29th January 2014 - Surface Design Show, Research

29th January 2014 - Surface Design Show, Research

As part of my research for this project I am planning on going to the surface design show in London. I attended this show last year which is based upon both interior and exterior design companies and want to visit it again this year as I feel it is a valuable opportunity to see what is up and co

ming in the design world. Whilst in London, I would like to make the most of the opportunity, visiting the V&A and the science museum, looking into historic references and modern technologies which may inspire my work.

"The Surface Design Show takes place from 4-6 February 2014 at the Business Design Centre in London. It is the only UK event to focus exclusively on innovative and inspirational interior and exterior surface solutions. Over 4000 architects, interior designers and specifiers are expected to attend the highly bespoke event for surface materials. With over 100 exhibitors displaying the very latest surface solutions, Surface Design Show is now firmly recognised as the event for this sector." - extract from website.

The surface design show is a show for the range of designers across the design world, from architects, to interior designers and contractor, which allows companies to exhibit current and new developments in their work to these designers. I find this exhibition very useful, because there are many companies who have developed new and exciting techniques, products and uses for materials. A place where we can look forward and see how textiles can relate to the world in different ways.

22nd Janurary 2014 - Missoni Research

22nd Janurary 2014 - Missoni Research

Whilst looking into companies which use knitting in fashion I stumbled across Missoni. Usually the perspective of knitting is that it is something is boring, out of date and something that your nan does!!
This company sets to re-invent knitting as a textile process, using colour and composition of motif and stitch to revive the simple effects of plain knitting. Missoni push boundaries and test the knitted wool to its limit and create amazing pieces of fashion design, for men and women, in the process. 

The design company, Missoni  is the result of a partnership between two people, Tai and Rosita who decided to set up a knitwear business in the sixties. Although the business started small, the company was soon at the cutting edge of Italian fashion. Missoni grew in popularity so quickly, and is still in the public's eye because it inaugurated and affirmed in an unmistakable way the art of dressing and living. This is achieved with a colorful collaboration of zigzag motifs and stripes with a patchwork of geometric and floral motifs.

21st January 2014 - Bangladesh research

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24800279 

Bangladesh seeks 77% rise in wage for garment workers

Workers in Bangladesh have been demanding higher wages and better working conditions

Continue reading the main story

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Bangladesh's wage board has proposed raising the minimum salary for garment industry workers by 77% to 5,300 takas ($68; £42) a month.

A string of fatal incidents have raised concerns over working conditions and low salaries in the sector - a key contributor to the country's economy.

Workers have held various strikes in recent weeks demanding higher wages.

However, the proposed increase is less than unions had demanded. They had sought more than 8,000 takas per month.

"The board proposed this amount considering the present reality both from the point of owners and workers," AK Roy, chairman of the wage board was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.

The wage increase still needs to be approved by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

'Appeal to government'

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We will appeal to the government to consider our ability, and it should not take any decision out of emotion or political benefit”

Arshad Jamal DipuBGMEA

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made garments.

According to some estimates, the sector is $22bn (£13.5bn) industry in Bangladesh, accounting for nearly 80% the country's exports.

However, safety standards in Bangladesh's garment factories are notoriously poor.

The working conditions at the country's factory came under increased scrutiny earlier this year after the collapse of a garment factory in April killed more than 1,100 people.

The incident sparked global concerns prompting calls for better conditions and higher wages.

But factory owners have argued that while they willing to hike wages, a sharp increase would damage their competitiveness.

"We will appeal to the government to consider our ability, and it should not take any decision out of emotion or political benefit," said Arshad Jamal Dipu, a representative of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

For their part, workers have said that despite the proposed rise, the minimum wage in Bangladesh will remain among the lowest in the world.

"We will urge the owners to implement it without any opposition, otherwise there will be a deadlock in the sector," said Sirajul Islam Rony, a workers' representative on the board.

