Shadow Catchers at V&A

I went to see the exhibition 'Shadow Catchers' at V&A today.
Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography

Although, the exhibition was not directly related to textile study, there were so many works which had textile elements.
I especially liked Pierre Cordier's works which were made by using the techniquie called Chemigram.
The chemigram is his original technique using Nail Vanish with photographic paper.
The works didn't look like normal photographs:They appear more compliecate, delicate and maze-like works.
I imagined if I could use this technique as my textile works, that would be great.
In his video, he said he is quite happy other people try this teqnique.

There were many other great works in the exhibition as well.
I realized the subject of photograpy is not only about using camera, it is about to catch shadows.
I felt,sometimes, camera-LESS photography tells more things than these of pictures taken with camera, even though they have less information in the screens. It catches invisible information which are normaly more beautiful and natural.

I would like to use photographic images for my textile works in the future.

Mont Saint-Michel

Before christmas, I went to Paris and Mont Saint-Michel for short trip.It was good time to go there, because lots of christmas decorations were being there.

Inside of Mont Saint-Michel, I was especially inspired by the beautiful stained-glass windows of the church. Those were not too much decorated, but really warm but still slightly mysterious sunright was comming through the windows and illuminating the inside of the cloister.

Knitting Final Samples

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion

I went to see the exhibition 'Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion' at Barbican exhibition center.

'Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion is the first exhibition in Europe to comprehensively survey avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to the present. Curated by the eminent Japanese fashion historian Akiko Fukai, Director of the Kyoto Costume Institute, the exhibition explores the unique sensibility of Japanese design, and its sense of beauty embodied in clothing.
Japanese fashion made an enormous impact on the world fashion scene in the late 20^th century and designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto redefined the very basis of fashion. Their works will be shown alongside Kawakubo’s protégé, the techno-couturier Junya Watanabe, together with the acclaimed Jun Takahashi, and the new generation of radical designers including Tao Kurihara, Fumito Ganryu, Matohu, Akira Naka, Mina Perhonen and Mintdesigns.'Quoted from Barbican website.

I was impressed by the use of space at the exhibition. Of course each of their works were amazing as well, the way of display gave a lot of help for the works. Tall ceiling, commodious floor, and wide space between each work. In addition, music also helped it.

I especially liked the 1st floor which displayed early japanese fashion pioneers' works such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo. Their works were very simple but well considered patterns and tailored. Those were not decorative, but well expressed Japanese beauty. On the 2nd floor, there were more new generations' works such as Mintdesigns. Their works were more decorative and, in my opinion, therefore lack of the nice side of japanese fashion. But I think, I have to say it is the new generation of Japanese fashion. 

Image Photos for Popup Project2

These are for Popup Project2 which I will do Stich and Print.

I'm going to use the reflections for my motifs.

Visit of the exhibition:DIAGHILEV and the golden age of the ballets russes 1909-1929

I visited the exhibition after lunch today.

DIAGHILEV and the golden age of the ballets russes 1909-1929

'Diaghilev's dramatic performances transformed dance, reawakening interest in ballet across Europe and America. Celebrating the company's key period of activity, this major exhibition reveals Diaghilev's enduring  influence on 20th-century art, design and fashion and includes more than 300 objects including giant theatre cloths, original costumes, set designs, props and posters by artists and designers including Léon Bakst, Georges Braque and Natalia Goncharova. These tell the story of a company which began in the social and political upheaval of pre-Revolutionary Russia and went on to cause a sensation with exotic performances that had never been seen before.' quoted from V&A official website.

It was huge exhibition. I was bit surprised when I entered the room, because I couldn't expect how bit it was from outside the door. The exhibition was amazing. Especially for me, because I did my foundation in theatre class, it was quite interesting theme. Lots of cloths, costumes, set design models, and props.I really want to see it again before its end.

