Today I met with Design Academy Eindhoven student Brandon Chow, to talk about intergenerational cooperation and the sociocultural approach given to my research tasks as part of Baltan Laboratories occupant social design program. Some research will be filmed as part of my film.
It couldn’t be any different. So far, more or less, everything I’ve developed professionally, that is, from translating the diary of an undergraduate student in Amsterdam born with brain damage, to the later above, engages sociocultural and cross-cultural perspectives. Such method, is thanks to seeing my career in culture and education as in filmmaking, more as social rather than cognitive activities. My approach to second-hand clothing consumption won’t be any different. It all will have a cross-cultural intergenerational comparison between young and older consumers in the community. This challenge, plus Brandon’s multicultural background in Canada, brought me back to my life in Toronto before moving to the Netherlands, and read over current consumer behaviour findings. Compared to mid 2000’s, Canada’s population hasn’t changed much in this regard. The population continues to have a high and diversified level of mass consumption with purchases mostly made in mass retailers and shopping centres. However, neighbourhood malls are no longer popular and many have disappeared for online shopping to take over and increase heavily. According to latest data provided by Statistics Canada, the total spending of Canadian online shoppers reached over $50 billion in 2018, compared to $18 billion in 2012, with nearly above 80% of Internet users buying services locally. However, goods continue to be mainly produced internationally and now are mostly purchased online due to pandemic reasons. Imported products also continue to be considered more attractive due to the continuous immigration influence in consumer behaviour, especially with regards to food products. The government has addressed this minus point most recently by putting in place several regulations to control the nascent trend of buying things made in Canada. Health concerns and health awareness continues to be steady among Canadian consumers where sustainable consumption, and the purchases of ethical or organic products are on the rise, where the second hand market has been growing. Reports show that in 2019, the trend for locally produced is particularly high among 18–24-year- olds, with consumers being more willing to buy at a higher price tag if clothes items are more sustainable. #consumerbehaviour #textiles #socialdesign #research #documentary
0 Comments
The connections between electronic music and design are endless. Plus, the discipline of filmmaking involves conceptual, compositional and technical practices to create and integrate audio elements into a production.
Today, I met with sound designer Leon van Bokhorst who is going to help me out to develop a sound experiment involving textiles for something that I call, a global, yet, unique imagery of sounds and textiles for my social design residency project at Baltan Laboratories. Eventually, this experiment will be exhibited and also, part of my film production in the making LIFE IS A CULTURAL THREAD. More fun news on the horizon! #globalsounds #electronicmusic #socialdesign Last night, we social designers occupants, presented our projects funded by Baltan Laboratories to different people in the field, including local and international non-profit organisations. The event took place in Kelderman en van Noort, an architectural treasure in Strijp-S in Eindhoven city.
In no other spirits than happiness and excitement, I got to shared about my social residency intergenerational project part of my film documentary currently in development (LIFE IS A ) CULTURAL THREAD, and the social and cultural layers in it to shed light to textile designers using alternative methods to bring them to life. Entrepreneur Monica Flores Moreno owner of Turasnu clothing boutique in Maastricht in the Netherlands, works directly with indigenous Mexican women, families and communities in, or from Chiapas and Oaxaca in Mexico, who are involved in the tradition of textile making with alternative approaches since long. The importance of intergenerational collaboration, how to address environmental issues in the textile making process, as men supporting women in art, and other women working together with women designers and entrepreneurs, are also part of this full of live narrative. For the next few months I’ll be in full mode conducting further research as on how the designing of garments end up affecting our daily lives, how circularity works, and on thermo-mechanical processes used in the reuse of yarns. More stories are on the way! #socialdesign #textiles #documentary #research Sometimes it’s not art what inspires our lives but passionate families, couples, friends, and even colleagues or people we meet around the corner.
This audiovisual portrays the temporary textile art installation I made today at Baltan Laboratories with some handmade women’s garments by my dear grandmother and mother, by artist Christie van der Haak, by texture and textile designer Carolyn Raff and art historian Rosa Aray H.. All of them part of my film project (Life Is A) Cultural Thread. As a social designer in residence at the laboratories, my study focuses on alternative sustainable consumerism as the reuse of textiles and fabrics in fashion. What inspired my installation was the iconic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude artworks noted for wrapping up from objects to buildings, as for Christo’s large-scale environmental installations. The data collected during my residency, specially that on how the textile circularity works including the thermomechanical processing, will also be part of an exhibition when the program concludes. #socialdesign #culture #textiles #artinstallation These collages are of Cultural Thread, my research project in alternative sustainable consumerism as the reuse of textiles and fabrics in fashion, carried out as part of my film documentary in the making LIFE IS A CULTURAL THREAD (2022). Design by Hugo Pilate featuring artists, designers, and entrepreneurs in the documentary: Christie van der Haak, Carolyn Raff, Mónica Flores Moreno, Satomi Minoshima, Pauline Agustoni, Rosa Aray H and knit work by Guadalupe Villagomez de Calderón de la Barca and J. del Carmen Calderón de la Barca Villagomez. Photos by Niek T. Klasen and Viviana M. Calderón de la Barca Made at Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven, Netherlands. As I made my way to BaltanLaboratories.org, for my first day this week as a social designer in residency, the morning was sunny gorgeous and my bike ride was busy with other bikers and people enjoying the summer city day outdoors. Life feels as though it has returned to Eindhoven, after over a year of lockdowns. The spirits remain high throughout the day - so ready for the challenge ahead! Sarie and Leif (officers of the program), gave us a warm welcome inclusive of coffee, lunch, and a wrap up with huge smiles under the sun. More about us all and our first event here. Your are all welcome to join! #socialdesign #documentary Welcome to (Life Is A) Cultural Thread Blog!
This space is home to all the great news about my social design residency at Baltan Laboratories to carry on research in sustainable consumerism and eventual reuse of textile and clothing (writes Viviana). Eindhoven city in the Netherlands is home to a diverse creative community, and it is here where Baltan Laboratories has its quarters. Right at the birthplace of once Philips' Physics Laboratory established in 1923, Gilles Holst, then director of the lab, had welcomed renowned scientists such as Albert Einstein. Today, the lab is a flexible collaborative platform where future thinking takes place by boosting research, mainly but not limited, in technology, the arts and social design throughout all activities. These projects translate into investigation for further development and promotion of the laboratory concept via practices on a local and international level, as every year as part of Dutch Design Week. It is at this address, at Kastanjelaan 500 in Strijp area, a symbol of the city’s successful transformation, where my laptop will be from September to the following four months thanks to the organisation taking my proposal on board. You are all welcome to visit, share a drink, and exchange ideas and feedback for dialogue to build a better future. I may achieve differently than Albert Einstein and not be the one who'll find the cure for Covid-19, yet to say the least, I am thankful for this opportunity to join our voices together and make a difference. #vmcdelabarca #documentary #culture #socialdesign |