ARTS THREAD: Tell us a little about yourself

Katharina Eisenkoeck: I am designer-maker focusing on lighting and product design. Before setting up my own studio I started off my creative education in architecture at the Technical University in Vienna. A year later I went on to complete my BA in Arts Design and Environment at Central Saint Martins. Shortly after graduation I become an interior and exhibition designer at Lomography where, for two years, I travelled and worked in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Tokyo where I project managed my designs for Lomography gallery stores.

Despite the excitement of this terrific opportunity at Lomo I was becoming attracted to hand-made products In 2011 I decided to set up my own studio while completing my MA Designer Maker degree at Camberwell College of Arts where I graduated in 2012.

AT: What will you be showing at One Year On?

KE: At One Year On I will be showing some of my current leather and concrete lighting and a new outdoor light as an extension of this popular range.

AT: Can you tell us the inspiration behind the collection?

KE: The collection of concrete and leather lights are a series of portable light solutions that are focused on flexible needs and a contemporary paced lifestyle while using traditional materials in unexpected combinations with ancient techniques.

Prior to the early 20th century leather was a common material for the traveller, employed in a variety of objects ranging from flasks to suitcases and armoury.

I’m keen to demonstrate leather’s forgotten potential; in this range of lighting I’m highlighting leather’s capability as structural reinforcement. This can be achieved by ancient methods of boiling and shaping leather, a technique called Cuir Bouilli. Leather is the forerunner of modern day injection-moulded plastics, that most contemporary luggage is made from. Hence my interest in using leather as a principle material for a 21st century range of nomadic lighting that houses LED wireless power transfer technology.

AT: What are you looking forward to most at OYO?

KE: New connections. Preparing for a show is a great and necessary motivator to develop and prune new work. A show as important as OYO compels you to be aware of where you stand in this competitive market.

AT: What do you hope to gain by exhibiting at OYO?

KE: A husband, ha ha!

For more Q&As with this year’s One Year On exhibitors, follow the New Designers thread.

From 13-17 May, the MA graduates will exhibit their work at the LCC Nursery Gallery. Pieces on display will range from photographic to multimedia projects.

Uter Beyer will present Heimlich, a photo essay which explores 20 homes of impoverished people living in Tbilisi, Georgia. Tracey Fahy will show Rampage, an art installation that explores dance and news photography. Gunta Podina’s imagery will look at the everyday lives of Swedish people and what they do during their leisure time. Daniel Weill, will show a set of images based on the subject of time.

The landscape of Bosnia-Herzegovina serves as the subject matter for Lara Ciarabellini’s project Somnambulism. Veronika Lukasova has taken inspiration from space exploration, technology and particle physics for her project Machinate Mammal and Franziska Rieder created a book that explains how it feels to be a mother and an artist living in Germany.

Max Colson’s Hide and Seek is a cheeky project that unveils the sneaky, suspicious nature of plants. Linka Odom’s Spinning Compass project features a series of portraits of travelers she has encountered. Sahide Sanin’s images capture London’s Dalston area in the borough of Hackney.

Richard English tackles the tough subject of bereavement in his project Recollect while Italo Morales aims to shed light on the lives of young people living in Sarajevo with his book of portraits and candid shots. Christina Vazou’s Behind the Scene of the Greek Crisis is an incredibly personal project that shows her family’s struggle during the economic crisis in Greece.

For more of the latest Photography news, follow the Photography thread.

ARTS THREAD: Tell us a little about yourself 

Grace Hamilton: I am a contemporary jewellery designer that creates handcrafted pieces of statement jewellery. I put a contemporary twist on traditional techniques such as crochet, knotting and embroidery and strive to showcase them in new and exciting ways. I come from a small town in Northern Ireland and I went on to study embroidery at Manchester School of Art. Since graduating in 2010 I have continued to develop and refine my techniques and have established my own personal signature style. I was selected to participate in the 2013 Crafts Council’s Hothouse programme and have really been utilizing this year to develop my business, make connections  and network with other makers. I have also just been selected to participate in Selfridges’ Bright Young Things campaign launching this summer,  a really exciting opportunity to take over a Selfridges window space and have my jewellery collection showcased within store!

AT: What will you be showing at One Year On? 

GH: I will be exhibiting a selection of pieces from my latest collection plus some new pieces. The collection features handcrafted statement neck pieces, each piece having been meticulously hand crocheted and therefore entirely unique.

AT: Can you tell us the inspiration behind the collection/s?

GH: I am inspired by a mix of natural forms, art, sculpture as well as by design. One of my main sources of inspiration however is traveling. I am particularly inspired by the time I spent in Tanzania and Zanzibar.  I remain captivated by Africa’s rich culture and traditions, by their use of colour and pattern and am drawn to their beautiful design and architecture.  I also seek out markets wherever I go,  as they are always overflowing with vibrancy, full of interesting shapes, smells and colours as well as wondering people. The inspiration for my work is a real cocktail of experiences, and I find myself influenced by the most surprising things daily.

