Lubna Chowdhary

Lubna Chowdhary

Ceramic tiles & products.

Johanna Basford

Johanna Basford

Hand printed wallpapers and home accessories.

New York brand Mother

Mother

Lela Tillem and Tim Kaeding recently joined forces to create a line of cashmere-soft jeans called Mother.

'Our idea was to create a brand that captured the excitement of our own newfangled denims. We are able to add a new element to the way people wear jeans in fit fabric finish and now feel.'

They discuss choice of name...

'We also like the various ways the word mother can be used in popular culture – the rocking ‘motha’, the bad mother, the tattooed biker mother, the domineering mother in Hitchcock films. The name really just stuck a chord, it sounded so powerful and tough.'

The website presents great video clips of the 'Mother I'd like to Film' summer 2011 collection. You can download a look book presenting stills of the videos and collection as a pdf file. Also,check out the link to their bedroom stories which presents both video and MP3 clips to help tell stories and discuss what going on in their world.

Product’s physical longevity

Emotional attachment: Developing lasting relationships with our belongings. These days, a product’s physical longevity will not prevent it from being thrown away if the owner no longer wants it. To avoid unnecessary waste of otherwise useful goods, is it time we should start to form emotional bonds with them? An article by Jonathan Chapman (a Senior Lecturer at University of Brighton, UK) discusses how waste is produced by products failing to sustain an emotional attachment to their users.

Design and Emotions

A teacup that shivers in response to its tea going cold. A chair that warms when you sit in it, revealing its aspirations to be soft and comfortable. A pan whose handle becomes impossible to grasp when it becomes hot to the touch. The animate characteristics of these everyday objects allow them to facilitate meaningful interactions with their users by actively responding to their environment and evolving through their conditions of use. Tara Mullaney

Emotions guide, enrich and ennoble life – they provide meaning to everyday existence and render the valuation placed on life and property. Moreover, with the power to entice us to select one particular item from a row of similar products, emotions have a considerable influence on our purchase decisions. Not only are emotions involved in our reasoning about what product to buy, but they also have a significant effect on post-purchase satisfaction and product attachment. In addition, the emotions we experience daily, including those we experience in response to the designed objects that surround us, have been shown to be main determinants of our general well-being. (Marco van Hout)

Through interviews with designers and experts Design and Emotions discuss the emotional content and effect that products, brands and design have.

Keep Calm Gallery

Keep Calm Gallery is an online gallery with prints available from a selection of artists, designers and printmakers from around the world.

In addition to the prints they have a growing collection of unique pieces of original art, postcards and screenprinted cards and a selection of screen printed cotton tea towels.

Gallery Blog Spot

All Tea Towels

All Tea Towels

Online company selling a wide range of cotton

and linen tea towels.

To Dry For

Todryfor

ToDryFor.com is an online boutique specialising in designer tea towels - a husband and wife team based in Oxford, England, sourcing over 100 tea towels from numerous designers.

In addition to acting as a retailer, they also produce their own ToDryFor range of artist-commissioned tea towels, promoting work by both prominent and up-and-coming artists and illustrators.

Teresa Green

Teresa Green a unique range of printed textiles designed and hand printed by Teresa Cole. The company was set up in 2000 after graduating in printed textiles from Loughborough University school of art and design. Fabrics are sourced from within the UK. Linen used comes from Ireland and inks used for printing are all water based.

The importance of the range having a function is also key- the utilitarian, functionality and the design play equal roles.

The items are a canvas for the prints, and are designed around the shape and layout of each object.

Teresa confesses to having a passion for antique kitchenallia- especially kitchen scales and ladle shaped spoons. Her grandparents have also fed her imagination with crammed sheds full of old garden objects and treasures.

Suzanne Lee

Suzanne Lee, London based Senior Research fellow in the school of fashion and textiles at Central Saint Martins in London and creative director of BioCouture, creates garments from cellulose bacteria which grow in a bathtub using only green methods to address ecological issues and to explore the future of fashion design in conjunction with technology. She mixes a green tea solution with sugar solution and introduces yeast which then produces fibers, which in turn form a compact leathery like layer. This layer is then taken and dried out to take the final form. Lee also uses fruits and vegetables like blueberries and beetroot, completely natural products in order to make stains onto the fabrics creating patterns and designs.

