(Re)Searching for a sustainable fashion system – Interview

(segue in italiano) Thanx to the collaboration with Jen Ballie, who kindly accepted our invitation last year to our Openwear conference, I had the chance to get in touch with Kay Politowicz, professor of Textile Design, co-founder and Project Director for the Textiles Environment Design (TED) research group at Chelsea. For many years she was Director of Undergraduate Textile Design Course at Chelsea – and promoted a high-level of achievement of students working with specialist material processes in textiles: knit, weave, print, stitch – increasingly using digital processes and a wider variety of workshops – such as ceramics, wood, metal. In that role she became increasingly aware of the need to develop an environmental focus to curriculum developments within the subject and the opportunities that such a focus would reveal. In the last few years she moved to an entirely research-based and funded role and she believes it has been a great way to develop opportunities for externally funded practice-based

read more (Re)Searching for a sustainable fashion system – Interview

Jam Session with Fold Slippers

Last weekend Openwear participated in collaboration with Vectorealism to the Physical Computing event organized by PhyCoLab of the “Politecnico di Milano” University and hosted by StreetStudio. While we were challenging our traditional notion of craft experimenting on lasercutting felt and vector illustration with our Fold Slippers pattern, a group of 40 people were participating to the 36-hours Jam Session to design and prototype interactive ideas. Eight groups of students, tinkerers, designers and makers put their hands on different tools and components with the aim of presenting their prototype projects at the end of the weekend after 36 hours of non-stop work. The project I’m featuring in the pictures of this post is the most voted one on sunday night. I’m not talking about it only because it won the prize but also because the creators inserted the Openwear Fold Slipper as a component of their game. Yes, it’s a game, a mix between Simon and Twister. It uses touch sensors

read more Jam Session with Fold Slippers

You’re Doing What? Make A Living Inventing Your Job

Article originally published on Digicult – Articolo originariamente pubblicato su Digicult The (long) way heading (by subway) to the New York Science Hall, hosting the World Maker Faire in Queens, gives me time to read some free presses and resume an article of the sunday NYTimes I haven’t finished yet. It’s a long piece about the twilight of the US manufacturing sector, started from the 50’s to nowadays [1], and about the definite takeover of China. At the same time, other articles are dealing with the increasing unemployment rate, and with the even more worrying fact that one out of three US unemployed citizen has been jobless for more than a year. From long-term contracts to long-term unemployment. [2] But it’s a fact that the Americans keep themselves busy, they are pragmatic and not afraid to get their hands dirty: the month before they’re working in a Manhattan’s skyscraper, and the following one they’re working at an experimental project in a Queens’ lab. Yes, It’s possible!. And

read more You’re Doing What? Make A Living Inventing Your Job

Two workshops at Innovation Festival in Milan

While we are organizing the second edition of Wefab (date is still to be defined) we accepted the invitation of Phyco Lab to take part with two workshops to their two-day jam session on Physical Computing during Innovation Festival on the weekend of 12th and 13th of November 2011 in Milan. Once again Openwear collaborates with Vectorealism for an event dedicated to introduce creatives and designers to Open Design and Digital Fabrication. On saturday the workshop is all about lasercut fashion accessories. On sunday we’ll focus on the first steps to 3d printing with open-source tools. It’s not all about theory: you’ll be able to use directly a Makerbot 3d printer and a professional laser cut. If you are interested book your ticket here or at the bottom of this page (max. 20 participants each) Event registration for Jam Session – Makers Workshops powered by Eventbrite

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

read more Craft Central London: an interview with Emily McKillop