Ethical Fashion Forum Task

The Ethical Fashion Forum aims to develop a collaborative movement which will transform social and environmental standards in the fashion industry within a decade.

Vision And Goals:

The eradication of exploitation, hardship and environmental damage from the supply chains to the fashion industry and the practices of fashion businesses
The creation of a movement led by the fashion industry, for the fashion industry, which upholds and practices more than doing no harm- actively striving to add value for people and the environment, across the entire industry sector
Industry training and resources freely available which ensure that every single UK fashion business is aware of how they can become more sustainable, why it is important, and where to find the tools to do so
The raising of consumer awareness in relation to sustainable fashion.
The creation of a clear and consistent system for communication of ethical standards by fashion businesses
A system of standards and regulations ruling out exploitative practices in the fashion industry
Broad and fundamental change towards better practices in the fashion industry within the next 10 years
The creation of a model and precedent for industry change which can be drawn from and built upon by other industries.

Unfortunately I missed the ethical forum day, but nevertheless I made a research and tried to fulfill the task. I visited recommended websites, found out about ethnical fashion and business and looked at the companies that work in this area: local and international companies, exhibitions, trade shows, fairs, ect.
Here are few examples.

1. Fashion Capital
Fashion Enter is an industry based specialist that offers support and advice for today’s talented designers and manufacturers. Available is full guidance and networking opportunities combined with an online presence and two retail boutiques.
Fashion Enter was established to continue the work of a five year initiative that was funded by the LDA – The London Fashion Forum expired in March 2006.
Fashion Enter has various commercial opportunities for designers and manufacturers to engage with that actively promotes their business.

2. Organic Exchange
Organic Exchange (OE) is a charitable organization committed to expanding organic agriculture, with a specific focus on increasing the production and use of organically grown fibers such as cotton.
OE’s long term goal is to grow the amount of certified organic land farmed for fiber production by 50% per year.
OE brings together brands and retailers with their business partners, farmers and key stakeholders to learn about the social and environmental benefits of organic agriculture, and to develop new business models and tools that support greater use of organic inputs. In addition, OE raises consumer awareness about the value of organic farming and the availability of products containing organic cotton.

I decided to explore the meaning of the world organic, that we use so much these days in food and now in fabrics, yarns, ect. I tried to find out what is organic and organic materials used in clothes.
Organic clothing is clothing that is made from materials that are raised or grown without the use of chemicals in the form of pesticides - herbicides or other chemical. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world's insecticides, more than any other single major crop.
There are no laws in the UK with regards to level of compliance with these standards and one item declaring itself as organic may still contain many thousands of inorganic chemicals.
Many highstreet retailers who market organic clothing ranges that contain many chemicals from dyes to bleaches and other chemicals to aid transportation many thousands of miles from their manufacture in places such as China. It can take almost a 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton in the US, and it takes just under one pound of raw cotton to make one t-shirt.
Turkey, India and the US produce organic fibers.
Authentic organic fabrics and clothing can help the environment in a number of ways, such as:

-Manufacture of chemicals is not required.
-Chemical residues are not entered accidentally into the environment.
-Humans and animals are not exposed to chemicals.
-When the fabric is finished with chemicals are not returned to the earth in landfill, or enter into recycling process.
Raw Organic materials:
Research has proven that natural, chemical-free raw materials—pure wool, organic cotton, natural rubber, untreated wood—provide the best sleeping environment for health and longevity.
The elasticity and breathability of these natural materials, and an ability to regulate moisture and heat, create products that offer durability, superior temperature control, exceptional support and a healthier, restorative sleep for both body and mind.

Rough Guide Task, homework.

Rough Guide theory task.

1. Choose an object/product from a market stall or second-hand shop or found object from the area you are exploring for the Rough Guide.

2. Choose an object/image /product from a shop, department store, boutique

3. Choose an object/sculpture/painting/artwork/image from a museum or gallery
For each of these:
DESCRIBE the objects/images/items – what they look like, what the are made of etc..
List Keywords that come to mind – e.g. what associations arise from looking at the items? What do think about when you see this object?
Now consider the CONTEXT within your area and how these might differ if they were shown in another context e.g. one of the other situations, art gallery, market stall, department store etc..

