How to Know How Things are Made

If the closure of textile mills and shipbuilding yards correlates with the decline of artisan skills and craftsmanship in the US or the UK, do we want to see domestic manufacturing return? In conjunction with the upcoming presidential election campaign in the US, our national media is casting a spotlight on trends in production. It seems that, this time around, the prospect of "insourcing" is becoming a key issue. The Republican hopeful John Huntsman invigorates audiences with statements like, "We're on the cusp of a manufacturing revolution in this country." Obama's White House recently held a conference on insourcing as a means of counteracting the evaporation of factory jobs that the US experienced in the second half of the 20th century. Unsurprisingly, both parties unanimously claim to support domestic manufacturing. This brings up questions about how it's going to happen. Lower wages? More efficient production? Reliable protection of trade secrets? More skilled workers?

Image from our 2009 visit to the UK furniture company Ercol's Chiltern facility.

Hear more about these issues in a recent episode of To The Point with Warren Olney. The show begins, "After years of decline and predictions that it might never return, manufacturing is making a comeback in the United States. What industries are on the upswing? What roles to they require?"

Also, from the trade group PPMA in the UK comes news that a study on the relationship between robotic tools and employment. "The latest study conducted by the market research firm, Metra Martech Positive Impact of Industrial Robots on Employment published recently by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in Tokyo, demonstrates that 3 million jobs have been directly created in recent years by the use of robots and a further 1 million positions  estimated globally by 2016.

Ercol produces its entire range of furniture in Chitern. 

"Mike Wilson Chairman of the British Automation and Robots Association (BARA) said "This is great news for British manufacturing. The IFR study highlights the importance of robotics to the future growth of UK industry and the jobs it will create as a result. The recently launched government funded Automating Manufacturing Programme is providing assistance to companies looking to use automation to improve competitiveness and drive growth."  He concluded "Together we can make UK manufacturing the best in the world and create the jobs that our country needs."

The Origami Architect: Joyce Aysta

The Japanese word 'origami' derives from the two root words 'oreru' (to fold) and 'kami' (paper). Most of us would imagine the simple, geometric boats and frogs that are made with colorful squares of paper, but Joyce Aysta takes the concept of origami to a new level with her intricate designs.

From her studio in downtown Los Angeles, Joyce runs a daily production of handmade cards. The cards display her mastery of fiber construction, and apply that artistry to the theme of architecture. Why buildings? Joyce has a profound appreciation for the thought and skill that go into making works of architecture. She is constantly inspired by the iconic buildings that define cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and D.C.

The Milliard House, also known as "La Miniatura" is one of several Frank Lloyd Wright designs in the Live Your Dream Designs card collection.

The cards themselves are miniature replicas of buildings, monuments, or features. Each one is cut from a single sheet of paper - a challenge which Joyce overcomes each time she designs a new piece. After she works out the 2D cutting pattern, she begins to produce batches right in her LA studio. Joyce has managed to maintain the production locally, refusing to consider the option of outsourcing the fabrication process. Making the cards is her favorite part of operating the business.

Before the cards are folded, they are cut in batches of 8 and stacked flat. The Smithsonian Castle's many windows make for a complex cutout design.

Each day, Joyce ships out boxes of freshly made handcrafted cards to customers around the country. The majority of her orders come from gift shops associated with historically significant buildings, or museum shops in cities that she has designed a collection for. In addition to her craft skills and her attraction to architecture, Joyce's practice has been shaped by her natural inclination to be organized. It keeps her business running as smooth as clockwork.

Stacks of Christmas cards in Joyce's studio, cut and ready to be folded.

Before she invented her life as an origami architect, Joyce excelled in jobs that involved production. Whether it was producing costumes for film/T.V. or producing events like the Los Angeles Olympics opening ceremony, she could organize messy processes into smoothly run operations with resounding success. Over the past couple of months, I've been assisting Joyce when she needs to run through large orders in a short turnaround. I've seen how her lifelong ability to organize productions translates into a successful business. Her fusion of artistry, craftsmanship, innovation and entrepreneurship is a valuable model for those of us who aspire to shape our professional lives in the same direction.

The Holocaust Memorial in Washington DC, Synagogue at Subotica (Two cards designed and made by Joyce Aysta / Live Your Dream Designs.)

To order handmade origami architecture cards, go to www.liveyourdreamdesigns.com. More details about the construction process can be found in her book The Paper Architect.

Best of Jewelry @ Unique LA Independent Design & Gift Show

all images above: earrings, necklace and ring by Sweet Siren Designs

Unique LA is an independent design and gift show. Hundreds of makers and small businesses sell to a market of 15,000 visitors over a single weekend. The premise is that all goods are locally produced, but seeing as LA is a famously sprawling city, that fortunately still leaves room for a vast amount of choice.

