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WHAT WOMEN MAKE

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WHAT WOMEN MAKE

My vision of the future

I was asked the question.  I started to write an off the cuff list.  Here it is:

* Crowdsourcing the solution to function and design questions.
* The intelligent craftsperson is the visual world’s thought leader.
* A challenge to the primacy of traditional currency – a resurgence and innovation in barter.
* The most useful and most simple exchange of goods and service wins.
* Learning how to continue to trade, create value and be compensated in the face of the creative commons shift. People will not pay for things they can get for free therefore creativity that is spreadable through the ether (music, movies) must find a new way to be supported, through networks of supporters. The contract will be implicit. Just not sure yet how.
* Living life as a combination of your online identity and brand and your offline interactions, enriching both through the recording and refining of both to its bare essence of what matters most to us.
* Consumers are empowered with increasing control over the shaping of the things they surround themselves with. Products we consume must be refined to their ultimate utility
* The consumer is too savvy and stretched too thin to tolerate poor design and unnecessary steps in service. New creative challenges result in more innovation in design, higher mental processes up the ante, more inventions result and inventions that matter, that speak to our current concerns of climate, sustainability, environment, crowded spaces, creating more time for our hurried society to enjoy life.
* Remember that sustain means creating something that allows us to stay on this planet longer, to enrich future cycles in the life of a thing, allow for continuous improvement, continued harmony.
* As technology is further and further integrated into our mobile lives we will become untethered to our computers again and our interactions will exist in a third space, now forming.
* As more exciting innovative materials are being created and light sources are redefined and evolved, the raw organic materials from metal to wood to vegetal fabrics will be prized and cherished and treated with respect. Nature the new ‘love mark’.
* Finding ways for us to live for a common good instead of an increasingly alienating individualistic and ephemeral satisfaction. Individualism will be more and more about satisfying both social and common needs and finding time and space to recharge. Rampant selfishness and egoism is now subsiding.
* The end of the traditional fashion magazine. A centralized authority defining what we should love, follow, wear, is falling to the wayside as more diverse voices share the stage and fashion moves so quickly as to be as unremarkable as yesterday’s lunch special.
* Design is integrated into utility. Design means organization of principles. Ordering. Prioritizing. We will have to take the most time and care at this stage because competition is fierce. Homogeneity is a constant threat. And for the process to be invisible, it must be thoughtfully considered beforehand.
* Simplicity is king but that doesn’t mean dull
* Scent and color become design elements
* Everything has a purpose but that purpose might be visceral, might be emotive. We have to listen to culture and hear the shifts.
* We must stop saying ‘consumer’ and say ‘people’ ‘person’ ‘citizen’. As marketers and developers, we are on the same side. We must not work to ‘trick’ people into buying. We must respect their needs and serve up the best solution, the best most enjoyable experience or product.
* Create whimsy. Create pleasure. Get people to think. Promote expansiveness. Promote progress. Promote sharing.
* Time is a luxury. Time will be a currency. We will ‘pay’ in order to have more time.

WHAT WOMEN ARE MAKING: AFRICA VIA ITALY

Patrizia Moroso, creative director of the Italian design company, Moroso, created an homage to African design at Salone del Mobile 2009 and then again at ICFF, collaborating with a slew of star designers including Ayse Birsel & Bibi Seck and Patricia Urquiola.  The work is nothing short of phenomenal.

Me-Design magazine says: “2009 looks set to be a year for the girls at Moroso …  they’ll also be exhibiting pieces from all-girl design studio Front.”

Patrizia Moroso

hmm. that leads me onto yet another treasure hunt..

My Mali – meeting Mariam and creating her blog

How I went to a Mali culture and design expo and ended up befriending and creating a blog for an inspiring and charitable design co-op from Mali two days later in my apartment. Hugs all around.

WHAT WOMEN ARE MAKING IN WEST AFRICA: MALI

I made a new friend from Mali here in Barcelona. Just around the corner from the church he has a store in bright yellow with:

• handmade watering cans of recycled tins
• plastic woven rugs in all sizes and colors
• a cloth patchwork map of Africa sewn on a pillowcase
• huge colorful straw baskets
• wire mobiles
• and best of all, these bracelets which are melted plastic shoes made into necklaces (made to layer) and these bracelets.
  

  Melted Sneaker Bracelets, made by the women of Mali. (Paint on my wrist courtesy of crafts store applied while painting Cava crates to hang as shelves.)