1. I chose objects that I found on the street while doing my research and exploring the area. Among the found objects are rocks, stones, plants, jewelry, leather, energy drink cane.
Object description:
Stone 1: middle size; consists of multiple stones of a smaller size; cold; sharp; masculine; brown; grey; yellow; sandy; black; thick; heavy. In my sketchbook it is named Asteroid.

Stone 2: small; smooth; simple; with 2 stripes in the middle of it’s body, has different colors on both sides; touchable; feminine; oval; warm; named Striped Boat.
Leather: the object has a shape of a butterfly, 5 bid with metal rings and 4 smaller size on both sides. I think it was decoration for denim skirt or jeans. It is soft; flat; thin; brown; metal on leather brings masculine taste to it, but the shape of it is quit feminine. Named 5-eye Butterfly.
Jewelry: chain necklace or belt with colorful triangles with smooth edges. Made of metal; long; cold; old; musical. Named Calendar.

Energy Drink: silver; blue; black; Da Vinci; sharp; cold, but gets warm in your hands; flat; empty; happy. Named Bullet Proof Necklace.

Plants: 2 small brown plants ready to go to the ground to give a birth to something new. Small; cute; soft; oval; shaved; brown colors; fragile; live. Named Bullets.

I showed found objects in my sketchbook and presented them like museum objects of our time. Maybe one day things like Energy Drink cane will tell next generation about our habits, every day life, even biology, technology and product design.

2. For the second task I chose scarf that I bought in the small textile shop on Brick Lane. It was very colorful with yellow, green, pink, blue, red stripes, dots and flower ornaments. It is a scarf that you would wear at summer time on the beach, in the park. It has bright and positive mood, bust most importantly, I like it and it cost only one pound. Cheap labor in India.
Indian man who worked in this store let me photograph him and the shop and we had a nice chat. He and his wife were working in this area for a few years. They run this shop together and bring most of the fabrics from India.

3. I made a stop at Whitechapel Gallery. I’ve never been there before. It had an exhibition taken place, that was named:
Goshka Macuga: The Nature of the Beast

‘ Nature of the Beast is like the eye of a storm.’ 
 – Adrian Searle, The Guardian, 31 March 2009



London-based Polish artist Goshka Macuga is widely acclaimed for her sculptural installations of historic objects and documents. Creating complex networks of reference they are poignant reminders of the profound relation between aesthetics and politics. For this, the first in a series of year-long artists’ commissions, Macuga has conceived a unique venue for public gatherings which references a key moment in the Whitechapel Gallery’s history. In 1939 the Gallery hosted Picasso’s Guernica, an outcry against Fascist war atrocities, to drum up support for the Republican forces fighting in Spain. 

In 1955 Nelson Rockefeller commissioned a life- size tapestry of Picasso’s painting. Some thirty years later this was lent to the United Nations Headquarters in New York where it has hung ever since outside the Security Council. Offered as a deterrent to war, in 2003 the tapestry was covered by a blue curtain in front of which Colin Powell delivered his fateful speech on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

The room has been designed to accommodate meetings, discussions and debates around a central table, with Guernica once again as a backdrop.
The exhibition told a tale behind the tapestry, which I considered as an object for this task. It was such a masterpiece that it is better to present it alone, with no other objects around. 


Rough Guide Task

BA Textile Design - Autumn Term 2009 – Unit 1C Theory

Rough Guide theory task – Reading Images and Objects

On Friday 9th October (PM)), you are asked to re-visit the area you have been allocated for the Rough Guide project but this time to start looking for specific items and then to describe and analyse them. You will be writing up your findings on a blog in Week 2 so take written notes and record what you see visually – this can be through photography or if it’s not possible to take photos then do a drawing or buy a postcard of the item/artwork – this is as a reference point to be put into your blog later. Ensure you ask permission first before photographing anything in shops, market stalls or galleries as it is sometimes not allowed.
BLOG: Emma Neuberg will introduce you to her blog in the theory session next week.

