Bamboo

Packaging is a huge problem in the UK! We have far to much of it and it's never ECO friendly method! So many companies use lots of a packaging as this is the main selling point! Top shop print on all there bags Please re use/ recycle. But i'm sure as the consumer we don't think twice about thinking to take out a used carrier bag?

I came across this company Bamboo recommended by a man I spoke to in London. Bamboo is a Eco enterprise company that offers compo stable packaging solutions its all about seeking alternative packaging that won't damage our environment!

The product itself...

Our innovative product line is 100% compo stable and made from non-GMO materials. Our goal is to help institutions move towards a sustainable packaging practice in an economically feasible way.

Compo stable products are made from renewable resources, making them more sustainable than traditional petroleum-based plastic. There are no waste waters, effluent gas, or residue discharged during our production process. All our products are designed to be composted in municipal and industrial aerobic composting facilities.

Although it's a alternative for food packaging I still found it interesting to see how the company works and that if the company was the expand it could design for retail packaging for the high street.

Fabric Samples...

Whilst in London I took a trip back to Soho collecting more fabric samples to go in my sketch book! However I had the challenge of having to make sure they were sustainable fabrics. I was quite shcoked at how alot of the Soho fabric shops did not stock this particualr farbic or couldnt be completely sure where it came from. This said to me the size and low demand for Eco favbrics. One shop that was very helpfulwas Broadwick Silks they had a huge variety of different types of silks from all overthe world. The man in the shop gave me a name of a company called Bamboo it was interesting to look at there website and see what sustainable methods they used.

But is silk sustainable?

Manufactoring silk into fibre is sustainable. The silk worms are used to obtain the silk which obviously means silk is sustainable if silk is created by silk worms. There are many different ways to create silk but the most common way is now by large corporate farms that use alot of chemicals this comes from dying silks which is not a sustainable method. If the silk is not dyed this would make the silksustaiable. I got a sample of a fabric I liked whiched had been un dyed I cannow add this to my sketch book!

Picturesof the different fabric samples I have collected...E leather, broadwick silks un dyed (london) and green fibres which I found very interesting as they are a small company creating Eco Home wear!

Using gel pens and photoshop

Work Experience in London!

I took a week of college in order to do work experience with Breast Cancer Care this is one of their biggest charity events held in London! Hillary Alexander (twice crowned fashion journalist of the year) styled the catwalk which was really interesting and inspiring to see how she matched outfits together she knew how tomake something maybe not so great... look great!

There were top designers featuring on the catwalk including Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney (who I'm currently studying in my current brief) , Catherine Walker, Roberto Cavalli, Candy Anthony andVivien Sheriff. The quality of the clothes were amazing!! You can tell when something is couture just seeing it go down the catwalk here are some photographs I took whilst in London.

The Fur and the fury...

This is one of the biggest debates in the Fashion industry can wearing fur be an advantage or will it just cause fury within animal rights campaigners?

-Not long ago supermodels refused to wear it...but gradually fur has made it back onto the catwalk.

Fur has a eco-advantage of being biodegradable however on the other hand theres the ethical issue of furs coming from wild animals.

The british Fur label Hockley:

"There is no cruelty in the fur trade. We have invested £5Million in humane methods"

Globally fur sales have increased by 70 percent in the past decade. This doesn't tally with the view in the nineties that the fur was as dead as the animals making the coats. Surely this shows something is being done in the fashion industry and animals are not facing cruelty?

When a fur garment or product carries the OA label this says that the fur has came from a country where welfare regulations of standard governing are in force. The OA label was introduced by the fashion industry itself this gave them the power to clear and make a gradual disappearance of the fur farms that don't meet regulations and they can begin to make animal cruelty a distant memory.

- Advertising Harpers Bazaar in Vogue, Vogues publisher has a international policy of accepting fur advertising However the British version will still not feature Fur in its editorial pages.

Vogue "fur is part of fashion and we will continue to report on it'

So this is where the Eco situation comes in animal rights campaigns against is it right to kill a animal just for fashion?

"The animals being bred for their coats are in really awful conditions and don't have any kind of a life at all. I dislike fur both because of the cruelty to animals and because of the kind of social statement that it makes. It's absolutely disgusting how mink are raised just for some idiot to look fashionable and rich"- Stella McCartney

Applying the Golden Ratio to my work...

Today I have been looking at the Golden Ratio, in mathematics and arts this a technique that is used a lot. Many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio. I applied this to my work today measuring the waist of a size 12 mannequin and dividing by 1.618 (the golden ratio) I then used this measurement to create a triangular shape and played withthe shapes on the mannequin.

Below is my outcome:

Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable Fashion is part of our current brief its very important thing many fashion designers are starting to consider and the clothing industry is growing vastly so are the harmful gases released into the atmosphere. Also known as ECO fashion its where the product is designed with the consideration of the environmental impact it may have 'carbon footprint' Fashion designers are beginning to introduce materials that are environmentally friendly.

Design Principles In Art and Design

I have began to analyze the design principles as they relate to Arts/Fashion. I have also looked closely at Form and Function as this relates to a lot of designers work.

There are various areas of the design principles...

- Balance

- Emphasis

- Focal Point

- Illusion

-Texture

-Value

-Scale

-Proportion

-Rhythm

-Unity

So what is meant by all of these things?

Design Elements and principles describe ideas about the practice of good visual design. The designers principles are used in all visual design fields this can include graphic design, industrial design, architecture and fine art. Fashion designers use this process on the basis of there designs. However sticking to the brief I have been looking at designers that consider sustainability within their collections as this is a growing issue I then also considered the use of form and function in their work...

What is Form and Function?

A simple example of what form and function is:

For instance a car, a car has to work first before you consider the design. Form always follows the function.

Another prime example of Form and Function is the NASA Spacesuit...

- NASA has taken two approaches. The first concerns the physical well-being and fitness of the astronaut (function)

- The second is the development of the space suit, which effectively acts as a second skin and enhances breathing, vision and walking.

- To perform tasks outside the aircraft the astronaut must wear the suit.

The form of the spacesuit was then developed when mobility was a greater issue the Apollo Spacesuit. They were designed to allow astronauts to go on actual space walks on the moon but the flexibility was not enough.

How did NASA then develop this?

The suits were then developed too allow leg and waist movements allowing astronauts to bend and stretch.

This is a prime example of where form has followed functi on.

New Brief!

New Term New brief!

As part of my current brief its all about Design Principles in Art and Design it will include understanding how form can relate to function in different designers work, understand design responsibilities when working for a company, and understand cross-cultural influences.

I have began researching into fabrics that have sustainable fabrics as this is an important factor of the brief. On a college trip to London we visited Soho its a whole strip of fabric shops that source fabrics from all around the world one of the shops we visited was the 'Cloth House' I have wrote a letter to them asking for organic fabric samples to help me with my research as they stock Eco fabrics !

I found the address in my Sketch Book for fabric shops in London I wrote to each one asking them weather they stock/send out organic fabric samples!

Selecting Aspects from images for inspiration