A free networking event for secondary school textiles and art teachers.
An interview and chat with freelance printed textiles designer, Emma Wilson, who specialises in commercial prints for the fashion industry.
Rachel Addy, an AO, teaching at GMS Marlow, also a Textile Skills Centre associate member, has passed on her newly found creative skills, gained at a recent eco-printing workshop with Fiona Balding, to a group of prospective year 6 students in a ‘eco-friendly Food & Textile summer workshop’.
The aim of the workshop was to educate the students about the harmful effects of chemical & plastic waste on the environment whilst also encouraging them to think about ways they can use natural resources to create a reusable eco-product.
Textiles teamed up with the food department where the students baked a loaf of bread. This is where we opened a conversation about plastics that are used in bread packaging. The students then came over to the textiles department to make an eco-printed piece of fabric that could then be used as an alternative way to store bread (classic Dick Whittington). We embarked on conversations regarding single and multiple-use textiles and continued to develop this into textiles lead debate regarding plastics used in fashion manufacturing.
The students really enjoyed their day, especially foraging for leaves and creating beautiful and unique fabric pieces from their finds.
Each student took home a loaf of bread, a fabric wrap, and a story to tell their parents and carers as to why we should reduce the amount of plastic we use.
First Published in CLEAPSS ‘Futureminds 4′ – Feb 2017 (online)
3D Printed Skirt…….
As we ‘STEAM’ ahead with new technologies and the move towards mass customization, what are the implications on the arts and of what will be a dramatic and impending shift in how our world works. The so-called 4th industrial revolution brings us unlimited possibilities with the convergence of mind-boggling computer power, ever-smarter artificial intelligence (AI) and globalization, all combining to challenge our understanding of what it means to be a ‘worker’.
Indeed, some profess that automation and AI will remove the need to work, or, for the more cynical, take people’s jobs. None of this is a surprise, but while it is easy to be worried by the implications of automation and AI, a closer look at the nature of humans, computers and how they interact makes us think carefully about the future and how the arts will contribute.
Humans are social creatures and the way we learn and interact depends on our interactions with others. We know that you can learn more by discussing or working with someone than by lonesome book reading. IT and AI can do the easy stuff that we once spent hours doing, but what it can’t do is be creative, innovate, inspire or motivate. We are good at creating and the need for ideas and innovation is behind the new D&T GCSE.
However, in recent years, STEM subjects have been at the forefront of worldwide initiatives in education, with encouragement and funding being pushed towards science, technology, engineering and maths, at the expense of creative subjects, particularly in the UK. These STEM skills are undoubtedly essential both socially and economically to keep the world ticking and developing, but we can get a computer to sort our mathematical problems and robots to build our cars! What we need is designers and creatives to enhance our world.
In fact, in the UK, we are in a time when the creative industries are a huge economic success, employing over 2.6m people. That equates to 1 in every 12 jobs!Research has shown that industries which combine creative with STEM skills (STEAM), can outperform those that don’t. (nesta.org). It is old news to those of us in the creative industries to hear that arts skills aren’t just a ‘nice’ thing to do/have, an ‘add on’, but play a vital role in the UK economy. Likewise, in education we need to nurture students to be flexible, intuitive, collaborative and creative – essential skills needed for a workforce in a world undergoing profound changes.
We are also seeing increased demand for ‘craft’ skills and education in a variety of arts and crafts. The gradual understanding of sustainability, environmental issues, economic, gender and ethical equality etc. are bringing about changes in society’s needs and demands, with focus on less rather than more, quality and value. Highly skilled crafts are becoming respected again as something we should value and that will support our society to become relevant, economically stable and add value to our lives.
Mass customization will require innovative, skilled crafts people to deliver bespoke products with the support of AI and automation. 3D printed products need the product/building designing as well as the hard and software behind it. Mass customized garments made to your own measurements need a creative to design the fabrics and the styles as well as the software and machines to produce it.
The world is going through its biggest change ever and we need to ensure we have a society that can deal with the challenges this brings. Scientists, mathematicians, engineers and creatives are equally required to deliver a future that supports and enhances the human in all ways. Innovation, diversity, flexibility and collaboration will see the next generations enjoy the fruits of this 4th ‘industrial’ revolution.
STEAMCo.org http://www.steamco.org.uk/home#creativity
Can Robots Transform the Garment Industry?
SEWBO: Watch a robot sew a shirt from start to finish: https://youtu.be/oeSu9Vcu0DU
SEWING ROBOTS: https://youtu.be/BA96-WX-oXc
3D Printed garments: http://danitpeleg.com
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