You will need to find out about your area and carry out some RESEARCH. This research can be primary e.g. speaking to shop owners, market stall holders etc. and/or secondary e.g. library books for context, magazines, journals, internet etc. This will begin to give you some CONTEXT for understanding what you have chosen to write about and analyse. Take notes of what you know about the item but also what you don’t know! Find out as much as you can about the area you are going to:

• What has the area been known for in the past and present – what can you find out?
• What is the main attraction in visiting the area?
• Who lives in, works, visits the area?

Now that you have some CONTEXT for understanding more about your object/artwork, choose three items to write about and then make comparisons between them:

1. Choose an object/product from a market stall or second-hand shop or found object from the area you are exploring for the Rough Guide.

2. Choose an object/image /product from a shop, department store, boutique

3. Choose an object/sculpture/painting/artwork/image from a museum or gallery
For each of these:
• DESCRIBE the objects/images/items – what they look like, what the are made of etc..
• List Keywords that come to mind – e.g. what associations arise from looking at the items? What do think about when you see this object?
• Now consider the CONTEXT within your area and how these might differ if they were shown in another context e.g. one of the other situations, art gallery, market stall, department store etc..

Telling Tales

Stage 1 BA (Hons) Textile Design – theory - Friday 16th October, 2009

Tutor: Emma Neuberg

Reading Images and Objects - critical thinking task Exhibition Visits:

Telling Tales, V&A

1. What is your immediate feeling on entering the gallery and seeing the works? Is the work compelling, repelling, beautiful, confusing, moving, inspiring, strange, familiar?

The exhibition was interesting, unique and well presented. It was peaceful, mysterious, adventures and intriguing. I liked the music introduction in each room. Birds singing in The Forest Glade, an old clock and a bell talking to each other in The Enchanted Castle and very wondering sound in The Heaven and Hell which I describe like water, coming through the mirror, breaking it into small diamonds with a storm on the background.

2. Choose a piece of work from each section (The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven & Hell) and list the feelings and response that the work generates in you and why.

“Fig Leaf” Wardrobe by Tord Boontje, 2008, presented in The Forest Glade. This work reminded me of my childhood that was, of course, based on fairy tails that my grandfather would read me before bed. Than I would dream that my wardrobe has a fairy world. I would go in there and find a hidden door to the unknown country where I can hide from my parents, invite my friends, play games, have my own house.

The name of the Wardrobe “Fig Leaf” and “The Garden of Eden” Dress that was hanging on the tree-hanger inside the wardrobe connects my mind with Bible stories.

Tulip Vases in The Enchanted Castle are cultivated cut flowers, objects for European reality and nobility in the late 17^th century. It reminded me of traditional Russian Ceramic Art, called Gzhel.

Gzhel - the name of the picturesque suburban Moscow region, 60 kilometers from Moscow. It is associated with beauty, harmony and fairy tale. Porcelain with elegant blue and multicolor paintings became popular not only in Russia but abroad. Opposite to the work, presented at The Enchanted Castle, Gzhel was not for royalty and nobility. It formed best features of Russian ceramics and showed the highest achievements of folk art and paintings, following old traditions in the art of people. Gzhel Masters decorated each item by hand in blue pattern and color on a white background. The same colors and stile were used for The Pyramids of Makkum Tulip Vases.

In the third room, called Heaven and Hell presented works that evoke the universal conflict of life and death, heaven and hell, offering new interpritations of dreams and the imagination. Art pieces were devided into groups Anxiety, Mortality, Momento Mori. I very much enjoyed the name that was given to every work. For example, Storm Chair, Catastrophe Vase, Huggable Cushion.

I particularly liked “The Storm Chair” by Stephen Richards, 2000. The meaning of the chair can be different to every person. It can be about death, disaster, war or love – and not necessarily about the comfort of sitting. You can re-imagine the object of art in a very different and radical way.

3. Notice the display of the objects, their relationship to each other and their lighting. How might these evoke feelings of drama, interest and tension?