AT: What are you looking forward to most at OYO?

GH: I am excited to exhibit alongside the other amazing makers and having the opportunity to continue to network and build relationships. I am also interested to receive feedback from an audience that may not have previously seen my work.

AT: What do you hope to gain by exhibiting at OYO? 

GH: OYO is a fantastic opportunity to showcase my work to a wider audience, I would like to meet potential new buyers and Galleries interested in stocking or exhibiting my work. I also hope to gain some valuable press exposure, and of course build on my network of contacts.

For more Q&As with this year’s One Year On exhibitors, follow the New Designers thread.

Chloe Taylor  (Nottingham Trent University) encourages readers to ‘embrace their ugly’ with her magazine which is full of images targeting the parts of the body people are most self conscious about and celebrating them. Fellow Nottingham student Ashley Dean, meanwhile, has created a charming children’s story which tackles the themes of diversity and body ideals through a rich, colourful narrative.

‘Through this zine we have tried to show beauty is relative and changeable, it cannot be defined or limited. So how can we allow ourselves to think we are not beautiful?’ explains Neha Bhushan (The Arts University College Bournemouth)

When creating her magazine, Sophie Marjoram (Nottingham Trent University) wanted to promote seeing a more diverse range of beauty and body ideals to help people think more positively about themselves.

Tilly Sleven  (University of Brighton) has created a magazine which is almost like a colouring book for adults. It encourages readers to get in touch with their playful side while reflecting on their perceptions of personal appearance.

Diversity NOW! is brought to you in association with i-D Magazine and supported by ARTS THREAD, Graduate Fashion Week, Own Label and sponsored by Succeed Foundation.

For more information and to find out about the other finalists, follow the Diversity Now thread.

In the run-up to the event, ARTS THREAD takes a look at last year’s winners.

Justin Anderson won the prize for Best Fashion FIlm and Best idea for his work Get Richard. The video, created for Vogue Italia starred up-and-coming designer Richaed Nicoll. The narrative shows the designer being bound and gagged before being dumped in the middle of the desert.

Tata Christiane won the prize for Best Fashion for her Comet Club collection, which featured in a fashion film created by Das Schloss.The gritty film shows models wearing Tata’s designs following a comet to its point of impact where they discover a human-alien being.

“The Game of Things” by Cristian Straub for Ethel Vaughn from Cristian Straub on Vimeo.

The Game of Things by Cristian Straub won the prize for Best Cinematography. The film, commissioned by Hamburg fashion brand Ethel Vaughn, is heavily inspired by the cinema of the late 60s and early 70s and depicts a woman mourning the end of a relationship, before taking a strange turn.

Calum MacDiarmid took home the prize for best music for his score for the short film Stamen, starring Katie Ball and Graham Dickson. And Guido Verelst and Dodi Espinosa were awarded the Best Esmod Production prize for their video shot in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerd, which is closed for renovations until 2017.

To apply for this year’s Berlin Fashion Film Festival click here. Deadline is 15 May.

FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2013 returns for its fifth edition, running for nine days from 31 May. The interdisciplinary event will feature a fashion shows, exhibitions, performances as well as pop-up shops, workshops and presentations throughout several locations in Maastricht.

Designers participating in the FASHIONCLASH runway shows include Netherlands-based designers Linda Friesen and MCFOOL, plus SQUAT // Young @ Squat will present several up-and-coming fashion designers from Slovenia. German designers Franziska Michael and Tata Christiane will also show their latest collections alongside the likes of Pierre Antoine Vettorello, DIORALOP, Uta Bekaia and many more.

A former factory in Mosa will act as the temporary home of this year’s exhibitions. Visitors will be able to view collection by designers such as Ann Boogaerts and Yvonne Laufer and photography by ike van der Ent, jewellery by Milan Stamenovic as well as textile designs and installations.

Visitors will also be able to view the 2012 programme of the Berlin fashion film festival.

At the Museum aan het Vrijthof (starting 5 June) FASHIONCLASH will exhibit some of the previous FASHIONCLASH highlights and work by Ann Boogaerts, Joelle Boers, Bregje Cox, Gabriel Guevara and Ingo Binder.

FASHIONCLASH runs from May 31 to 9 June 09 2013. For more information about the program visit www.fashionclash.nl

For more posts about fashion, follow the FASHION THREAD.

In her photography, Sarah Xuanyi Liu (Central Saint Martins) wants to celebrate the beauty of the individual: ‘We are all beautiful in our own different ways, whether it is to do with our ethnicity, size or age…perfection does not belong to the minority.’ Jessica Latchman (Basingstoke College of Technology) has created beautiful, layered montages of woman from different eras and ethnicities to celebrate the differences between them. Twinks Burnett (The Arts university College Bournemouth) has created playful imagery where people of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds are encouraged to break free and embrace their inner child.

