The Connect Forum

Last Wednesday (11th) I went to a series of talks on Sustainable fashion hosted by the Hollings faculty, which was part of an international project to educate on sustainability in fashion. It was a really inspiring and insightful day; sustainable and ethical fashion is a subject I have been interested in for a while and I think I can bring a lot of what I learnt from the day into my work.

There were talks from key figures working in sustainable fashion and from the researchers/ lecturers and students from each university. There were a couple of points that really captivated me and I feel are relevant to this project. 

Orsola De Castro gave a brilliant talk about her label 'From Somewhere' and talked passionately about the need for up- cycling in design. Describing up-cycling as a design solution, Orsola highlighted the need to value the skills and materials we are using. As a designer Orsola uses factory waste (fabrics that haven't even been used at all!) in her collections, creating in response to what is available.

http://fromsomewhere.co.uk

This is what I will be doing in the rooftop project and the talk made me excited to get started.

Nick Hall, a lecturer from MMU gave an interesting talk about consumption in the UK.
What he discussed that I found really thought provoking was how conformity is built into design. He explained that all the spaces in the city are connected with consumption, there are very few 'free spaces' anymore. For example the benches in Picadilly gardens have built in anti- skating features to prevent people from using the space in a recreational way.
This idea made me think about the rooftop space and how it could be a kind of sanctuary from the rest of the city and feature design to counter conformity.

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hollings/events/mmu-connect.php