Display, light, materials, music are very important for presentation and can evoke different feelings. For example in The Forest Glade wooden furniture was presented, together with soft materials and colours. It gives you a feeling of being connected to nature, feeling like home, being comfortable around those things.

The Enchanted Castle had very luxury, bright, powerful presentation. I admired beautiful reach objects of art, their colour and complexity.

The Heaven and Hell had very dark room and dramatic sounds. You would almost be mystified, even scared. The room had 2 blocks separated from each other which gave the room a feeling of sharpness.

4. How might these inspire aspects of your Table Theatre?

I think that presentation plays a big role and can open the spirit of your collection. The way artists put their work together, names that were given to the objects, drawings of their silhouettes, light and other details are very powerful tools for the collection. I will surely think about the exhibition, while presenting my Table Theatre Project.

5.Take notice of the titles of the exhibits and choose two to analyse and discuss in under 300 words.

I really liked 2 displays that were presented right at the entrance to the exhibition, like the gate to the Castle. This two displays opened the gallery and influenced the mood of the whole exhibition and The Forest Glade in particular.

They were standing in a very dark corner, surrounded with black curtains, so the display light would immediately catch your attention.

The first screen showed beautiful forest, but you were kind of looking at it from the top, where you would see mostly branches. It was charming, even hypnotising forest. I had a feeling like I want to go their to search, like I lost something. It was very calm, relaxing feeling like you almost reached something and found answers for unknown questions. The display had a sound of morning birds, which we rarely experience in such organic state, especially these days, when we are so used to the sound of city, cars and people.

The second display showed a simple candle that was lighted. It had no sound, but I felt like it was speaking to me. We usually don’t stop and look at the lighted candle for a while, don’t we. But sometimes objects can have a life and very specific meaning, when you start to look for it, you can open many interesting things about this object and see what you haven’t seen before.

So I kept looking at the candle and paid attention on the background. It had silhouettes of the branches and a red light, almost like fire, which brings drama and emotion to a slow scene of lighted candle. At the end the candle light disappeared and it’s story is finished.

6. Which designers or pieces particularly caught your imagination and/or inspires you?

I liked chairs presented in the The Forest Glade: “Laser Cut Chair”, “Petit Jardin Chair”, “Clone Chair”, “Witch Chair”, “Princess Chair”, “Else Cow Bench”. Each had a unique style and story, but together they were building a powerful mood of the Forest Glade room.

Even though the exhibition was looking in the past, it was also looking into future. Some of the chairs were almost futuristic and artists used developed technology, which we could admire observing the final work. I would like to study laser cutting in future and be able to create something as beautiful as one of the chairs at the exhibition.

Theory (BA Textile). Rough Guid

Brick Lane

Winding through fields, the street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane, but derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture, using the local brick earth deposits, that began in the 15th century. By the 17th century, the street was being built up from the south. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis. The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour. Brewing came to Brick Lane before 1680, with water drawn from deep wells. One brewer was Joseph Truman, who is first recorded in 1683, but his family, particularly Benjamin Truman, went on to establish the sizeable Black Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane.

The Brick Lane Market, developed in the 17th century for fruit and vegetables, sold outside the city. The Sunday market, like the ones on Petticoat Lane and nearby Columbia Road, dates from a dispensation given to the Jewish community. It is centered around the junction with Cheshire Street and Sclater Street and sells bric-a-brac as well as fruit, vegetables and many other items. Nearer to the junction with Hanbury Street are two indoor markets; Upmarket and Backmarket.

Emma Elizabeth Smith was viciously assaulted and robbed in Osborn Street, the part of Brick Lane that meets Whitechapel High Street, in the early hours of April 3, 1888. It was one of the first of the eleven Whitechapel Murders, some of which were attributed to the serial killer, Jack the Ripper.