One of the reason I was amazed the exhibition is the 'Orientalism'.I have images for current russian ballet 'elegance, dignified, and sophisticated'. And it is true. But I was noticed that it was not from the first time. In the exhibition, I felt 'orientalism' because of the color of the costume and the style of the makeup rather than feeling of elegance. They used bright color and bizarre shapes for their costumes and ethnic landscape paints for the back grounds. In addition, people at the time did not look on the company as we know it today for example, elegance and high class entertaiment. I think, it was looked more unwashed-entertaiment.

Visit t V&A Trade between East and West

Today's visit to V&A with Dr. Clare was amazing. First, I have to show respect for her wide knowledge of Art and design history. I wonder if I knew those, it would be much much interesting being in museums!!! Anyway, the visit was about trade between East and West in textile and art works.
There were lots of textile works in the section and some of them had really interesting design. Even almost all of them were made in UK or India, they had lots of oriental elements in the design such as Japanese and Chinese pattern. For me, the design looked bit weird because those were not perfect Japanse or Chinese design, but interesting. It's alway good to mix these two countries senses in one design. It makes completely new pattern. And it was also good to know how the textile trading between india and west countries was growing up.

Natural Dyes from Plants3

Weave using natural color dyed yarn

Cotton dyed by Grapes' skin

Cotton dyed by Grapes' skin

Silk dyed by Rose petal

Silk dyed by Rose petal

Cotton dyed by Avocado's skin

Natural Dyes from Plants2

Rose

1.

Remove petal from the body

2.

Add cooking vinegar and water into a bowl.

Put the petal into a washing net then go into the bowl, and then knead the color pigment from the petal by hand.

3.

Add yarns into the color and simmer it until the temperature gets 50c (do not over 50c)

4.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

5.

Wash by water and dry.

Comparison of before and after.



Natural Dye from Plants1

Avocado, Grape, Onion, and Fruits tea

As I am trying to transfer this image into weave, I need to use color gradient yarn.

Natural Dyes from Plants was very good way to make this effect.

The items which were used for dying:

Avocado, Grapes (no photo), onion and fruit tea

Dying Processes

As I need to make color gradation when I weave the yarn,

I put the bobbins into the color directly.

So I can see some dyed parts and non-dyed parts in one bobbin(as you can image, surface of the bobbin is dyed strongly but not inside)

1.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20min.

2.

Strain it.

3.

Add yarn to be dyed into the color.

Simmer it for about 15min then remove from the heat and let cool a bit.

4.

Wash by water and dry.

left: onion  middle: avocado skin  right: grapes skin

Accompanied visit to the British Museum

We visited to the British Museum after lecture with Dr Clare Rose.
She mainly introduced us Welcome gallery and African Art section.

                                                                                                    welcome gallery

TASK

In the African art section:
Look at the different ways of artcrafts from African Art shown in the museum. There may be different types of display in the same museum. Each display makes different choice about context, lighting, and information, and these choice give different messages about Africa.
●What are the messages about African culture given by the display in different museum?
One is about African culture and religion. The other is about war  and passing time.
●Are there any relevant topics that are NOT addressed in the displays?
I would like to say yes, but as I'm not familiar with African culture, I can not point exactly what it is.
08022011↓
 Yesterday I found an article from a magazine 'VINE' free magazine for kensington, which shows the present condition of Africa. It picks up a life in slums. The content was slightly shocking for me, even I  knew about the condition before reading. Or, I thought I knew. I can not explain all about the topic now which is too long, but I'm sure there are lots of lifes in this world which are far beyond from my imagination. I felt I need to know more about outside, think about them and do action for and with them.
●Why not?
Actually, I'm not sure whether the topic is in the museum or not. But as I remember, there was no such topics in the section. Why not? I try to guess,,,I think, this topic is more related to the section of post war time rather than African culture which was in the welcome gallery, but the post war exhibition represents the positive side of current Africa, for example, recovery from the damege of war, weapons. So, the negative side of Africa, povety, could not be exhibited together? This is only my guess though.

