Shayley Kim
Week 1
- Various ways of Sustainability
There are a variety of sustainable design techniques. According on this website (https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/sustainable-fashion/0/steps/13558) that is recommended on ‘Introduction to Fashion Textile’ PDF, it introduces several methods. There are zero waste pattern cutting, design for longevity, and multi-functional. In addition, upcycling is announced as one of the ways of sustainable skill. People who use this technique can create valuable works such as fashion products or art works from wastes or unused materials.
2. At Tate Modern
Here are two artworks that I inspired.
The first one is Andrea Bowers’ ‘The Workers Maypole, An Offering for May Day 1894 (2015)’. She used cardboard and permanent markers on her work of art. I was overwhelmed by this artwork. It is because the artwork is huge and sophisticated. I had never thought it was formed from cardboard when I first saw it. It was amazing that I could feel a strong impression using two materials that are easy to find around me.
The second one is Enrico Baj’s ‘ Fire! Fire! (1963-4) ’. This artwork used pieces of figures on the eyes. To exclude this work, Enrico Baj is an artist who has created numerous upcycling works, such as works using recycled medals and found fabrics picked up.
(https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/baj-fire-fire-t01777)
3. Drawing & Making & Embroidery
Firstly, I made plastic seashells by throwing them away.
I was inspired by this photo that I took on Brick Lane. I upcycled the seashells on the wall in my own style. I made seashell shapes using plastic bottles I had at home and then made them using acrylic paint and pearls.
I drew flowers from the ‘Blossom Garden’ nearby uni, the market, and at home on cardboard using different materials such as line pens, oil pastels, and watercolours.
The flower embroideries were made using discarded fabric that was found at school, spangles, thread and pearls found at home. Most of the time, I usually draw on white paper, however, I utilise cardboard that I would not normally use. Therefore, I think this activity is meaningful. While painting and embroidery using upcycling, I realised that I could find more materials around me that I thought.
The fashion industry is causing diverse environmental pollution due to fast fashion. Clothes and fabrics that are thrown away or unsold are dumped into landfills. For this reason huge mountains of waste are created. Furthermore, because of waste mountains, and the process of making clothes, microplastics are released. These microplastics affect our bodies. (https://pirg.org/california/articles/the-fashion-industry-waste-is-drastically-contributing-to-climate-change/) To minimise this situation, I feel that students who are studying fashion and designers should think about sustainable fashion and slow fashion.
2. Emerging Technologies in Fashion
Due to recent technological advancements, various new technologies are appearing in the fashion industry. Numerous people can access these technologies more easily than they think, such as garments using 3D printing technology, fashion shows using virtual models, and fashion items that can be purchased in virtual space. In addition, artists can produce various works using programs such as Photoshop and 3D CLO, and furthermore, by using these programs, they can save time, money, and fabric.
Balenciaga’s fall campaign, released in 2021, presented a fashion show using deep learning and a virtual runway. Only one model was human, and the other models were virtual models who decorated the runway. Music was also created by AI through learning.
(https://brunch.co.kr/@zskeem/504)
This is just an example of textiles and garments using 3D printers mentioned in the preface.
To give a few examples, there are antibacterial fibres made from various plants and waterproof fabrics made using plasma.
(https://textilelearner.net/sustainable-textile-finishing/)
Anrealage’s FW23 showed off white clothes that changed various colours. This is because the garments used photochromic fibres that change colour when exposed to UV rays. Photochromic fabrics change colour when exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet rays due to changes in the structure of the dye. This technology is used in sunglasses that are transparent indoors but change colour when outdoors.
(https://dafanew.com/39/?idx=14367104&bmode=view)
Through this activity, I drew a digital artwork.
There are a variety of basic brushes, however the lace decoration on the bonnet has the advantage of saving time because it is a flower-shaped brush. It is difficult to create the same colour when painting on paper, however I think one of the advantages of a digital program is that people do not have to feel subtle differences in colour because the program checks the same colour.
3. Nature
Through lectures and useful links, I learned that there are soil pollution caused by fast fashion, water pollution caused by microplastics and chemical dyes, death of animals caused by the use of leather, and forest problems caused by trees used in textiles that used cellulose. I think what I can do right now is to reduce the use of washing machines by doing laundry all at once to reduce microplastic emissions, use reusable paper, and obtain textiles through natural dyeing.
As part of this activity, I dyed the leftover fabric I had at home.
The white knit fabric was dyed with coffee and tea as materials. Salt was used to reduce colour loss. The fabric where it is located on the left is the fabric when it is not dyed. The fabric in the middle is dyed according to standard methods. The fabric is made by dissolving coffee and tea in hot water using a whisk, mixing them with wet fabric, adding salt to first fix the colour, and then boiling it in boiling water for 20 minutes. I experimented with the fabric on the right because I was curious about the results. After skipping the entire process, I added coffee and tea to boiling water and added less salt. It came out lighter colour than the textile experiment done according to the standard method, but there was no significant difference. The water seems to drain faster. I know there are lots of materials for dyeing fabric. Next time, I want to use onion, rose and logwood for dyeing.