When I visited, the halls were buzzing with activity. I focused on two aspects: jewelry and booth design, and am presenting some of my favorites to you. Honestly, I must admit that the hour I gave myself to browse Unique LA was nowhere near enough, so this is by no means an exhaustive "Best-Of" list.

Sweet Siren Design:

Sara Yasmin produces fantasy-inspired jewelry with whimsical themes and a handcrafted touch. Her creative influences range from, "everything from Mexican and Middle Eastern cultures to mermaids, nautical, sea life, pin up girls, gorgeous flowers and old vintage costumes. There really is no end to it." Yasmin has been working out of her apartment in LA for the past 10 years. See more on her etsy site - www.sweetsirendesigns.etsy.com

necklace by Sweet Siren Design

White Fly:

White Fly designs are all cast directly from textiles into solid silver and gold. If you look closely, you can see the unmistakable ghost of real vintage lace, ribbon, satin or string. You can see the whole collection at www.whitefly.etsy.com.

silver cuff cast from lace by White Fly

iwearuwearwewear:
Tatiana De Andrade revisits safety-pin jewelry in her newest collection. The mix of pearls that she throws in distance the necklaces from their punk heritage, but the overall shape is still organic and rebellious. Tatiana, originally from Portugal, works out of Sherman Oaks. You can visit her online shop at www.etsy.com/shop/iwearuwearwewear

Laerke Hooge Andersen - EDF Energy Exhibition Collaboration

I was posting earlier about Dana Haim, now meet her good friend she and I met on the same MA course in Central Saint Martins, Textile designer Laerke Hooge Anderson. There is something so precise, balanced, yet totally original and mad about Laerke's work, that is quite fascinating.

Her latest commissioned collaborative work, Herbarium Energy Project", is an answer to a brief about re-thinking energy. Totally faithful to her hybrid-obsessed very personal style, these poetic artefacts express their function in the most inspiring and intuitive way.

It was showcased in the Saint Etienne Biennale this year :

'Herbarium energy project' aims to research ways in which to capture energy, embodied in new forms, which are influenced by living forms, and which differentiate between the heat emitted by the sun as radiation, and the constant temperature of fresh soil.

The 'Herbarium energy project' is a research and development collaboration between Laerke Hooge Andersen and Franck Magne. It lists the fragments of the most notable hypothetical technological developments related to the collection of renewable forms of energy. Thermodynamic systems with optimized exchangers, concentric heliotropic photovoltaic cells, millimetric piezoelectric fibres: all these fragments become the language of technical cuttings which fulfill their function as energy collectors in a more sensitive and intuitive way.

Solar Trumpets :

The specific feature of this type of solar collector is that it has been developed partly underground. It is always at a cool temperature, which cools its photovoltaic cells and increases their efficiency. Light-concentrating ‘trumpets’ convey a maximum amount of solar energy to them underground, where they convert it into electricity, sheltered from external heat.

Photovoltaic Efflorescence

Thermal Parasitic Cesi

Spectral evaporators

Electric Rhizhomes

More of Laerke's work here

Futuristic Festivity: Radiant metallic snow

Seasonal cupcake containers are perfect - flatten them out and fold into sixths.

After cutting, unfold to see what you've produced. You can achieve 3D effect by bending the sides - the metallic foil holds its shape!

And thus, you have snow in Los Angeles. You can also use them to make sweet handcrafted cards to go along with your gifts, or simply give them as the gift itself. The process isn't very complex, and yet the outcome can be lovely and elaborate.

Lighter Than Air

Don't you have a few reels of coloured thread that get forgotten and tangled in a dusty box? Why not use them to create delightful installations like Gabriel Dawe?

plexus no. 4:





I like the way he turns a popular and homely craft into contemporary textile installations.

This boat is by Fabienne on 123perlamis.alloforum.com

plexus no. 3:






A meditative indoor activity which sounds perfect for the winter season.

More information and pictures on: www.gabrieldawe.com

Sakurako Shimizo: Sound Artifact Jewelry

"I Do" Wedding band in gold and palladium, 2008

"Sneeze Brooch" in silver, 2007

Every time we have a conversation through skype or a mobile phone, our voice travels through many digital and analogue forms. Sound get processed through countless media and comes out 'natural' at the other end, but what about all the steps in between?

Sakurako Shimizu is a traditionally trained jeweler who holds an interest in new media arts. These divided worlds collide in her "Waveform Jewelry". She mines the data of digital audio recording for the strange shapes that appear on her brooches and necklaces. To most of us looking at the jagged pieces of precious metal, we see what appears to be an abstract slash mark. A sound engineer would recognize that these 'abstract' shapes are part of a data language - they represent snippets of recorded sound.