WHAT WOMEN ARE MAKING IN WEST AFRICA: BURKINA FASO

one better - multi colored, wider bangle

This piqued my curiousity (see post on top of this one). These are like Madonna ‘goomie’ bracelets in glorious African colors. Who were the women behind them -and how could I make them available from the artisan to your doorstep? I happened upon the story of Rose Bere, a woman from Burkina Faso, just south of Mali, who leads a group of women in making bracelets from cast-off plastic woven rugs. You can buy these amazing similar cuffs and give back to a company that is a member of such reputable organizations as Fair Trade Federation, Coop America, Social Venture Network, and the Aid to Artisan Trade Network through One World Artisans.

Price:

• $2.50 / narrow bracelet
• $3.50 / bangle

View Larger Map.

More Mali stars..

WHAT WOMEN ARE MAKING IN WEST AFRICA (BY WAY OF LONDON): GHANA

Sika Inspired by Ghana, West Africa,

“All garments are produced in Ghana by highly skilled tailors and seamstresses. The highest standards in garment production is an integral part of Sika’s mission. We work very closely with local traders and manufacturers to produce quality garments for the international market. By generating regular income for those involved, we are able to give back to the Ghanaian community and raise the standard of garment production.”

-Phyllis Taylor, founder of Sika Designs, from Ghana who won ‘most outstanding contribution to the fashion industry’ at the Black Business Initiative awards in 2006.

…I wish there was more on Ms. Taylor and a list of stockists (until I can convince her to sell right here on What Women Make that is!). There isn’t even a bio on her site, but her sense of cut and color are impeccable…

Creative Graduate Prize 2009 – call for entries

This was 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.

New York Times 1/3/09 article, Design Loves a Depression and Moss Owner’s Angry Response

To open a store, or to not open a store, exactly.

That is the question.

And in my research of exactly how to tailor make my next endeavour to fit

my passions and the times, I found this think piece at Core77 entitled Selling the Future: Design and the Financial Crisis that I think is worth a gander.

Quotes include:

“Make less. Make it better. Focus on craft.”

“Examine the thing you’re

designing right now: Does it fulfill a fundamental human need?”

“People no longer pay for durability. They will.”

The article has a great and simple formula for computing all this and I agree with his sentiments.  So what does this mean for the Zara, H&Ms, Forever21s, and TopShop rags we see ripped and dangling from swinging hangers as the stampedes have left the store for the day?

Just last month at the opening for Topshop in New York, I hear it was like pigs at the trough and in Tokyo the Forever 21 flagship attracted a line of people the night before.

Is all this lust for novelty going to just go away? Especially for the youth trendbot demo? I have my doubts.  I’ve made the mistake far too many times that highly conscionable change agents make up the masses but it just ain’t the case.

But let’s just forget pessimism or optimism for a minute though, because this isn’t your run of the mill pendulum swing, it’s truly broken right? And it needs fixing. But heralding the return of craft and the demise of fast fashion which has all of us sickened but all of us grateful, all at the same time, we have to be honest with ourselves and how we actually live our now-thrifty lives.

I for one, but I no longer fall into the peacocking for a date category, am sick of all the crap I have and accumulate but I feel perfectly comfortable getting something new when I need to. And since I’m not in a wealthy way these days, I do go to Zara, actually for the first time in my life, and it’s become like checking items off a grocery list. “Buy saturated orange top to work well with skirt I already own”, “need more tee shirts”,  and then once a year, “jeans falling apart, trip to Barney’s co-op”. I wait until the last possible moment but the stained, the pilled, the misshapen by repeated washes, I replace those things with the cheapest cleanest most well cut cotton or otherwise non-synthetic replacement item I can find. My clothes are my new bottle of dishwashing liquid. My bag of lemons. My six pack of chicken breasts. Can you blame me for being Coscoesque in my approach? I think of clothes as disposable because it seems that the 300$ + stuff is just as fallible as the Forever21 tee shirts I own.

In matters of the design of our environment, though, I still feel like that we can gratify a mix of imagination, thrift, and the rewarding experience of honoring the crafts of the artisans of the world.  I don’t have the means to buy a Bang and Olufsen stereo or a lampshade by Moustache lets say, the biggest design buzz from Salone del Mobile last week, and chances are, neither do you. But I will still seek objects that bring tactile pleasure, incite memory, offer balance, and celebrate aesthetic excellence because those things are a very important part of the human experience and in my mind, have nothing to do with it bags and this season’s boots.

I have to go back to my research but I hope you enjoy the article. I’m hoping if I write more, I might get more comments and more momentum but I don’t often have the time. I don’t know how those daily bloggers do it..

Germaine Greer musing on the female artist and the heretofor lack thereof

Women used to shrink from creating art. Now they’re taking over. And I think I know why.”