Natalia Lipchanskaya (London College of Fashion) focuses her work on women over 50, and how they feel they are ignored by the media and marketers.
Peter Marsh (School of Design University of Leeds), meanwhile, wants to celebrate his model’s sense of style and beauty without drawing attention to his disability: ‘The model in this photograph has a physical disability; he is a hemiplegic and cannot use his right hand. The photograph shows both arms, one being noticeably smaller than the other. Although this is may not appear to be obvious to the untrained eye I wanted to show it in this way.’ Rebecca Eland (Northumbria University) fixates her work on society’s obsession with skinny models.

Elena Kroell’s (Solent University Southampton)  Mr Pearl  inspired photography aims to encourage men to be less restricted in the way they dress. ‘The future should be that men can dress like they want, nobody should restrict them or laugh about them.’ explains Elena. Nk Abani (University of East London) has created incredibly powerful images of young albino models.

Sophia Harding and Frankie McKernon (Solent University Southampton) collaborated with one another to create a set of images exploring the female body and Luke Arthur Wells (University Of Central Lancashire) examines the concept of English gentry, race and what it truly means to be British.

Diversity NOW! is brought to you in association with i-D Magazine and supported by ARTS THREAD, Graduate Fashion Week, Own Label and sponsored by Succeed Foundation.

For more information and to find out about the other finalists, follow the Diversity Now thread.

London College of Fashion student Brogan Toyn’s colourful menswear collection aims to address the way gay black men are represented in fashion and in the the black community. Laura Worthington from Nottingham Trent University created a fashion collection that embraces different body types not usually catered to in the fashion industry. Jiaqi Zhong (Glasgow School of Art) took inspiration from the unconventional beauty of Tilda Swinton when creating her collection.

Edinburgh college of art student Eleanor Paulin and Georgina Mulholland from The Arts University College Bournemouth both criticise the unachievable ‘ideal’ body shape perpetuated by fashion imagery with their womenswear collections, while LCF student Shabnam Eslambolchi aims to communicate the identity of the Persian nation.

Growing up, Andrew Dhesi (Edinburgh College of Art) had very few role models who shared his south Asian heritage. For his collection, he has taken visual cues from traditional Asian costume and given it a contemporary twist. Danya Sjadzali (University of Creative Arts Epsom) took influence from Middle Eastern and Western historical burlesque costumes  and Heather Dooley (Edinburgh) has visually represented the geographical aspect of diversity in her collection.

Diversity NOW! is brought to you in association with i-D Magazine and supported by ARTS THREAD, Graduate Fashion Week, Own Label and sponsored by Succeed Foundation.

For more information and to find out about the other finalists, follow the Diversity Now thread.

Ten designers from Konstfack will show projects around the theme of Negative Space at New York’s ICFF from 18-21 May 2013. Described as ‘a series of individual explorations of negative space, culminating in an intriguing interplay between form, memory, movement, light and time’, ARTS THREAD takes a preview.

Synapse by Alexandra Denton is ‘inspired by our grey matter. Divided in two hemispheres, left and right, a clever structure where each part has its fundamental role: shaping forms and connections, storing information and collecting memories. Every element that lives in our brain influences our unique interpretations of the world, and that is my fascination. What would you store, how and in what order?’

‘Framing a space changes its purpose, a new meaning inhabits it’ says Fredrik Hojman, Maja Frögård and Sofia Josephson, the creators of the Light Habitat lamp. ‘The transparent construction holds a momentary air and makes layers and the space they capture visible. Negative space, surface and frame together create the conditions for their interdependence. Assembled they constitute the light Habitat.’

Iina Vuorivirta explains through the project Noir how mirrors have provided us with an image of ourselves. ‘They have raised our curiosity and made us question our identity. Their nature, deceiving and ambiguous, has given us a tool for self-awareness. Through the polished brass surfaces I want to pay attention to the spaces forgotten or taken for granted, creating a visual and tangible evidence of belonging – To make possible a poetic coexistence of imagination and realism.’

Spin by Dutch designer Daphne Zuilhof is a collapsible stool that turns from a simple compact shape to an open complex one. With Spin meaning spider in Dutch, we see how ‘in its unfolding movement Spin’s geometrical lines frame the created negative space, embracing the emptiness. Performing its choreography with calculated precision, Spin expresses its intent of capturing a very specific space.’

‘Corners in a space have always been un-noticed, dirty and dark. Yu-Ching Chiang would like to enrich the corner’s character with Skin and Bone. The shape of the dustpan is designed to be a 90 degree triangle shape which will fit into the corner just fine. When the user is cleaning the house, they don’t bring the dust pan with them. All they need to do is to brush dust into the corner where the dustpan awaits. The broom shape slots neatly into the dust basket, creating one solid form. Skin and Bone is not only an utility item for the home, but also an elegant object for every forgotten corner.’