About how she came to this fascinating idea, Shimizu says, "In Summer 2007 I was invited to participate in a group exhibition at Dorsky Curatorial in Long Island City. I decided to create a new body of work for the show. Then I wanted to try to make jewelry using the shape of sound waveform. I used a free sound editing software “Audacity” to visualize the sound.

For this exhibition, I made three brooches made with the sound of human expressions such as yawn, sneeze, and somebody said “wow”. A necklace “giggle” was made with a sound of a girl laughing. I also made a pair of earrings with a voice said “right ear” and “left ear”. A bell sound of a Church in Europe from digital sound archive was used to make a silver cuff bracelet “Bell”. A DVD player and a monitor was installed in the exhibition for the audience to enjoy both the object and the actual video of a sound wave played back.

In 2008, I extended the project to custom made wedding bands with waveform of a couple’s own voices. “I Do” project offered a unique opportunity to own a timeless representation of your partner’s voice. (Usually a couple wear a ring made with each other’s voice.)"

For more, visit http://sakurakoshimizu.blogspot.com/
or email info@sakurakoshimizu.com

Etsy Gets Around

Etsy is etching out a comfortable niche in the retail market. Since starting in 2005, they have always been innovative in leading craftspeople to internet sales. By now, they have established themselves as an iconic marketplace, doing over $180 million in business last year.

I found Kim, John and Sebastian, 3 of the 170-strong Etsy team, at the One of a Kind show in New York last week. They had set up a booth and were promoting Etsy to consumers and crafters alike. This kind of outreach is indicative of how they've stayed true to their grassroots past. It also shows that there is still room to grow. Last year's sales have already been topped (they reached $200 mil by November), and that is PRE-CHRISTMAS.

Although I honestly didn't see many signs of the Esty effect in England, I was told that 30% of vendor sales went to overseas customers last year. But it wasn't until I came back to America that I started to notice its impact. Many times, when I ask a friend where he or she got something, the reply is "Etsy". Amazing!

They have sent over a team to Europe to work on an Etsy Europe, so let's hope that works out. It's a great tool for designers to reach a direct market. Designers lose less than 5% of the retail price per sale - an unheard of ratio. It is much more profitable than selling through a gallery, shop, or even trade fair.

http://www.etsy.com

Fluid Dress - Casual Profanity

A new experimentation by Charlie Bucket a.k.a Casual Profanity, after the memorable Fluid Sculpture project : Fluid Dress, realized with 600 tubes and a pump. Very nice video feat. Ratatat as a sountrack (Cherry). Hypnotizing...

Fluid Dress from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.

a slideshow of the making of the fluid dress, it was shown in 2009 at the 2009 Maker Faire in San Mateo, and it was worth waiting for this really cool video (above) :

Embracing Technology

This is the final week of Embracing Technology, a show of innovative craft curated by Angela O'Kelly. If you're near Kilkenny, you can see it in the gallery of the Crafts Council of Ireland. Jenny Leary and Jo Angell, of Puff&Flock, have both installed work there.

Jo's Solar Sanctuary plays with the natural light flowing into the gallery:
Jenny covered a doorway with her interactive Magnetic Walls:
Another highlight of the show is the work by Tactility Factory. They have developed a unique method of intertwining concrete and velvet, which you can see in floor-to-ceiling panels. The women at Tactility Factory are working to integrate architecture and textiles:
Jill Phillips expresses politically-charged memories in the form of laser-etched images in her upholstery for bus benches:
Rachel Kelly shows how digital printing onto adhesive has advanced with her Interactive Wallpaper:
Links:
http://www.tactilityfactory.com/
http://www.interactivewallpaper.co.uk/
http://www.jill-phillips.com/
http://www.ccoi.ie/
http://www.angelaokelly.com/

Alexander McQueen SS11: Amazing Textures

Sarah Burton delivered an impressive collection for the Alexander McQueen SS11 runway show in Paris last week.

The textiles were elabourate constructions reminiscent of armour, seemingly crafted by forest dwellers sensitive to their natural surroundings.

Colours referred to the palete of an autumnal woods - cream coloured mushroom caps, orange leaves, rust-coloured lichen, black beetles, yellow foliage and white birds.

The models wore pretty braids, long enough to twirls around their arms and trailing into tapers at the ends. It looked like there were ribbons wrapped in their hair.

It was all very pretty. A return to the gentle side of Alexander McQueen, heavy on the handcraft and nature, and light on the aggression.

Still, the garments spoke of strength. The intensely woven and modern victorian tailored pieces were like exoskeletons of tough little insects, with a taste for modern Victorian tailoring.

view the entire collection's runway video: http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/int/en/corporate/archive2011_ssfilm_womens.aspx