''Zombie boy'' face of MUGLER

Rick Genest, the Canadian born Zombie boy as he is most commonly known, is the new face of MUGLER's premier men's collection and the Muse of creative director Nicola Formichetti. Chris Roome from London based creative company Happy Finish has retouched these black and white images by top fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco, which are running as part of a larger campaign that include an online video launch featuring an exclusive new track fromLady Gaga’s new Album ‘Born this Way’. The new MUGLER campaign images are the brainchild of Nicola Formichettiwho is also the stylist of Lady Gaga.

Ada Zanditon

Ada Zanditon uses a range of organic and natural fabrics as well as innovative waste reducing and energy conscious solutions to create sculptural, elegant fashion. The fabrics she uses are ethically sourced and builds personal relationships with small units that manufacture the clothing. All the fabrics she uses are dyed with AZO-free dyes, which mean they won't turn into cancer causing chemicals.

Ivana Helsinki

Ivana Helsinki

Finnish IVANAhelsinki is an independent art and fashion brand.

Behind the brand is the artist Paola Ivana Suhonen whose work includes prints, graphics, short movies, art direction - everything that is involved with the visuals. Paola runs the family-owned company with older sister Pirjo.

BBC2 Programme - Cool Hunters: Levi's

TD4F Level 4 Students: Slow Fashion

BBC2 Programme - Cool Hunters: Levi's

Please watch this video as part of your initial research for unit 3.

Second programme of a three-part documentary on those employed to spot future trends in food and clothing. Christine Detlefsen and Frederik Willems are the designers behind Levi's 'Engineered' jeans range, which halted a slump that had left the company in debt. The program follows the duo scouring the world for new ideas and materials, to create a successful follow-up line. Please Note: you can only view when logged onto the MMU network.

Christopher Raeburn

Christopher Raeburn recycles militarily parachutes and turns them into whimsical creations for a rainy day. You can find his pieces in both Liberty and Browns in London.

Christopher Raeburn: Designer 2 Watch from SRmanitou on Vimeo.

Levi Strauss & Co

Levi Strauss & Co

According to Levi Strauss & Co, sustainability is deeply embedded into their products and are currently aiming to reach beyond the boundaries of the company to influence not only what people wear but the way people think, act and care for our planet. Their website presents current projects and ideas illustrating how the company is addressing these issues, including the current waterless project:

Big Ideas That Changed The World - Consumerism

Jonathon Porritt talks about how consumerism has created unsustainable inequalities and threatens to tear apart the fabric of our society. He explains why he thinks consumerism is now more powerful than any cause or even religion and how it has reached into every corner of the globe."Our love of shopping, quite literally, threatens the end of the world as we know it today. As our population grows and we go on consuming more and more, the eco-systems on which we depend are now close to collapse. It's all down to the power of modern consumerism". Jonathon Porritt

Oat Shoes

At Amsterdam’s International Fashion Week, Oat shoes presented its “Virgin Collection,” a line of bio-degradable shoes that can be planted in the ground to sprout trees. Its materials break down easily and the seeds are embedded somewhere inside the design. The concept won second prize at the Green Fashion competition. OAT Shoes was founded by designer Christiaan Maats. One of its goals is to help people connect with the environment in imaginative ways.

The North Circular

The North Circular

This luxury eco-friendly knitwear label was founded by English model Lily Cole and friends, Katherine Poulton, Alice Ashby and Isobel Davies. The brand rescues rare Wensleydale Longwool sheep, which graze on organic land whilst a team of knitting 'grannies, girls and a few strong men' turn their super-soft wool into ready-to-wear garments and accessories.

Joanne Peacock

Joanne Peacock is a twenty two year old illustrator and fashion designer based in London. Her clients include Chicks on Speed, Oxfam, and the BBC to name a few.

List of Trend Forecasting Sites

Mpdclick is an online fashion trend forecasting service for design, fashion and retail professionals. They offer global creative intelligence which follows changing fashion and consumer trends.

MMU students You now have access to the MPD Click Trend site. To access the service, go to this link:
http://www.library.mmu.ac.uk/eresource/rbmpdc.php
Click on "Access the service"
Enter normal MMU Log in details
Note down MPD Click's special username and password (these are regularly changed)
Continue to service (MPD site), click on "sign in" (on the left) and enter the username and password that has just been noted down.

