“Mrs Jones & Wastesaver!”

From the Oxfam website (accessed on 16/03/2010), you’d be able to see this information.

“Designer Mrs Jones … will be hosting in-store workshops showing shoppers how to customise the vast array of finds available from your local Oxfam shop …”

It sounds like you can get a tutorial on how to make your own style clothes from things you bought in Oxfam shops.  I guess Mrs Jones is allowing a design process to happen.  This is I think very environmentally friendly.  I think it would look like this flow chart.

Someone have something           The items gets           Goes on         Profit goes to

that he/she doesn’t want   –>  donated to Oxfam –>   sale     –>   developing   –>

countries

Mrs Jones helps customers

making new garments using

these items

WHAT HAS SHE DONE WITH OXFAM?

GO-ing back to my memory, Oxfam are retailers who sell donated goods and their profit is sent to developing countries.  Has Mrs Jones contributed ethical something through her work?  I’m to investigate that soon…

LOVE CLOTHES, HATE FASHION

Mrs Jones is currently actively working and has got her own label.  One of her creation is Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ white hooded catsuit.  In the past, she has worked with Madonna, Scissor Sisters, The Killers, Oxfam and Fred Perry.  Her speciality is in transforming garments, space or product.  In terms of collaboration, she’s worked with brands, artist, stylists and designers.  The title of this post “Love Clothes, Hate Fashion” comes from her website as well as these information. {mrsj.co.uk} {From About Page} (accessed on 11/03/10)

Above: Camden Town Oxfam D.I.Y.  shop front view

Below: ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” music video with Mrs Jone’s clothing design

Lauren Child

She grew up in Wiltshire and is born in 1967. American children’s TV shows have been her influence. Used to work doing illustrations and writings for a lampshade company. She developed ‘Clarice Bean’ book round this this. She lives in North London. I think it’ interesting that her book images have, probably for the front cover, some handmade looking fonts and illustrations. These examples with texts are (from Google Search) have plain background, which would make sense that characters and messages are what the designer needed to communicate. Texture/Patterns within drawings do remind me of lampshade or interior design. Reference used- goodreads.com

Susan Kare

1983 SInce this year, Kare has designed thousands of computer icons (iconographer= according to google, is the branch of art history whichstudies the identification, description and the interpretation of the content of images.  The word iconography literally means “image writing”, and comes from the Greek {image} and {to write} OR One who creates (religious) icons OR a skillful designer who elevates icon design to an art form

Sweet looking pictures/icons/.  Quite clear what they represent. Would be even more so in context.

Kare worked for Apple, Inc She is living in California.  Her clients include Electronic Arts, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Shockwave, Sony Pictures, Swatch, Xero, Museum of Modern Art and more.

I’m interested in the companies she has worked for and the images I get from those company designs.

Hi-Res!!?

I and my friend looked at their website a few weeks back. It looked cutting edge and the content was interesting (Bjork/Lego/Nokia I seem to remember). The problem was that it was like 90% impossible to go to the next page. It kept stopping so we were going back and forth. We saw Lego video. Emotionally it was alright but the actual Lego was done by computer graphics. After watching stop motion animation videos by other artists I thought it was a bit unfair for children… OK, tonight I had a look at their site again. It had an update! I thought “How do they design like this?” Some have style and makes me laugh. But ONCE AGAIN I COULDNT GO BEYOND PAGES AFTER PAGES. I am disappointed that these guys make good graphics but virtually useless websites for their clients…

These images are form hi-res.net.  I like the prestine modern feel to it.  It’s difficult to know what they are for because of problems with accessing websites but they look like they are advertising posters sort of thing.  A bit like for the next project, they seem to show you a moment of scenes.

Vaughan Oliver

A book called “Tokyo Salamander: American Dream Diary 1989″ by Shinro Ohtak has a date 1993. It looks like it’s a collaboration with a London designer Vaughan Oliver (born 1957). According to Wikipedia, Oliver is a graphic designer. Oliver has an association with 4AD record label, one of my favourites with Cocteau Twins.

Left: his website image with logo

In Japan, the word salamander has its own league of interpretation. The image that is evoked from this creature is quite mythical and imaginative. As this book itself denotes, there is a feeling old traditional serene atmosphere. But often the vision expresses the evil and chaotic side of this enormous creature.

The fact that he is based near where I used to live and his connection with Japan is enough for me to think about his creativity. From my understanding of Wandsworth, Oliver’s local area, is a grey part of London. I guess about 20 years ago, their newly built shopping centre gave the place a push towards commercial cultivation. It didn’t seem to be able to sustain the tension and 6 years ago (which is when I was there), being the out skirt of central London, it started to become a little rough. I like it because it feels like he is surviving in the downtown city and making his designs there.

Left & below : excerpts from

Tokyo Salamander

Why Not Associates’ Environmental Design

This work is called “Pobl + Machines” and is in Wales at the National Waterfront Museum. The word ‘Pobl’ means ‘people’ in Welsh and materials used are mirroring the content of the museum (stainless steel/granite/concrete). It is a collaboration work with Gordon Young. I like the idea of making an outside 3-D letters where people can sit. The look and feel comes from the place (material&name) and I think this is neat.

On Sara Fanelli

She has been to a college in Camberwell.  This to me is an admirable thing.  I have a friend who’s called Darius lives in that area and it’s always a challenging journey to visit him.  The experience in this place is emotionally demanding because it’s a really rough neighbourhood.  I like her handmade, playful and soft-textured works.  Some of her images look so natural (eg Penguin Classics), which I like but some have a ‘commission’ feel to it with not much of Sara Fanelli-ness to them.

Sara Fanelli Biography

She is born in 1969 in Florence, Italy, studied a Diploma at the Liceo Classico Michelangelo. She goes to England after to study at the City and Guilds of London Art School and Camberwell School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. She works for the New York Times and the Independent on Sunday. Her clients are Royal Mail, BBC Worldwide and Tate. Her own book Button (1994) wins the 1992 Macmillan Prize for Children’s Picture Book Illustration. Her Wolf! (1997) and It’s Dreamtime (1999) get shorlisted for National Art Library Illustration Award and she wins one in 2004 Pinocchio illustrated translation work.