In the Living and Dying exhibition:
There are artcrafts from all over the world that show how people think about life.
●What would you collect to symbolise how you think about life?
I basically do not have a religion. So I don't have anything to trust, believe or pray religiously...so,,,I would like to say, I collect memories such as pictures, letters from family and etc,,,then these are going to be my emotional support to survive. I think, the qualities of these decide my profundity.
●What would you collect to show the difference between your ideas and these of parents.
I think it's same.

Visit of Science Museum2

CHANGING MATERIALS

RECYCLED BOTTLES

The primary reason why I chose this material is the colorfulness. How ever as in the research process, I’m gradually know that it is really nice material for sustainable fabric. 

About the material

On the exhibition,

The discarded bottles are used to make recycled plastic sheets. They are collected, sorted, flaked and thoroughly washed to remove any contaminants. Looking like multi-colored corn flakes the pieces are then compressed into sheets.

I had not realized yet when I first saw this description, that this material is being used as fabric. However, on the internet, there is lots of information about this technique which are used to make fabric.

Articles from internet

Video clip: Recycled Clothing

●     Initially, it was only for fleece, but nowadays, it can be used for making fiber fabrics as well such as sheer chiffon and polyester.

●     Technique behind of this kind of fabric’s improving allows manufacture produce high quality materials.

●     More designers are getting interested in using these kinds of materials for their garments recently, because of its cost performance,

●     Reduce energy consumption 76%  Reduce CO2 emissions by 71%

●     High fiber even blending them with cotton or wool

●     17 bottles=1wreater

●     36,500,000 lbs of fiber=365,000,000bottles

●     It still little more expensive to make fabric from recycling fabric, because it becomes wider marketing, the industry expects that will change.

http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=494c225468d2a81b25644815c0fd382d727bebb7

Recycled Plastic-The Fashion Fabric 

●     Many companies are keen to incorporate recycled materials but there’s luck of information about how to order supplies.

●     Luck of recycling facilities for plastic means that PET is a major contributor to the landfill crisis.

●     . One of the ways of increasing use of recycled materials in the fashion industry is to enhance the look of the fabric and Yukie is developing methods to convert raw fibre into texturally rich yarn and producing new types of fabric with visual or tactile aesthetic qualities.

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/environment_sciences/report-7183.html

Patagonia: recycled polyester

They are first outdoor clothing manufacturer to adopt fleece into their products line from post consumer recycled plastic soda bottles.

They are able to utilize more sources for recycled polyester and offer it on more garments such as Capilene baselayers, shell jackets and board shorts, as well as fleece. They now recycle used soda bottles, unusable second quality fabrics and worn out garments into polyester fibers to produce many of their clothes.

The benefits of recycled polyester

●Lessens dependence on oil

●Curbs discards, thereby prolonging landfill life and reducing toxic emissions from incinerators

●Helps to promote a new recycling stream for polyester clothing that is no longer wearable

●Creates less air, water and soil contamination

http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=2791

Recycling Plastic into Fabric: Re-Wear Your Bottles

How turn a bottle into a fabric?

1. At the recycling plant, the plastic bottle (made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET) is separated from other materials (bottle caps, wrappers, etc.) and then sorted: colored plastic will be used to make darkly colored thread, while clear plastic can be made into any color.
2. The plastic is chopped up and then crushed up into tiny flakes.
3. The flakes are melted in large vats, and the resulting liquid is pushed through a showerhead-like strainer to create fibrous polyester strands.
4. The strands are stretched to make them thinner and stronger.
5. Finally, the strands are cut, bundled, and shipped to manufacturers.

http://blogs.currentprotocols.com/2010/06/23/recycling-plastic-into-fabric-re-wear-your-bottles/

Visit of Science Museum1

TRASH FASHION

Visit to the exhibition was very good opportunity for me as I had never think about how fashion and textile relate to the environmental problem before and it is now being quite serious issues.

I was shocked when I first saw the screen instruction about the dyeing pollution and noticed that studying textile is not only doing textile design and think about fabric but also there are so many issues that could be approached from the textile industry such as sustainable resources, environment pollutions and development country’s problem.