Cool Hunting interprets stuff from around the world. Their global team of editors and contributors sift through innovations in design, technology, art and culture for those looking for inspiration.

Trendwatching is a Netherlands-based forecasting agency which offers free trend updates to subscribers on a monthly basis

Gary Graham

Gary Graham Gary Graham Spring Summer garments are designed to be worn either individually or combined and layered interchangeably to create multiple wardrobe options and colour combinations. The incorporation of quilting, embroidery, patina and patchwork with chunky knits and leathers create a highly individualized look with impeccable finish. Signature prints and jacquards are designed to incorporate visual clues that articulate the underlying themes of each collection.

Si Scott

Si Scott is a UK based Illustrator. Although his intricate hand drawings look like he uses the computer, his unique style requires little to no technology to complete his drawing and believes:

"Computers are great as a tool but I do believe that a lot of people rely on them far too much."

Moo Printfinity

Moo Printfinity offer packs of bussiness cards each one displaying a different image. Interesting way to present a mini portfolio...

Barbara i Gongini

Barbara i Gongini is a Danish designer. She uses paper patterns based on geometric circles and squares to achieve sculptural and three dimensional effects. Garments are mainly made of jersey, textured knitted fabrics and recycled materials. If you interested in creative fashion photography check out the video below. The full version is on her website.

List of Eco-related websites

A list of websites with a specific interest in eco-related trends and themes:

Inhabitat is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future. It was started by NYC designer Jill Fehrenbacher as a forum for investigating emerging trends in product, interior, and architectural design.

Treehugger is a media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, they strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. They publish a blog hosting weekly and daily newsletters, weekly radio interviews and regularly updated Twitter and Facebook pages.

Ecouterre is a website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. They are dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Their ethos: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.

Thread is a BBC online ethical fashion guide dedicated to eco style.

Centre for Sustainable Fashion Set up in 2008, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion challenges the way in which the fashion industry thinks, designs, practices and learns.

Karen Ingham

Artist Karen Ingham’s love for insects has produced a series of dresses designed to aid shrinking populations of bees and other pollinators, a growing environmental crisis that threatens our global food system. Featuring electron-microscopy images of pollen, Ingham’s “Pollinator Frocks” are treated with a nectar-like sugar solution that attracts and nourishes bees and their brethren. She has created outfits for separate occasions: day-wear to draw bees and butterflies and evening-wear for nocturnal critters such as moths.

Aware: Art Fashion Identity Exhibition

Aware: Art Fashion Identity exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts

2 December 2010 – 30 January 2011

The exhibition examines how artists and designers use clothing as a mechanism to communicate and reveal elements of our identity. The exhibition includes work by 30 leading international practitioners and is divided into four sections: Storytelling, Building, Belonging and Confronting and Performance.

Above image: Sharif Waked (Confronting and Performance)
Chic Point, 2003

In much of his work the Palestinian artist Sharif Waked confronts the difficulties faced by his people and the complexities of the political situation in the Middle East. In these video works, clothes designed to reveal areas of flesh

are seen alongside images of Palestinian men being subjected to body searches at Israeli checkpoints. Playing on the glamour of the catwalk, Waked uses the sense of identity and dignity associated with clothing to make a powerful political comment about its removal.

Bronwen Marshall

Menswear fashion designer Bronwen Marshall is interested in the tension between opposite forces; between the future and the past, between the natural and unnatural. This collection was inspired by the horrific facial injuries of World War I, where recognisable features were distorted and made abstract. She has also taken natural forms like horses and birds and combined their organic forms with geometric shapes to create powerful graphic menswear.

Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill’s persuasive, up-beat illustration and design has been commissioned by cultural, social and commercial clients around the world from New York, to London to Tokyo. He has also gained a following in the design world for his innovative collaborations with friends and fellow artists, designers, print-makers and film-makers. Burrill works across a range of media, including posters, moving image and three-dimensional work. He combines an instinctive handling of colour and composition with a witty approach to words. He regularly collaborates with musicians and animators to make films, music promos and animations, using his distinctive visual vocabulary and passion for fusing sound and image. His installations and 3-D work have been commissioned by Colette in Paris and The Design Museum in London among others.