21st January 2014 - Labour Behind the Label... Research

21st January 2014 - Labour Behind the Label... Research

Our report shows that factory workers in Cambodia consume just 1598 calories a day on average – around half the recommended amount. Body Mass Index (BMI) figures gathered from workers indicate that 33% of garment workers are medically underweight, and 25% seriously so, displaying figures that would be used to diagnose Anorexia over here.

Six months after a deadly building collapse in Bangladesh, the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) have released a new report examining what progress has been made on delivering compensation to the families and workers affected by the tragedy. The report, entitled 'Still Waiting', states that although progress has been made, full compensation is still far off and some of the permanently injured workers have had to pull their children out of school. 

Investigations have shown low wages, excessive hours and harassment of workers to have been commonplace in factories in Asia supplying George. Asda’s response to these criticisms has been to trumpet a showcase project to improve productivity in four Bangladeshi factories where it says workers’ pay and conditions have improved. However, an ActionAid investigation into these factories reveals that, far from demonstrating best practice, conditions for workers remain unacceptable, with poverty wages, unreasonable hours and physical abuse of workers still taking place. 

21st January 2014 - Contextual Studies Research, Labour Behind the Label

21st January 2014 - Contextual Studies Research, Labour Behind the Label

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/ 

Labour behind the label is an organisation which campaigns for an ethical fashion industry. their main focus is for the conditions of textile workers abroad in places like Bangladesh and Pakistan, where conditions are very poor for workers. Western fashion companies exploit the cheap work ethic of the east to create cheap, fast fashion for their customers, us. Many well known companies use this unethical labour which exploits workers and their health.

Labour behind the label campaigns against this in four main ways...

2. Raise public awareness... and mobilise consumers.
3. Pressure companies... to take responsibility for workers' rights in the entirety of their supply chains.
4. Support workers... in their struggles for decent working conditions, including speaker tours and urgent appeals.
5. Campaign for governments... to take responsibility by legislating on corporate responsibility and in their role as consumers of workwear.

20th January 2014 - AVA workshop 1

20th January 2014 - AVA workshop 1

This was the first of a couple of workshops based on the digital programme of Ava, a very important computer programme, used all over the design world. AVA is a software programme created by the company, AVA a which greatly helps the design industry.

Extract from website...    "AVA CAD/CAM has been providing specialist design & colour software, support, training and technical consultancy services to the decorative printing industry for more than 25 years. Areas of particular focus for AVA include printed textiles for home furnishing,  fashion and apparel,  wall coverings and  floor coverings"

example of AVA created repeat

this was a very fast paced workshop which covered a great deal of information. However this was not too bad, because the programme is very similar to Photoshop. Most of the tools are the same as Photoshop, but the major difference between the two is that AVA has an amazing tool which allows you to create repeat structures quickly and develop them quickly. This is something I definitely want to play with more, the idea that you can see how a design is going to look when it is in repeat, and then being able to work back into  them.

I am looking forward to the next workshop next monday when we have a chance to experiment more.

20th January 2014 – Contextual Studies, WEEK 1 cont....

20th January 2014 – Contextual Studies,  WEEK 1 cont....

Cheap Fashion, Fast Fashion

The price of women's clothing has fallen by a third over the last 10 years.

Highstreet shops used to stick two collections a year, now they are more likely to have something new every month, or even week!

Chain Stores make profits by selling large quantities of inexpensive clothing to people who buy new things every week.

There are 5,000 Garment factories in DHAKA, bangladesh.

                                  These are known for low wages and poor working conditions.

                                                               Children aged 13 working in the facories, oldest in the factories. 

                                                                                    Paid $20 a month - ILLEGAL

                                                               Minimum wage = $36 a month

                                   A family of four survive on $100/£80 a month

Family of four share a piece of fish once a month!!