The second activity involved making patterns using leftover vegetable roots.
The paper used was reusable paper.
This photo was created from leftover green onions painted on reusable paper. From then, I used photoshop and made patterns and changed colours.
These photos were made by stamping cabbage and pak choi roots on reusable paper.
These are also edited by photoshop.
4. Cultural Sustainability
As described in the link, textile art began a long time ago and has developed to this day. The story of ‘Arachne’ from Greek and Roman mythology is also a part of textile art, and textile art with its own characteristics has been developed in each country.
(https://art.art/blog/art-history-101-unraveling-the-history-of-textile-art)
The photo is a tapestry piece I took at V&A. This work was created in France around 1500. Referring to V&A’s description of the work, it is said to be a work in the ‘millefleurs’ style that was popular in France at the time. Although there are no photographs of other works, there is also a tapestry of the ‘Trojan War’ with historical content in the tapestry space. (https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-war-of-troy-tapestry)
Through this topic, I would like to introduce my favourite Korean designer, Minju Kim.
Minju Kim is one of the designers famous for actively utilising traditional Korean elements in her designs.
The collection is Minju Kim’s 2020 fw collection. The season was led with the theme of ‘Bari’. ‘Bari’ is one of the characters in Korean folktales. To summarise the story briefly, the king, who had six daughters, gained one more princess. This princess was ‘Bari’, and the king abandoned her. The princess was found and raised by an old married couple, and the king became sick. In order to cure the king’s illness, he had to bring medicine from the underworld. Bari voluntarily wanted to get this medicine. She works under the god of medicine and does hard work, and later marries the god. Only then did Bari obtain the medicine and bring it for the king. Unfortunately, the king was already dead. However, due to the medicine, the king comes back to life. Bari returns to the underworld and becomes a god. This collection contains these Bari elements. A traditional pattern was used on the skirt in the first photo, and the silhouette of the clothings had a feel of traditional clothing.
I drew a girl wearing Korean traditional clothes on an Ipad.
These days, in the fashion world, there has been an increase in the number of cases of introducing collections by reinterpreting various races and various cultures. As tradition and culture are involved, I think designers and brands should think more deeply and carefully lead the collection so that people belonging to that culture are not hurt.
5. Empathy
Empathy plays an important role in human interactions. This is because if someone is unable to empathize, she or he may appear rude or hurt others because they do not understand them.
The first thing I want to introduce is one of the tools for empathy. Besides the fat suits introduced in the lecture, there are suits designed to sympathize with pregnant women. This photo is a part of an article posted by a Korean reporter about his experiences while wearing a maternity suit for a day.
(https://www.donga.com/news/Society/article/all/20170929/86598555/1)
The reporter said that his back hurts just by sitting and that the maternity suit presses on his abdomen, making him want to go to the toilet often.
Through this maternity suit experience, people can empathize with not only men, but also women who are considering getting pregnant.
The second person I would like to introduce is Amy Mullins. Although she was born without a calf bone and has always used her prosthetic legs, she is not only an athlete but also works as an actress and model. Amy Mullins joins her Tad where she tells us her story about her legs, how she landed the magazine shoot, and more. Those who would like to hear her story should do so through this link.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ0iMulicgg)
Just as empathy is important in conversations and in understanding people, I think empathy for designers is also important. As described in ‘cultural sustainability’, to avoid hurting others in the cultural aspect, deep cultural study is necessary, however, I think that empathy and understanding are necessary to do this deep cultural study.
I personally love the responses that you have created with each subject. Week by week you display a strong level of understanding and are willing to experiment. There is a level of fun and curiosity within each art piece that you create. I personally enjoy the fact that there is always a story behind your work, there is meaningful intent behind it which makes your work so much more immersive. With this being said, I also think you should be a little bit more explorative with your responses. I see that a lot of your work presented is more or less a literal representation of what you have seen or learned. Although this is a great display of your technical abilities, I think you should push yourself a little bit more to draw into one specific thing you like about the images or the topics you’ve researched and respond solely to that, such as if there is a specific emotion displayed in one of the images you’ve researched for empathy, focus on that and translate it differently with a colour or texture that represents it. I say this because not only do I think it will give you a new perspective as a creative, it will also allow for us to understand you a bit more as a designer, on what you are personally drawn to, and how you calculate what goes well together and what doesn’t through a natural flow of experimentation, rather than a slightly methodological approach. Nevertheless, I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog! It’s rather impressive and I’ve found pleasure in exploring it!
Thank you for giving advise and compliment of my works, Prisca! I will think about week 5 drawing or artwork, and upload it.