Munich

©ClementineDebos2011


We were in Munich for an exhibition about 'Crafts and Innovation'.
And it was a great success, we were interviewed by a German TV channel, we met lots of very interesting crafty people and above all we had a blast. We represented the future of textiles and people were wowed by it. So to my fellow textile designers lets keep the dream alive, the illusion bigger and the surprise alive. The world might be falling a part, this should however never stop us from creating a dream.

Central Saint Martins Degree Show 2010

You are all invited to come, see and meet students who are about to graduate from one of the leading Universities in Design.
MA Design for Textile Futures will be showing at Central Saint Martins School of Fashion and Textile, Southampton Row, London WC1b 4AP. Tube Holborn

Exhibition opens to the Public on Monday 21st June and closes 24th June 2010 open daily from 12pm - 8pm.

If you have any inquiries please contact me.

Digital Explorations in Design

I will be presenting my work amoung six other graduating students from Central Saint Martins at the Victoria and Albert Museum on May 18th 2010, Please join us, its a free event, although it requires advance booking.
Book here:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/645/

The Textile Students:

Chloë McCormick
Marin Sawa
Clementine Debos
Georgia Simmonds
Nadia Ricketts

The Jewellery Students

Harriet Hornby
Laura Thomas

Work In Progress Exhibition Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

See Your Space. How Can Textiles shape our perception of Space?

Work In Progress Exhibition Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

The Question for 2010 is......

HOW CAN TEXTILES SHAPE OUR PERCEPTION OF SPACE?
This what I'm currently working on and this for the next six months!

Icon Minds Inside Design, outside the Magazine, One Symposium.

This was a great day with great speakers. A lot was discussed about Design and Architecture. Instead of doing a summary of what was said by each speaker I have decided to write down a list of the key questions raised.

On the return of Ornament : Farshid Moussavi (Co founder of Foreign office Architects)
Function needs to be re-thought and broaden. How do we define ornament?

Marjan Colletti(Architect). How do we get digital architecture out of the realm of the geeky and techy?
"A state where ornament becomes the body, and the body becomes the ornament, blurring all the boundaries.
If ornament is celebration, what are we celebrating?

Design Fiction: Dunne and Raby ( Conceptual Designers and head of Interaction design @RCA)
What is Critical Design? How do designers integrate it in their work?
Isnt Critical Design about being sceptical, questioning what's going on, and then acting?

Experiments in Subtlety: Ronan Bouroullec

Its great to see someone who is so successful being so humble and nearly saying sorry for being so successful.
Ronan said "A good designer is like a good actor - you have to be dramatic one day and make people smile on another day."

All in all it was a great day, which showed once again that the boundaries between different disciplines are slowly being blurred and becoming non existent. The way forward is collaboration across different disciplines. The world of design isn't segmented anymore it is one big bubble.

Tent London & 100% Design Designer Block

Did any of you attend either shows?
Tent, the digital area was by far the best and most interesting. The viewer could interact directly with the objects, which really made it a very popular area. People stayed their exploring all the possibilities. A big Interactive wall, when you touch it , a pattern or colour changed, or expanded or became smaller. This could fascinate someone for hours.
100%Design : What has happened to the Design world? And its endless ways of pushing boundaries?
Well it was to be found in the area : [re]Design: Doing it for the kids. Lots of toys made out of responsible, sustainable materials. It was playful but also showed you how simplicity can push ideas forward. And maybe to do it as well we all need to look at the world through kids eyes and problem solve through that. The display of the area was also more dynamic than the rest of 100%Design and Designer Block.
DesignerBlock: What has stayed in my mind was Puff&Flock with their inflatable creatures, shapes. or I would call it the inflatable architecture. It makes you smile, its well done and it s aesthetically nice and has a function!

Walking in my mind

Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.
You walk through the mind of about ten artists. Its fascinating, gives an odd feeling as if you were a voyeur viewing an intimate space which you shouldn't but can help entering it.
It made me feel claustrophic, sick and at the same time out of place and space.
The most effective one was Thomas Hirschhorn
he says :" To me, the cave is in your brain, the cave is in your mind...you have to build this cave in your mind and to struggle with what happens in this cave, in confronting it with the world."
His space was exactly what he says in his quote, his mind was a huge cave made out of tape with different tunnels referring to different areas of the brain. It was disturbing but so effective. You were thrown into exploration mode and going through all the different tunnels to know what the other room led to or had. Your curiosity was arouse. The rest of the exhibition was very strong.
I recommend you go as it is really effective and does what it says.

Definition of Designer

I will Now define myself by the following quote by Buckminster Fuller for whom I have an immense respect and above all think he was not only ahead of his time but clearly a Genius! so here it is : "A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist. "R. Buckminster Fuller

I agree with his definition as it is what a designer needs to be in order to succeed.