RESEARCH

LABOUR BEHIND THE LABEL

FASHIONING AN ETHNICAL INDUSTRY

DHAKA

24th April 2013 - factory collapse, 1129 dead, 2515 injured

Nov 2013 - 50 fires in last 10 months, 100 died in Tazreen.

PANORAMA, DYING FOR A BARGAIN.

Landfill...

Over 1 million tones of clothing is discarded in the UK.

75% is taken to landfill whilst 25% is recycled.

There was a lot of research to take in, in one 3 hour workshop. However, I did find it very eye opening. It is amazing how much is kept secret from the consumer and how many of the highstreet shops actually use sweatshops!!! 

In this project I wanted to use wool and knitting as the focus for my project to display its versatility and the opportunities for its use in the design industry. Perhaps it may be a good idea to look into the production of wool in the same way as we have today with cotton??

20th January 2014 – Contextual Studies, WEEK 1

20th January 2014 – Contextual Studies, 

WEEK 1

Global Production 1 (the environmental and social impacts of the textile industry)

2,000 word design report!!

Sustainable development

Won’t effect future generations….

·         Recycled products – recycled paper

·         Eco-friendly materials

·         Natural Products, (to a certain extent such as over fishing)

Recycled paper used to be more expensive, but technological advances have brought the price down.

TEXTILE FOOTPRINT

Your trace you leave behind, like your carbon footprint.

COTTON PRODUCTION

Problems with cotton production…

*       

      Pesticides.

*        Produced Abroad.

*        Long Process.

*        Water Consumption.

*        Harvesting.

*        Has To Be Spun.

*        Hand Picked??

Biggest Cotton Producers USA, India, Pakistan, China, Brazil *USA farmers income = Price per tonne of cotton + subsidy (extra money from government) *Mali farmers income = Price per tonne of cotton (NO SUBSIDY, free/fair trade?) Farmers below the poverty line. ORGANIC COTTON 1% of the world's cotton is organic. India produces 50% of this. Although Turkey's Organic cotton production is growing. CHINA'S POLLUTING TEXTILE INDUSTRY Many brands have links with factories which regularly flout the country's environmental laws. (according to cleaning up the fashion industry, a joint report filed by five grassroot organisations) These include; H&M, NIKE, ZARA, ABERCROMBIE & FITCH, ADIDAS

17th January 2014 - Project focus

17th January 2014 - Project focus

Following the 'Zine' workshop we had today, I have decided to re-think my approach to the focus of this project. looking into textures is a good starting point, but I feel i need to develop this idea as the project progresses.

As part of this project, I do still want to explore rubbings and textures, but I feel I need some more inspiration to push on the manipulation of my machine knitting, or I may get stuck in a rut.

The rubbings I have created are great textually, but lack the structure I need in the knitting side of the project.

After doing a little research, I think that I would like to focus on the idea of architecture, in particular skylines. These will give me some shapes I can hopefully play around with in my knitting, whilst maintaining a looking into texture.

17th January 2014 - 'Zine' workshop

17th January 2014 - 'Zine' Workshop

Today's workshop was based on the creation on a 'ZINE'. A zine is a small, but focused magazine format which is often used in the art and design world as its cleverly thought out layout is an important part of its build up. The word 'ZINE' stands for a shorted version of the word magazine, hinting at a shortened version of the standard publishing format. Zines are not only big in the art world. They are also a common part of everyday publishing as a format of publishing which are not usually focused on creating profits, they are more focused on displaying or portraying something.

Dictionary definition... "a small magazine that is written by people who are not professional writers and that usually has stories about a particular subject."

as part of the workshop, learning about the published format, we learnt about how to create our own zines. Based on our current project, we need to create a zine based on a mini version of our sketchbook development for hand in. this will take the reader through a short and deice version of our work, moving from starting ideas to colour scheme, drawing, experimentation and research.

I really liked this form of work, it gives us a chance to select our work which we think has been most successful and present it in a visually pleasing way. I am looking forward to building on the basis I started to create in the workshop.