Author: ZoeRomano

Craft Central London: an interview with Emily McKillop

Six months abroad then back to Italian “good ole manners”: a cultural shock. Then I discovered Critical Fashion, the Italian movement on sustainability. I worked a year and researched other four months on sustainability and fashion. At first they appear so apart from each other but I believe, and facts are supporting my feeling, they are getting very close and powerful. In this blog post I would like to focus on one of the aim of Critical Fashion: Collaboration. It is a very subtile question, rules are often missing and freedom may becomes chaos. But there are some projects around Europe that are working to bring together and share knowledge, like the case of Openwear. We find ourselves in London, 33-35 St. John’s Square, in front of Craft Central, new name of Clerkenwell Green Association, the not-to-profit pioneering organization established over 25 years ago to build a strong future to art and design. It is one of those places, called

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The ethical economy. The New Redistribution Of Value

Article originally published on Digicult – Articolo originariamente pubblicato su Digicult Ethical consumerism, fair trade, socially responsible investments and corporate social responsibility are all phenomena on the rise. At the same time there are also virtual and local currencies and peer-2-peer rating systems that make the creation and redistribution of value in globalized social communities that share a set of common values, more real. At first sight it could seem a more ethical spreading of traditional economy, but there is a soon-to-be-released book that sees these phenomena as a more structural change and the rise of a new paradigm. Ethical Economy (Columbia University Press), written by Adam Arvidsson in collaboration with Nicolai Peitersen, introduces to ethical economics and interprets the begin of a new, radically different economic system in which production is mainly collaborative and social, and in which the value is based on the quality of social interactions and relationships rather than on the quantity of productive time. The book however

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From knitting machines to wearable technology in Florence

(segue in italiano) Last april I was in Florence with some friends and had the chance to meet Riccardo Marchesi, electronic engineering, managing director of Inntex and founder of Plug&Wear, an e-shop offering materials and components specifically targeted to creators of interactive fashion. He let us visit his lab, showed us experiments and prototypes around e-textiles, and here’s some bits about the long conversation we had. An electronic engineer in the fashion world. First involved in the business of knitting machines, then getting into innovative textiles, and now being passionate about wearables. Is there a connection among those three, a path that you are following, or is it only a matter of chances? Life is a matter of chance. You must be at the right time in the right place or you will miss the train. I moved my first steps in a family business going around the world trying to sell our knitting machines. At the beginning I was

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Julian and Subtraction Cutting – part 2

(segue in italiano) Here’s the second part (read the first part) of the interview to professor and designer Julian Roberts, exploring open-source, zero-waste and interdisciplinarity. Enjoy! Zoe Romano – Do you think open-source and technology (like osloom.org, low cost laser cutting, 3d printers ) are going to change how fashion mainly is conceived and produced? Julian Roberts – It’s definitely changing things already. As 3D printing becomes more accessible and the materials available to print in become more precious, durable and tactile, then it’s suitability to fashion is likely to rapidly grow. Currently they are useful tools for accessory and jewelry design, small component manufacture used in textile embellishment, and for integrating technology into textiles. I’m sure it will also transform both weaving and garment construction too in the very near future. The fact that 3D printing is layered from the ground upwards from an aerial viewpoint is of great interest to me and the way i construct clothes. Laser

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Dyndy.net: The Future Of Money. For A New Democratic Economy

Last fall in Amsterdam took place the second Economies of the Commons Economies of the Commons – Paying the cost of making things free – conference. In the panels they discussed the political economy of open content and its consequences for the cultural sector and analyzed critically the economies taking place in the “digital commons.. In that context Jaromil e Marco Sachy introduced their project Dyndy.net, an online lab providing “Tools, practices and experiences for the conceptualization, development and deployment of currency”, following the ethics of the Free Software Movement and Transition town. Their main aim is to improve the self-organization of wealthy communities avoiding the centralized structures of the bank-debt monopoly and to experimenting alternative banking systems and local currencies. Continua su Digicult in italiano/ Continue on Digicult in english