Radical Nature Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009 @ The Barbican art Gallery

Great exhibition , very informative. As you enter the exhibition you are immediately plunged into the realm of the theme of the exhibition. There are lots of films to watch some are better then others. My two favourite's were first on Level 1 Modelling Universe, 1976 with Richard Buckminster Fuller, he explains very well in this film how nature has inspired his work and his attitude to his work. He is a genius, I'm a big fan of his work and thought process. I wish he was still alive to feed us further more with his knowledge. Second favorite was on Level 2 Wolf Hilbertz where he talks about reef building (trademarked as Biorock) and the importance of coral. He said of his process to " repair what man has damaged in nature by men". I found this quote of huge importance as it describes very well that we have reached point where if we want to save the damage we have caused to nature we will have to work hard and find ways to repair nature, what we have done to it as soon as possible.
Everything in a nature has a purpose, a function. We need to work with nature, understand it and more importantly take action fast to stop the damage we have caused.

If we considered Nature as one big, beautiful heartbeat which is keeping all of us alive would we really continue damaging it?

MA Textile Show 2009 My Thoughts on the Exhibition

MA Textile Show 2009 – I’ve been discussing it with many ex students from Central Saint Martins who felt the display didn’t make the most out of the students work especially if you go and check out the RCA show you will understand the display is their strength but not the concepts in many projects.
In my opinion MATF 2009 show didn’t show the best of the students work. I think the research behind the project is far better and more interesting then their end result.
Or is it the way it was communicated that made this come across like this?
We all have fears for next year as it will be our turn to show a new range of designs.
Will we live up to our and others expectations?

I think we will need to put more time in how to communicate through the mean of display our work as it wasn’t a strength this year and it could make a difference.

Before the show there is a long way to go – Finding the right research question which reflects who we are and drives our passion for the remaining of this adventure and beyond as we all know the MA will stop but our passion will carry on, will need to be fed and sustained.
In a nutshell we should all make the following our mantra for Unit 3 and beyond as it will always be the right formula to follow: Use your head, listen to your heart, and feel what's in your gut.

Research Question

A research question can be simple , however shouldn't it be able to sustain research for a lifetime for the more passionnate?
It should also tackle Innovation.
What is Innovation?
I've been reading so much lately about the word innovation, being innovative , "good design is good business" etc..
Can we really be innovative and is it really about innovation? Design is always walking side to side with Innovation , its nearly as though both terms can't live without each other.
My question is how much design out there is really an Innovation?

Knit The City

You will find under this post a link to Knit The city. I find the Concept interesting however not pushed to its full extent. It is a way of re-defining what is urban art, but we are here dealing with a very old craft skill added to the city. How sustainable is this?
For me this intervention raises not only many eyebrows but as well as many issues around what is called gorilla art.
Why do people feel the need to get themselves known through intervening in a public space, yes we will speak of you , but in the long run what is your message , what are you trying to say?
People thriving for recognition.
In my opinion this concept would be a lot stronger and more justified if the knitted pieces were custom made to where they were going to be placed. As for now they seem to be randomly placed in the city, and if they aren't , it feels like this.
Its either you go for it or you don't, half way never works in the long run.

Urban Farming - A hot topic amongst Architects!

Is Urban farming the only way for cities to really save themselves and possibly us? If Urban farming does become a reality in London, aren't we slowly going through a re-defintion of our cities as well as our countryside? Aren't we also re-defining what farming is and perhaps making it become a trendy activity, fashionable?

Urban farming has already started in America and is a hit. However some are sceptical, Dan wood and John Thackara. Wood says in the Iconeye Magazine p.073 June:"Industrial farming is not a sustainable model for the future, and fir us vertical farms are more industrial farming-just another mechanised way to produce food."
Please find the full article on Urban Framing June's Iconeye Magazine.

What do you all think? I feel very critical and find the concept very dark.

Cross-Stitching is Back!

And its a hit amongst the teens!! How Bizarre but ever so exciting!

Would any of you imagined to see a Banksy Graffitti cross-stitched? Never in my wildest dreams would have I thought to see that.
I think its great.
My question is it a form of rebellion against the overload of technology we are getting or is it sheer boredom of sitting in front of a screen which is able to do anything with just a tap? Moreover this last statement makes us feel as though we don't achieve anything and therefore need to create something from our own hands to feel as though a/ we have achieved , b/we can share it?

One of the oldest crafts is being used to translate one of the most rebellious forms of art? Is it just me or is there the most beautiful form of contradiction in this?

All your thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

My latest woven and printed fabrics

(c)clementinedebos2009

Solar Wall in Beijing

Please follow the link its really beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfOy2fo8E4&feature=player_embedded

What is Textile Futures for me?

It is Smart, Sustainable, Sophisticated, Interactive, it will offer an experience to its user, it will have a medical outcome as well.

Why Smart?

My belief is we will not be able to escape the expansion in technology within textile, this doesn't mean we will create some sci-fi fabrics, but we will need to keep our original craft skills and mix them with technology in a very clever way.

Why Sustainable?

Can we still afford not to be sustainable?

Just a few thoughts to bare in mind and see ion a year where they are!

Wogg Chair

wogg_42_armchair_jorg_boner.jpg


This is possibly one of most clever designs I ve seen. It has it all, functionality, aesthetic, unique and cleverness. Well thought.

As mocoloco blog stated it is


Jorg Boner's new armchair design for Swiss company Wogg is an upholstered piece with great personality. What makes Wogg 42 truly unique is upholstery that is completely independent from the structure, dressing it as if it were an ultra-modern kimono or a fashionable coat.