Moules, Frites and Biere!

Last weekend I took me, myself and I on a wee stay to Brussels, what a lovely place! Museums, galleries, chocolate shops, antique markets, more chocolate shops...


This is a cool little gallery opposite my hotel (where coincidentally a friend of a friend works - small world eh?) housed in a beautiful old creamery which has a really interesting exhibition on about the conflict in the West Bank, and how that has spilled over into Lebanon. (www.halles.be)

This is a lovely little tea shop; each tea is under one of these little glass cloches, so you can lift it up and have a sniff!

The window of a shoe repair shop; I loved that this was next to a very high end designer shop

Last week I met someone who works at Transplant, a design centre in Dale, Norway which in itself was quite interesting because Dale is a very small place (around 1,500) and I had also been there, albeit a very long time ago as a teenager, it left quite a mark on me. But this led me to look them up at see what they do, and it seems like an awesome place.

I was particularly interested in this thread which talks about design which deals with time, something i've been thinking about a lot recently. I like the work of Kristine Bjaadal (above), which starts off fully tufted and gradually wears away to reveal the pattern. I wrote my dissertation on planned obsolescence; how products are generally designed to begin to lose their appeal soon after we buy them, so that we will soon buy new things. I am interested in ways that designers can respond to this trend; partly by designing things which are meant to be safely and sustainably thrown away (in the vein of cradle to cradle) and partly through design which encourages people to build up a longer, more personal relationship with their things, as Kristine Bjaadal has done here so beautifully.

Well this has been a long time coming, after a pretty busy Christmas and New Year I went straight to the Netherlands, where I am doing an internship with Sylvie Meuffels, a young designer based in Eindhoven; her website is under construction right now but she also works with Knol (http://www.knol-ontwerp.nl/index.php). So far it's been very interesting and I've learnt a lot; mostly I'm making prototypes which is new to me and it's really helpful to see lots of different ways of presenting ideas and concepts. The language is a challenge though! I am taking lessons but I've still got a long way to go. I will be trying to keep up with my own work as well; more soon!

In continuation with the aforementioned memory project, I've been thinking about surfaces and materials which absorb the marks that people leave behind them in their every day lives, and what kind of marks we leave. And then the snow began!

Memory project

I have finally managed to sit down at my shiny new desk to try and create something equally new and shiny.. And began by looking through my old sketchbooks for some inspiration. I used to be a sketchbook fiend, but have been slacking rather a lot lately and it was helpful to go back and see things with a fresh eye. Seeing some recurring themes and little sparks of ideas that I never saw through to fruition has led to me writing myself a little brief to be working on.

In past work there is a recurring theme of physical memory; the stories that objects and surfaces can tell about their past. I am particularly interested in objects that change slowly over time, and the unintentional marks that people leave behind them. I see these as maps of actions and interactions, that tell us about the minute, seemingly unimportant (but vital in practicality) details of our lives.

Working in a cafe frequented by older people I have become interested in how memory loss affects people, especially as it is a very gradual process. It appears that this is an area overlooked by design, but that design could help these people to hold on to their independence for much longer if the issue was handled sensitively and poetically.

I am interested in how these two interpretations of the idea of the role of memory can be combined and would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.

Time for some history - this is my husband's grandparent's wedding silver, they were married in 1940. It was a kind gift to us and is in need of some TLC but first I wanted to record it as it is - I think that the colours in the tarnish are beautiful and manage to tell their own little story.

Its been a little while since my last posts as I've been in Switzerland, working in a summer camp (http://www.lpcamps.org/) with young people aged 14-17 from all over the world, living very simply and working towards community living, widening perspectives and encouraging self government. I thought I'd include here some photos of a couple of short projects I was involved in.

This is a short project, aiming to get the whole camp of 37 people to create something together. The floor was covered in paper and everybody was asked to make marks on it in response to music that was playing. The group were enthusiastic and I think the outcome was fantastic. When it was dry, the piece was cut up so that each person could take a piece of the work home with them.

Above is a social work project, where we organised that a group of young people would volunteer for a day at a local nursery. They ran activities including face painting, collage making and singing.