Created by Amyel Oliveros, Covered ‘is a family of curious looking objects made in food-friendly glass and cork. This set of objects show the correlation between negative space and functionality. By adding cuts, holes, slits and indents on simple shapes the designer creates new negative spaces. In turn the shapes become functional artefacts that perform various tasks for the kitchen and dining area. A teapot, salt and pepper shaker, milk pitcher and salad dressing mixer are among Covered’s many abilities.’

Explained as the process by which living cells divide, Mitosis by Gemma Lord replicates the way in which the cell nucleus is split and two new, identical cells containing the same genome as the original cell are formed. ‘In relation to negative space, mitosis can be seen as a process by which the negative space is filled, with each cell division producing that number of cells to the power of two. In this way the population of cells multiplies indefinitely, colonising the surfaces of the two side tables.

‘In stark contrast to our copy, paste and share culture of today, these tables took time to make. The tables are made from ash, and each ‘cell’ is individually cast in porcelain. When interacting with their tactile surfaces, the tables invoke sensuality, fragility and possibly even suffocation in our overly saturated society.’

Rise and Shine by Kajsa Jacobson explores ‘the negative space, the unused space in between and inside an object, how it can affect light and the usage of a product. This lamp has no light switch. It operates by increasing or decreasing the internal negative space. As the shade rises the light and the negative space increases. To turn the light off simply do the opposite and slide the shade downwards until it stops at the base and the light goes out.’

Berg by Arash Eskafi ‘is a contemporary object which plays with the notion of building your own space. The negative spaces in between becomes occupied and are changeable depending on how you layer your clothes. Berg is a piece of furniture for all of the clothing that gathers up in your living space. Create borders through your actions, throw your garments and build upon your own mountain of clothes.

‘Perfect for those who tend to leave their clothes sprawled all over the floor than neatly organized in their closets. Berg was conceptualised when studying the patterns of how people behave the first 5 minutes when they enter their homes. Instead of throwing your jacket, sweater, scarf, or whatever else you might have on the floor, bed or stool. Berg offers a positive solution to something, otherwise considered negative.’

A second project by Amyel Oliveros is Pillow Light that mixes the material Acrystal with air. Amyel says: ‘The results were unique. Each pillow is different in its form, weight, and opacity. Playfulness is frozen in time. To play is to be subversive. I subverted the expectations of the pillow. Where one is soft I made it hard. Where one is pliable I made it brittle. And yet they both provide comfort in their own way.’

Sofia Lazzeri‘s Beams is ‘a family of lamps where light is poetically visualised as a physical beam, a tangible negative space. An homage to the most fascinating and fundamental phenomenon. Casted light is captured and becomes matter, constituting a magical support that creates an intriguing illusion. The warm atmosphere enhances the contrast between the dark stone-like top and the delicate foggy glass.’

Negative Space by Konstfack runs May 18-21 at ICFF, New York.

Diversity in fashion campaigners All Walks have selected a shortlist of entries for its 2013 Diversity NOW! competition. All the entries were uploaded exclusively onto ARTS THREAD’s portfolio platform. In this post, we look at the finalists in the Illustration category.

Students from 33 schools across the UK, specialising in illustration, journalism, photography, magazines and fashion design were selected for the final. Category winners, along with an overall winner, are currently being selected by a judging panel full of industry heavy hitters including William Tempest, Deborah Milner and blogger DisneyRollerGirl.

University of the West of England, Bristol student Nicole McCartney has been selected for her illustrative work celebrating the beauty of amputees and people with physical differences.

Georgia Fowler-Evans (Nottingham Trent University) created a series of illustrations called Outsize Rightsize, which focus on plus size models in the fashion industry while Megan Clinch (Northumbria University) explores race and questions the industry’s Westernised ideal of beauty.

Lasha Demetrashvili (London College of Fashion) interprets the aesthetics of the Qajar woman in contemporary society,  Benjamin Sherwood (Liverpool John Moores University), meanwhile, celebrates Beth Ditto as a fashion icon and a positive role model.

Aimee Beagrie (Northumbria Univesity) creates illustrations that depict the changing ideals of beauty within the fashion industry and  Hannah Wallace (New College Nottingham) explores the way African and Caribbean women are portrayed in fashion.

Diversity NOW! is brought to you in association with i-D Magazine and supported by ARTS THREAD, Graduate Fashion Week, Own Label and sponsored by Succeed Foundation.

All of the illustration finalists have a portfolio on ARTS THREAD. Why not create a portfolio of your own? Sign up here.

Follow ARTS THREAD’s Illustration Tag for more posts.