Germaine Greer

As long as the art object was conceived as a monument to itself, women shrank before attempting it. Women who modify their environment every hour of every day, whether they are shaping their child’s damp hair, or twitching a blind, or choosing wallpaper, or dressing themselves with wit and ingenuity, are unexcited by the self-contained, self-regarding work of art. They are not inspired. The adrenaline doesn’t flow. But when art escaped from the frame and descended into the real world, women artists were suddenly in their element. As long as the work was open-ended, as long as life flowed through it, from its conception to its realisation, women could make it as well as anyone.

-Germaine Greer

Branding Lessons from Ancient Japan

My latest article, a long process inspired by my trip last summer to Tokyo and Kyoto for a client working on a lifestyle brand based on Ancient Japan. She wanted me to learn all I could about the roots of this enigmatic culture revered the world over for its power and its mystery, now up on BrandChannel. Check out the impassioned opinions in the comments following. Some stuck to their branding guns and wanted me to be as plain as possible about the inherent problems in Japanese brands lost in translation and others got that it is culture that inspired the article and culture that I hope inspires those building brands from the ground up in need of fresh thinking. Take it from Ancient Japan, some things we find ourselves losing in modern culture can be found in Ancient Japan. Enjoy. Hope it inspires your creative ideas. If you’re interested in any original texts, let me know. I have some great ones.

obama nesting dolls

I like the idea of nesting dolls as a metaphor for personality and layers of personal and social significance of an individual or an idea or both. What should you choose as the outer layer? What the public sees first would be the obvious choice, but maybe its the biggest thing about the person, the thing that’s larger than life or that should emerge ultimately. Is the biggest thing about Obama what his happy family represents to the world and to America as our concepts of family change? As a black man in a cohesive family unit as a role model to African Americans?

Or should that be at the center of who he is, the deepest layer, the most discreet and most protected part of who he is?

Is the family he came from a segue into his adult manifestation? Are we talking here about him personally or politically? As a figure or as a force? There’s lots of ways of slicing it.

Though a great idea, which is why I’m posting the picture here, I wish the designer had spent a bit more time on the execution. I would have liked to see a deluxe version with a bit more of a finish or more color. A shame to waste such a great idea (and great pictures to use) on what looks like little development.

Doll Parts

This is the best thing I found while hunting today.  There sure is a lot of useless crap and repeat offenders out there.  How many deer and bunny patches can one sew onto a floral bag before noticing that this has been done, done,  donedonedonedonedone. On the other hand, this Barbie extracted and abstracted jewelry by Margaux Lange is beautiful and original. See her link under ‘women in design’.

Heartstoppingly Good

Israeli artist, Liron Kroll, tells the true story of being a woman through an intimate relationship with her scanner juxtaposed with the cold numbers that don’t quite cut it.

Liron Kroll, Israel

100 Conversations, one woman seeks to know what it means to be a woman now (+ an aside following Obama’s victory and some strange comments I’ve read from the American people.)

I should have more to say about this but I haven’t seen the documentary yet. I heard about it about a year ago and it drifted in and straight out of my awareness.  It’s now featured on RottenTomatoes.com at 74% so I thought it would be worth noting. I want to be able to blog without having to put my heart and soul into every entry. I’m simply too busy to give it that much time and attention but as I continue to scan the world for what women are doing, I’ll add stuff in an ad hoc fashion like this.

We are grateful for Obama’s brilliance, dedication, courage, and humility to serve society this way.  It is as selfless and as generous an act as they come. I would urge people to stop acting like he’s Santa Claus come to bring us candy and presents. Remember what Kennedy said, the most famous of his lines, “Ask not..”  His inspiration and steady guidance is the point. We’re supposed to do the rest – get off our fat fast-food filled butts now and push for innovation and community in this world.  Me included. Let’s go.

xo

Barcelona, Love, & the Economy

By December 1st, my boyfriend and I will have transplanted ourselves from Paris (me) and London (he) to a cozy 45 square meter flat in Barcelona.  I’ve had a tendency through the years to disclose my flights of fancy in ill-conceived rushes of enthusiasm only to later regret it. As we all know, sometimes visions of sugarplums do not materialize.  That is not to say that I haven’t given each and every one of my dreams my all and had more than a couple come true.  It’s just that dreams can get a little fuzzy toward the final frame.  This time, the final frame is all I see.  As 2008 stumbles toward the finish line, my dreams are once again before me. One dream completes, another waits to upload, and a third begins at the very beginning. And at the same time, I’m driven to distraction by events taking place back home.

Living in Paris has changed everything, the order of my priorities, the sharpness of my values. It’s finally flushed away the detritus, the lovingly worn but ripe for discarding parts of my life – glib, clever, soulless part time players, shopping sprees packaged to my cerebrum as errands, the all-too passionate conversations about vapid pop culture personalities plastered on tabloids, playing along with the deification of brands.  I came here to get some distance from the demands of materialism, to flee the ad world, to stop subjecting myself to the daily charades of office politics, to put a distance between myself and my language, and to question the mindless comprehension that becomes a hum under the surface of everything so blindingly familiar.

I’ve been gone 22 months. Now a new newness is at hand. I’m swapping French for Spanish. I have no foothold in the new land. No job awaits. No program. No new book to start. It’s not a sabbatical. I can’t couch it in any of those terms.  It’s a nose dive hopefully onto a bed of roses on a cloud of honey and spice.  We’re hoping for a little harp action – and a little financial luck.  Because we’re going for broke precisely as we enter the worst economic period since the Depression.

I have to say, I’ve been anxious. I know that in five short days we will know who the president will be and we will either be elated beyond imagination, dancing in the streets (well, I’ll have to do so figuratively and through youtube), or so utterly frightened we’ll be running from the theater of American life like the opening scene of The Blob.

I’ve been watching this campaign so closely that it would be fair to call it an obsession. It’s a comfort to me that America (and its myriad of dreams) is still at arms reach even with all its follies and absurdities.  Nobody on this side of the pond can quite understand the thing that makes us American and love it the way we do. It’s been quite an embarrassment lately and not just because of George Bush’s administration, but because of our insouciance about how out-of-touch we truly are as a nation.  But now, suddenly, we have this person, this clear-talking level headed, comforting presence that has brought out a lot of hope in all of us, a sign that we’re not just crazy when we compare truth to sensationalism, globalization to domestic arrogance.  Finally, someone who everyone can get behind and at the same time will tell us we need to ramp up and pay attention to the innovation going on in the rest of the world. That we should solve problems, not rest on our crumbling laurels.  As chain stores and billionaires take over New York, I see that perhaps all is not lost. From under the economic and cultural rubble, lo and behold, there is a voice of reason.

I’m using the disaster of the economy and Obama’s campaign as a guidepost in my own personal affairs – my business plans, my conflicts about subjecting my creative projects to scrutiny and criticism by a flailing paradigm (the publishing world). A renewed effort to participate in the world of culture making without big compromises to my integrity and passions. And to my love life, which is also in uncharted territory. Never mix love with business? Well, we’re mixing it alright, and with relish. Please stay tuned and take a ride with us on the new adventures and misadventures of Girl on the street. And let us all pray for our futures.

Please check out Peter’s amazing photographs and go to the main site to see our latest Girl on the street coverage of the women at London Design Week, and shortly, The Freize Art Fair.

Love,
Chauncey

GOTS does the London Design Festival

A walk through some of our favorite female designers at the London Design Festival September 2008.

To Obama: Certainly there can be no better, but HARDER FASTER STRONGER now…

I hate to say it but i think Mccain won the debate. That is my strong overall feeling. Though articulate, clear, sensible, and in my strong opinion – right – he still lost. The bottom line: Obama has got to be even more presidential – the way he was at the democratic convention – than he was last night and has been the past few weeks. He needs to be presidential, and at the same time, slide around more in his skin like Mccain did last night.  He needs to act like he belongs there, like the defacto leader of the free world.  His voice should be bolder and he should take up more space.  He seemed visually edged out of the picture with Mccain’s easy breezy and confident responses. Obama is an exquisite public speaker except one tiny thing that occurs in ad lib events: when i was learning public speaking as a child the first thing we were taught was to cut out all the superfluous ums, ers, hesitations, stuttering. Those speech patterns where you are waiting with the guy to find his next word – those are bad bad bad. Especially in American life which is numb to all but a sensation.  With a population that doesn’t like to read let alone read between the lines, and for a racist society in particular, that can’t go unmentioned, this is not going to work.  He needs to be bolder, louder, stronger.  Whats that daft punk song? harder better faster stronger? Thats what America is used to and what Americans need in order to vote the first black president into office.

Nagi Noda’s Death – too young to die

I was a little late to the news but learning of Nagi Noda’s sudden death makes me incredibly sad. Only 35 years old, so unique, so creative, so accomplished, so weird, delightful, and magical.  Time is of the essence to make art and invent so get to it. I feel this urgency now more than ever. The sky is falling. The sky is falling, yes, but economy be damned (and I’m talking to myself too here).  This is one woman I wanted to meet and befriend (of many of course!) She inspired me and awed me. Japan, with all its innovation and break-through everything, is not an easy place to be different. Selfishly, this is such a disappointment. I wanted another 50 years of Nagi Noda.

Please, all you female designers, artists, artisans, and pioneers, contact me and show me your stuff. We need more of you.

xo

Chauncey