Shoulder pads...Should we have left them in the 80's?

Recently shoulder pads have been sauntering up and down catwalks around the world, and are tipped to be a must have in every girls autumn/winter collection. But is this just societies cry for vintage...are we looking past the fashion mistakes of the 1980's? Why do designers bring back trends which, lets face it, unless you have the body of Kate Moss, look pretty horrendous and often stupid on us mere mortal women? Just because something has been done sucesfully before does not mean we need to recreate it, or that it will work with a modern twist.

I am all for vintage, the luxurious feel, the glamour. But these things are evokes by the 1920's classic cuts, the makeup of the 1940's. Personally I don't feel that the 1980's has that glamourous edge. Should designers have left the 80's well enough alone? It could be argued that leggings have made an unbeliveable comeback, and who saw that coming? And it is true that celebrities such as Lady GaGa have become the embodiment of the 80's. Though, yes, she often looks crazy and I would be shocked if anybody walked into a lecture looking like that. Vaintage chic? yes. Re-embodied fashion disasters? No. I certainly will be missing out on this particular must have.

However if I do get shoulder envy I could always did my mothers out of the attic...

British Design...Stamp size.

I recently recieved a letter, and it was the stamp which caught my attention. I did a bit of internet digging and found that it belonged to a collection of stamps released by the Royal Mail in January this year featuring British design classics. The stamps commemorate ten different icons of British design, giving a nostalgic and patriotic overview of Britain, both stereotypical (the bus and the mini) and innovative and fresh ( the chair and Concorde). Most of these designs originate mainly from the 1930's and 1960's, this is perhaps because a design can not become an instant classic, and these certainly stand the test of time. I love the nostalgic feel of these stamps, and it certainly makes you reflect on what classic design might consist of, and what makes it stand out. I also love the way a country can be summed up quite sucsincley in 10 images, imagine the list they started out with. It leaves my wondering how simple images could sum up other things, the area I live in, my favorite place, my friends, my life? This seems like an interesting way to look at things,10 images to create a country. I can say I have never been a stamp collector before, but these might be worth the £4.40

What is Glamour?

I found this video on the Guardian website, it is, I suppose research, done by Guardian photographer Christian Sinbaldi, in conjunction with Age Concern Camden. This reminded me of one of the D&AD briefs last year, about what is wealth and what is poverty, and the different ways these things could be viewed. It shares many of the same values of this Guardian project and interestingly that both projects were photographic, perhaps some things are too complex to explain away in a tangle of words. Sometimes it can be true that an image is worth a thousand words, and even though this video has an audio element to it, I feel that it is the images that are most striking. Here it strikes me that the difference between glamour and beauty, (though it could be looked on as age), has far more to do with respect. If you have respect for yourself, respect from others and respect for others then you are glamorous. If you are selfish though aesthetically pleasing you may be beautiful. Beautiful people see it in themselves where as glamorous people are seen in another’s eyes.http://http//www.guardian.co.uk/society/audioslideshow/2009/aug/18/christian-sinibaldi-age-concern-exhibition

Rachel Goodyear

Rachel Goodyear Graduated in Fine Art from Leeds Met in 2000, since then she has become a very successful illustrator, illustrating numerous publications, such as The Drawing Book. However Goodyear’s drawings are somewhat uncomfortable to look at, challenging your perceptions of what your feel is both acceptable and normal. This ability to enable to viewer to question their own experiences is perhaps what makes her such a successful and interesting illustrator.

“Nothing is at home in these works, as if the world had been tapped lightly and everything had stumbled into unfamiliar positions” Dave Beech, review of We Will Cancel Your Membership and You Will Owe Us Nothing, Untitled Magazine, # 35, Summer 2005.

It is always good to be reminded that to catch someone’s attention it is sometimes necessary to step outside both their and your comfort zone, and to challenge beliefs that you may hold with regards to both design and the wider world.

Crawley Library

Recently Why Not Associates were commissioned with creating a piece of work to stand in Crawley Library, in collaboration with Gordon Young from Crawley Library they developed these typographic tree columns. The columns now stand at various points within the library seemingly growing up through the building. I think this is an excellent example of situation and design working together. The trees seem to be an almost too perfect instalment in the library, almost as if books are growing, already written and simply ready to be chopped down and read. I think this is a lovely sentiment, that the library, that literature is alive and growing. It gives an organic feel to what many people may feel is some rich authors job, or a stuffy old book. It also however brings the magic of books alive and one could imagine these creations growing in many of the fairy tales stood on the shelves.

The typography, is amazing, with a different font and style on each tree, like a different species. The craftsmanship is beautiful, another testament to hand rendering over computers in something such as this, stories are so personal, it is nice, even if it is not the case that the trees look hand carved. It also reminded me that typography can be used over almost any surface and to think of it on a flat piece of paper is a shame. I am always amazed at what can be created simply with typography.

Why not associated who created these are a design company with a global reach and they have created some other fantastic pieces of work. There website is well worth a look.http://http//www.whynotassociates.com/en/recent.php

Timorous Beasties

The name Timorous Beasties comes from the Robert Burns Poem ‘To a Mouse’ (Pronounced moose).

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,

O, what panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murd'ring pattle!...

This Glaswegian design studio was set up in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who met while studying textile design at the Glasgow School of Art. Since its founding Timorous Beasties has been known for its controversial and provocative work with textiles. Working from tradition textiles through to wallpaper design the work produced is always cotemporary and the company is ever expanding, this now includes a London show room.

Timorous Beasties has defined itself by its style. Once being described as “William Morris on acid”. This is perhaps due to the deceptive nature of the designs, on first glance you would be excused for thinking nothing more of them than an early 19th century design. However on closer inspection a contemporary and somewhat horrific vision of Glasgow is depicted, including, of course crack addicts and prostitutes. This contemporary style also incorporates social and political issues. These designs make a statement about who you are when they are decoratively hanging for your wall, and therefore have a very personal and emotive feel. The fabrics are also hand printed on a variety of different materials, giving a richer quality to the work, in my opinion and something hand made always seems of more quality than something churned out by a machine. I really like this textile design company, staying true to their Scottish ruits from their name down to the incredible designs they produce. This apparently is evident to others as the latest endeavour for this team was to create the brochure for the Edinburgh festival, which can be viewed at http://www.eif.co.uk/

Awful Books

This is a Blog started by librarians in order to encourage other libraries to weed out such out dated and often useless possibly offensive books. An admirable cause, educating populations with up to date literature. However I find this blog far more about cultural shifts, what was acceptable and no longer is. The graphics are also really interesting paired with the comical titles, it is an amusing reminder about how much design and culture has evolved.http://http//awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/ I urge you to view this blog an pick your best title. Mine is ' Problems of Death', surley as the blog points out, the main and most obvious problem with death is that you are dead.