H is for Hope (not Horror. Really!)

I have started working on the photo shoot for the new collection.

I love that moment. You get so much done is an impossible space of time. And because you are working towards a deadline all the impossible steps become a process that are just part of the game. And failures are just data entries in our experiments logs...

This year the collection is called H. H stands for Hope, not for Horror if you were wondering. In fact a bit of both. Cause you can really appreciate hope when you are scared shitless or beaten down to the bottom of the stairs. It is inspired by one of my Matrix moment. Remember when Trinity talks herself into ''Get up Trinity, get up'' and does impossible things: jumps over roofs,  because everything is just will power, creativity and skill, right?  

Look, I would be the first one to say that connections, money and ego work just as well. Sure they do.

It just that Hope relies less on external and precarious stuff.

So H  explores void spaces and how we transform horror into hope. The place and time at the bottom of the stairs and how we pick ourselves up and fly. Get up, Trinity. Get up Neo. Get up You.

The collection has strong emphasis on undyed local breeds wool. And as with my previous collections there are embellishments using technology and e-technology. 

I hope H to work on many levels. 

Here is the work in progress.

I got the support of Feltmakers Ireland.for this so it is going to be in August in the Phoenix Park Visitor's Centre... An amazing venue.

I would be developing the accessories range at the moment while experimenting with the outrageous pieces.

And working on the furniture pieces for Design Week.

Loads to do. No wonder I am working in the small hours of the night, right? Well, not really. I just sat and watched the Matrix. Couldn't help it after I tagged the video. Am I a nerd if I know most of the dialogue by heart? 

Easter and other passions

Fever Pitch in Smart Textile

When you grew up in communism. like me, religious celebrations have been beaten into you in their pagan form. So when we celebrated Easter it was a lot about coming of spring and the craft of colouring eggs and Not at all about Christ.

Funny that today the discussion about how little Easter is about Christ and more about chocolate eggs seems a bit dramatic to me.... I have been there before. As a child...

The thing is  for me celebrations are very much about us- people. And they reflect the art of us being able to share common passions and rituals. Rituals that regardless of how mystic or simple they look to others make us human.

So this Easter I would share with you my new Smart Textile project. It starts with a ball, a football ball for that matter.

The project 

It is about fever pitch rituals and how they are embodied in our senses through the objects that we associate with the game.

It addresses football game as a community experience. Myself and a wonderful textile designer Paula Byrne would look into memorabilia from the Bohemians FC and create six pieces using smart textile technology. It is part of Phizzfest and they have awarded us a grant for our proposal. It aims to send a message about the all-encompassing rich sensory experience which is an essential ingredient in our human connection with our football club. The memorabilia is a way to reflect on design and political status quo, but also to show what we choose to materialise our feelings into- a scarf, a picture, a photo?  It would also look retrospectively into the scarves, the photos or the boots but addressing them as not just things in a box, but a treasure-trove of objects that are viewed by the fans and players as heirlooms. We use these objects to comment on historical characteristics associated with form, function and material choices.

It is going to run as an exhibition with an exhibition- the football club would curate an exhibition based on fans memorabilia- photos, jerseys, hats, footballs, boots. Paula and I have picked a few of these to develop a smart technology piece. There would be 6 pieces in total.

It seems a good thing to do in Year of Irish Design 2015.

Influences

 Nick Hornby's book is an influence  and it would come across in the story. I could see the football pitch through the eyes of a 11 year old and feel the hand of his dad in his hand. Because watching a game at the stadium is about sharing your passion with others. And in a way the pieces that myself and Paula are developing would allow an 11 old to ''see'' the past as well as the future of the club. It would be less obvious to see Marina Shkolnik's influence on the project, unless you are into felt or or you are mad about handmade scarves. But she would be my inspiration behind creating one of the pieces that I am creating; the Shaking and Shouting Scarf. Very rock and roll, right?

The Shaking and Shouting Scarf

It would use alternation of black and red superfine merino and silk fibres, the football club colours and it would replicate football balls in three sizes.

It would also use Arduino Flora, accelerometer, and speakers to cheer up with you every time when your team scores a goal. So even if you are not at the football pitch you could wrap your self up in the scarf and it would transport you into a dimension in which you would be one with the whole stadium.

You might wonder why I am not showing you the scarf, well, in its fifth iteration it still looks a bit dishevelled I have to admit. But you know it is just a stage. This is the good thing when this is not your first project- you know that each failure is there to be turned into your vision.

Here let the experimentation begin. All the fun is ahead.... 

This is my Easter- new collaborative project in smart textiles telling the story of 125 old Dublin football club. We have submitted the pieces to Dublin Maker 2015. Such a great month April.

Irish e-tales

Have you heard about the tradition to hung seaweed at your porch to tell the weather? If the seaweed gets moist it was a sign that rain is coming. If it is dry- you would be having a dry day.

Nicola Brown a fellow friend and blogger (Clasheen.com) have decided to collaborate on a project together. The project was our way to tell the old tale with a contemporary narrative. We are using smart technology in a textile piece that would predict if it is going to rain just like a seaweed.

We came up with making a felt piece using seaweed as the form and function inspiration.

Now... Have to contact TOG and find Cheryl who could help me to prototype this weather telling smart textile in felt.