In 1742, La Neuve Eglise, a Huguenot chapel, was built on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street. By 1809, it had become The Jews’ Chapel, for promoting Christianity to the expanding Jewish population, and became a Methodist Chapel in 1819 (John Wesley having preached his first covenant sermon at the nearby Black Eagle Street Chapel). In 1898, during the peak of the mass Jewish migration, the building was consecrated as the Machzikei HaDath, or Spitalfields Great Synagogue. In 1976, it became the London Jamme Masjid (Great London Mosque) to serve the expanding Bangladeshi community. The building is Grade II* listed. Early Bangladeshi immigrants in the area attracted more larger immigration from Bangladesh in particular from the Greater Sylhet region, where many settled in the area of Brick Lane. These settlers helped shape Bangladeshi migration to Britain, families from Jagannathpur and Bishwanath tend to dominate in the Brick Lane area.

Regeneration

In the 20th century the Brick Lane area was important in the second wave of development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh (mainly the Greater Sylhet region) migrated to London to look for work. Some curry houses of Brick Lane will not sell alcohol as most are run by Muslims). More recently the area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane. Bengalis in the United Kingdom settled in big cities with industrial employment. In London, many Bengali people settled in the East End. For centuries the East End has been the first port of call for many immigrants working in the docks and shipping from Chittagong port in Bengal (British Empire in India was founded and based in Bengal). Their regular stopover paved the way for food/curry outlets to be opened up catering for an all male workforce as family migration and settlement took place some decades later. Humble beginnings such as this gave birth to Brick Lane as a famous curry house centre for London. Curry is eaten in almost all part of the Indian sub-continent and nearby regions, namely , Bangladesh,India and Pakistan. It has varying degrees of style, taste and aroma, depending on which local ingredients are used. Bengalis of Sylheti origin constitute only 10% of all South Asians in Britain; however around 90% of all Indian restaurants in the UK are Sylheti/Bengali owned.

Since the late 1990s, Brick Lane has been the site of several of the city's best known night clubs, notably 93 Feet East and The Vibe Bar, both built on the site of The Old Truman Brewery, once the industrial centre of the area, and now an office and entertainment complex.

Nearby buildings of interest include Christ Church, Spitalfields, The Jamme Masjid or Great London Mosque on the corner of Fournier Street - the building represents a history of successive communities of immigrants in East End, and the head office of Habitat on Princelet Street.

Brick Lane is world famous for its graffiti, which features artists such as Banksy, D*Face and Ben Eine. The lane has been used in many music videos such as "Glory Days" by Just Jack and "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.

The nearest tube station is currently Aldgate East. A campaign has been launched to change the name of the station to "Brick Lane" by 2012, but this has no official support. Upon the reopening of the East London ine in 2010, the new Shoreditch High Street station of the London Overground will be very close to Brick Lane.

Contemporary culture wars

The street is the location for Monica Ali's book Brick Lane, published in 2003, also a film of 2007 starring Tannishtha Chatterjee. The novel provoked a controversy with some of the local Asian community because of a perceived negative portrayal of them. Parts of the Bengali community were particularly opposed to plans by Ruby Films to film parts of the novel in the Brick Lane area, and formed the "Campaign Against Monica Ali's Film Brick Lane." Consequently the producers of the film used different locations for certain scenes, such as that depicting Brick Lane Market. Despite this the director of the film, Sarah Gavron, attests on the DVD commentary of the film that genuine footage of Brick Lane does appear in the finished movie. The campaign was allegedly supported by Germaine Greer, who wrote that:

"As British people know little and care less about the Bangladeshi people in their midst, their first appearance as characters in an English novel had the force of a defining caricature ... [S]ome of the Sylhetis of Brick Lane did not recognise themselves. Bengali Muslims smart under an Islamic prejudice that they are irreligious and disorderly, the impure among the pure, and here was a proto-Bengali writer with a Muslim name, portraying them as all of that and more."

Greer's involvement has angered some within the British literary community. Salman Rushdie, who set parts of his novel The Satanic Verses on Brick Lane, has called it "philistine, sanctimonious, and disgraceful, but ... not unexpected".

Activists told The Guardian they intended to burn copies of Ali's book during a rally to be held on July 30, 2006, but the demonstration passed without incident.

Other notable books on the area are Salaam Brick Lane by Tarquin Hall, On Brick Lane (2007) by Rachel Lichtenstein and An Acre of Barren Ground by Jeremy Gavron

John Maeda "The Laws of Simplicity"

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