited myself to two days to find a few more Japanese women, all in the name of a regional focus. And here they are, three Japanese designers and then the interview with Naoko-san which I’ll create for Wednesday’s post so stay tuned!

Emiko Oki

Emiko Oki

Based in London, born in Tokyo
Emiko-san uses each part of a place setting to form a trophy, her comment on what she calls a “fairly useless object” which is “masculine and sports related” rendering it “feminine, fragile, and functional.”

Trophy

Until August 23rd, you can see her work at the Museum of Art and Design in New York as part of an exhibit entitled Object Factory.

Then there’s Rie Isono and her firm Pear Design Studio. She worked for Sony before going off on her own. Here are two products of note, the elegant toothbrush holder and the skin-like fruit basket where the contents give it a unique shape every time you fill it:

Pear Design elegant toothbrush holder

Pear Design skin-like fruit basket

Hina Aaoyama's Baudelaire poem, entirely cut out by hand

More traditionally Japanese are Hina Aaoyama’s intricate paper art cut-outs that she hand cuts!  The zen patience of a saint. Makes me dizzy to watch it. So beautiful and delicate like couture clothing. She lives in France and has a permanent exhibit at the Museum of Miniatures in Lyon.

And I wanted to include the genius of Kazuyo Sejima the architect who makes up half of Sanaa with her protégé and partner Ryue Nishizawa. They are responsible for, in addition to this years summer pavilion in London, Tokyo’s Dior building  and “Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion, which stunned critics for being perhaps the world’s first genuinely transparent museum — both external and internal walls are made of glass.” –Japan Times

And last, they’re not women, but noteworthy indeed.  They fall under the category of “Men We Love” which obviously could be its own website.  Check out the whimsy and inventiveness of Kyouei Design - from their oozy liquid bookmark to their aluminum mesh chair and  gravity defying wine carafe.

Kazuyo Sejima

-Chauncey Zalkin