SUGER RUSH　

Source: David Andersen, Danish Fashion Institute, featuring fabrics from the CLASS (Creativity, Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy) eco library
This dress made by INGEO, a plastic called polylastic acid (PLA).

PLA is made from PLANTS(Such as corn, wheat, sugar beet compare
 to that of polyester is OIL.

HOW TO MAKE PLA

CONE KERNELS→ground and cooked→SUGAR→micro-organism→LACIC ACID

→join together in a chemical reaction→POLYLACTIC

MERITS

① Fully RENEWABLE

② BIODEGRADABLE : won’t break down in normal way BUT biodegrade nicely in large industrial composing facilities, though UK currently dose not have much facilities.

③     Can be made out of any sugar or starch, this means no need to use new flesh food.


LITTLE BLACK DRESS
                                          

Source: DyeCat Ltd (fibre), Elizabeth Gaston (dress designer)

The fabric used to this dress was dyeing without water at all.

Nowadays, textile dyeing occupies 17-20% industrial water pollution,

as cleaning and reuse colored water is expensive and developing

countries tend to just dump it to river and stream.

HOW TO DYE WITHOUT WATER

Building in color as plastic is made rather than to produce the raw material.

It makes cutting out the polluting dyeing step altogether.

 

MERITS

① NO WATER POLLUTION

② NO DAMEGE WITH PLA：PLA is easily damage in harsh dyeing conditions

      BUT this technology doesn’t damage PLA fabric.

WOVEN WONDER

Different pieces of this jacket were woven to be exactly the right shape

and size by DPOL(Direct Panel on Loom). It means that there was no waste fabric!!!

HOW TO MAKE JACKET WITH DPOL

Up load the design on to PC attached to a loom→

Loom weaves fabric panels according to the dimensions.

 

MERIT

① SAVE RESOURSES: cuts down on energy, water, dye and other high toxic chemicals. Also save 70-80% of water　→　help conserve natural resources and reduce the harmful effects.

② SAVE TIME AND MONEY: because of combining the weaving, fabric cutting and patterning all into one process.

Source: Siddhartha Upadhyaya, August Fashions

Rough Guide Project2

CONTEXT TASKS AT PICADDILLY

Object1

ALEXIA GOETHE GALLERY

ALEXANDER DE CADENET  

LIFE-FORCE

Alexia Goethe Gallery is one of the galleries on

Dover Street

.

My friend and I happened to pass in front of the gallery when we explore around the area. It was small gallery and seemed to exhibit various contemporary art works.

http://www.alexiagoethegallery.com/x/exhibitions.html?exid=43

Life-Line

2009

Glass paint and varnish with scratching into aluminum sheet

150 x 300 cm / 59.1 x 118.1 in

One of the reasons why I was impressed by his art works is the way of using materials. I never saw the person who is using aluminum sheet in this way and it makes distinctive and strong effort on canvas. The artist expresss both the climactic moments of its creation and simultaneously suggest a metaphorical overview of a life’s journey in this series.

About Alexander De Cadenet

He was born in 1974, lives and works in London.

He works in Painting, photography, installation and sculpture.

All reference from:http://www.alexiagoethegallery.com/x/default.html

Object2

Perfume cards from Fenwick

This collection of cards is all from Fenwick which is an independent chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom. The reason why I collected these is because these well represent the brand images which I can find from the card’s shapes and the printings. In addition, it was interesting if I took many these sample cards to my home (of course with the perfume on these) my room was filled in the distinctive department store’s smell which you can sniff when you enter department stores.

Object3

This funny statues and bench is located on new bond street.

I think this well represent the area. Because, normally bench is for sitting on it and having a rest when shopper is tired. However, on this bench, it taken by the two statues and there is no space to sit for us. It shows that, I think, the shopper around this area have loads of room and gracefulness. No need to sit on bench on the Street.

A bench and statues on new bond street