The Design Statement
THE STORY BOOTH (presentation)
THE BOOK (As I couldn’t handed in a actual phone booth, it needed some kind of presentation / modelling)
(this part is actually printed on acetate paper (see-through) which make each page go on top of the previous one, constructing the installation step by step. The actual book will be shown later here, once Ill have the opportunity to photograph it)
Back to normal paper
Back cover
THE LEAFLET (explaining process and concept)
WE LIVE EMOTIONS (presentation)
WE LIVE EMOTIONS - Database of primary human emotions had to be presented for the final hand-in. I have burnt a DVD.
THE DVD COVER
THE DVD STICKER
THE LEAFLET (process and concept)
The Expedition To The Coated City (final)
The Final Outcome out of all these weeks of experimentations.
THE NEWSPAPER:
CD COVER FOR AUDIO
THE CD STICKER
THE AUDIO GOING WITH THE NEWSPAPER WILL BE SOON AVAILABLE ONLINE
AND THE LEAFLET (explaining the process and concept)
Rhythms of life - Memories from South Africa
What I have done from my trip in South Africa, after the beautiful moments, experiences and stories, after collecting those and documenting on a blog (http://unefourmisurlaroute.tumblr.com), here is the final project:
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PATTERNS OF LIFE
As I started my trip to South Africa, I wanted to find local objects, art & crafts and hand-made works, that would be singular and specific to South African culture, history and people. I was eager to find local fabrics as I always thought of Africa as a cradle of colourful, dynamic, and diverse textile designs. To my disappointment, I couldn’t seem to find any fabric made in the country. Many fabrics came from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Congo, Cameroun, Nigeria, Mali but none from South Africa itself.
I concluded that it was somehow linked to South Africa’s recent history and also to the great diversity in people and communities, stories, rhythm, architecture, and simply, life. It is not surprising South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation.
During my hunt for textile treasures, some people told me I could find South African fabrics if I looked in the right place, but didn’t tell me where, some people told me they were very rare, some people told me they didn’t exist at all.
I started to think about textiles, patterns and Graphic Design.
Graphic Design is about aestheticism and communication. It is a will to arrange and compose with colours, rhythms, spaces, and type in a defined box. It is a representation of life, people and spaces, and a will to communicate the idea of life the designer creates.
Life, cities and people, are arranged and composed with rhythms, colours, spaces, and type. Patterns in a way, are representations of it, of a particular culture, history of a country, of singular structures and rhythms of life.
TOWNSHIPS OF CAPE TOWN
I have seen a new and rich city, but with deep economic and social inequalities between people.
Apartheid is no more, but its heritage can be felt. Of 5 million people living in Cape Town, more than 3 million black or mixed-race people live in townships.
The living conditions in townships are dramatic. They are far from the center, and accessed through the motorway. They are located in a flat area where the wind is very strong, it makes the living conditions even poorer, hence the name “Cape Flats”. There is no skyline, the structures all lie low to the ground
There are different kinds of accomodation, some 2 bedroom houses for the richest (lawyers, doctors etc.), some 1 bedroom flats per family with one bedroom for 250 rand (£22) a month, then some buildings accomodating 16 families each, 3 families per room - 1 bed per family for 20 rand (£1.75) a month, it is absolutely dramatic.
There are informal settlements for the poorest, people made their houses with metal, wood and plastic they found. There is no electricity, and toilets and running water are found in the streets.
40% of people are unemployed and the conditions are terrible. The streets are very packed and busy, even though the houses are minute, there is no space. Kids go to wastelands by the motorway to get some room to play.
The townships are widely spread, as far as the eye can see. Cape Flats are really secluded from the rest of the town, most people don’t have cars, and the public transport is very poor.
And curiously, I have never been so warmly welcomed or seen so many smiles and life in any community.
FINAL IDEA
While making and designing the blog, I realised how all the pictures on one page formed colours and rhythms, and represented my perception (through the lense) of South Africa. So why wouldn’t I make the fabrics that would reflect the local life myself, if I couldn’t find any there?
I am very greatful to have been given so many smiles, stories, and warm welcomes. Being there, I have always felt a desire to participate in their life, to help to solve local and social problems.
Being a designer also enables me to exchange and share my skills to try to help in little ways.
I decided to represent my perceptions, experiences, stories, and memories of South Africa. To show my thanks to the country for what it gave me, through Design, representing the beauty I observed in people and spaces.
FINAL OBJECTS
Fabrics and postcards
My personal observations are shared through colours, rhythms and spaces I found there (pictures), arranged in a defined box.
I created my own patterns, to try to make a South African fabric, but they are based on my personal ideas and of course, can’t be considered as local.
The final objects, fabrics and postcards, then become a story to share, my perception of South Africa through patterns, along with a blog stating my day-by-day activities and people I have met.
They become a symbol of my trip, a memory I can hang on my wall and share with people.
But they are also objects that somehow represent South Africa, that can be sold in order to participate in solving the local and social issues of the people that welcomed me.
The patterns can be reproduced as fabrics, table cloths, posters, bags, clothes or postcards. Each design has a theme according to the pattern.
The objects would be placed in the local shops, in order to raise money for local communities, architecture, accomodation, preserving natural life etc. While choosing the designs, the buyer makes a choice about which theme he is funding.
“Rhythms of Life”
would be a fundraising organisation for the local communities of South Africa. Involving an association of people, designers and travellers, sharing their observation of life, and participating in the conception of sellable products and stories.
WE HAD OUR DEGREE FINAL HAND IN
last friday.
Hence the total lack of posts. It has been a crazy month, running everywhere, from the last details for designing the projects, to the presentation of each project, to the pdf exports for booklets and crops, to the printing, to the cutting and binding, to the conception and production of the final box.
AND A MESS IN MY ROOM
SO it’s gonna be tough for me to explain everything that happened step by step here. But There are some pictures and comments .
We have our degree show from the 15th to the 22nd of June. Apart from that Its HOLIDAYS !
(and by the way, I have been admitted in the MA Creative Practice For Narrative Environment for next year !!)
Flying around the world..
My last work will be posted on this blog as soon as I get back to London.
For now I am feeding a new blog just created for my travels around the world - I called it Une fourmi sur la route.
It starts with two weeks in south Africa where I am right now. I am trying to document everything, the smiles I meet, the stories and memories of locals, the unexpected moments, my own feelings and experience in unfamiliar places. New continents, new countries, new cities, new cultures and history. So much to learn, and obviously these experiences are a fantastic research to my work in design, and a wonderful development of my own self.
http://unefourmisurlaroute.tumblr.com
Please go have a look and comments, feedback, advices and tips, or stories you heard and your own memories are more than welcome !
Inspirations - Newspaper
A big plus for this one:
And this is what it should look like in the end:
