Cultural Trends

It’s been really useful studying cultural trends this past term. I have a habit of only using established artists to reference and inspire me, but this course has taught me the value of knowing what is happening around me in the present. It has been really beneficial and interesting educating myself on current trends. The most useful thing from this course has been familiarising myself with platforms such as http://www.itsnicethat.com and http://trendland.com. They expose me to contemporary and up-and-coming graphic designers but also give an insight into other areas. For example, a current interior designer who may trigger inspiration through a certain colour pallet or composition.  Getting into the habit of looking at other websites like http://www.theguardian.com/uk, has been really helpful in opening my eyes to social observations and emerging shifts. They are fantastic educational and inspirational platforms for up-to-date styles and trends.

Through expanded practice, I have learnt how important it is to constantly be aware of current happenings in, not just design, but all areas as they all feed into each other. In terms of good working practice, I have learnt the importance of referencing all of your sources. This course has also taught me the importance of being in touch with the zeitgeist. Through trying to make sure our research was all ‘no longer than six months old’, it really pushed us to discover areas that haven’t yet reached mainstream knowledge. If I were to do the course again differently, I might focus more on graphic design. However, I am more interested in the communication side of my degree, which does not limit itself to the constraints of ‘graphics’. I am really happy with the freedom this course gave me to learn about other subjects and areas of study.

When browsing the guardian website, my attention was brought to an article on Daphna Joel’s research into the ‘mosaic’ pattern seen in brain scans of men and women: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/30/brain-sex-men-from-mars-women-venus-not-so-says-new-study. This lead me to research more into the area of social observations on gender and equality of the sexes and how it is manifesting itself in trends.

Zing Tsjeng, ‘Inside Selfridges' radical, gender-neutral department store’, April 2015, http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/24088/1/inside-selfridges-radical-gender-neutral-department-store 

Selfridges & Co, Agender, ‘How to Wear it’, http://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/content/article/agender-look-book/?cm_sp=Campaign-_-AgenderLandingPage-_-lookbook

Pantone, Colour of the Year 2016, Rose Quartz and Serenity, Dec 2015, http://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2016

Public School, Spring 2016 Womens, http://publicschoolnyc.com/pages/spring-2016-womens

Vogue, Agi & Sam, Autumn/Winter 2016/17, Jan 2016, http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2016/mens/agi-sam

A Bullseye View, ‘What’s in Store: Moving Away from Gender-based Signs’, Aug 2015, https://corporate.target.com/article/2015/08/gender-based-signs-corporate

Ian Sample, ‘Men are from Mars, women are from Venus? New brain study says not’, Nov 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/30/brain-sex-men-from-mars-women-venus-not-so-says-new-study

Nadia Bailey, Oyster, ‘Gender-Fluid Model Casey Legler On Finding Self-Acceptance’, June 2015, http://www.oystermag.com/gender-fluid-model-casey-legler-on-finding-self-acceptance 

TooGood, S/S 2016, http://t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com

Fred McConnell, The Guardian, ‘Jaden Smith laughs in the face of gender stereotypes in Louis Vuitton ad’, Jan 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jan/05/jaden-smith-skirt-gender-stereotypes-louis-vuitton-ad

To create this mood-board of the colour scheme ‘Citopia’ we worked collaboratively as a group. Textiles students helped to inform our own colour palette inspired by ‘Citopia’ and Graphic Design students helped form the final outcome. 

In terms of content we all put forward ideas that seemed relevant before narrowing them down to a select few. The first two slides show a mix of themes and colours seen in ‘Citopia’ through art and design. Themes that we found most interesting to explore were visual explorations of surreal environments that seem unworldly. This is particularly prominent in Anne Veronica Janssens’ ‘yellowbluepink’ instillation at the Welcome Collection and James Turrell’s permanent instillation at the Louis Vuitton City Centre.

As time passes, technology becomes more and more dominant in our lives. One of the side effects of this can be damage to our environment. Thankfully, some technology is working to reduce this. This new solar-powered, smart mirror: ‘Lucy’ is said to be able to reduce one’s carbon footprint by up to one ton a year. 

Once Lucy is placed in its environment, you need only set the ‘pointer’ to where you want it to cast light. Using photo sensors and photovoltaic cells, Lucy tilts its mirror to follow the sun throughout the day. The light reflected scatters once it has hit the ceiling, creating a glow effect. Lucy can be used both indoors and outdoors. 

It is an evolved Catseye for the home. 

Solenica, ‘Lucy’, http://solenica.com

18/8/15 Jenny McGrath, ‘Turn off the dark with this mirror that scatters sunlight around the room’, http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/lucy-smart-mirror-sunlight/ 

As technology becomes more and more integral to our lives, it’s easy to dismiss it as a distraction from reality and a general nuisance for our well-being. However, Google have just relaunched their Life Sciences as ‘Alphabet’ and aim to create breakthrough technology in the way we monitor our well-being and detect illnesses. 

One of their projects will be ‘smart contact lenses’, which will track glucose levels and wirelessly send the readings to a separate device. This would radically aid treatment for diabetics. Other projects include ‘Nanoparticles’ that would help detect and even fight cancer, from within the blood stream. 

21/08/15 Ben Popper, ‘Google confirms Life Sciences as the first new company under the umbrella of Alphabet’, http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/21/9187131/google-life-sciences-becomes-first-alphabet-company

Ann Veronica Janssens: yellowbluepink, States of Mind: tracing the edges of consciousness, The Welcome Collection, 15th October - 03rd January ‘16.

http://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/states-mind-ann-veronica-janssens

This psychedelic, meditative instillation by Janssens creates a surreal, futuristic environment for the viewer as they walk through coloured mist. The air is filled with a range of different hues between yellow, blue and pink. 

The range of hues between yellow and pink are reminiscent of AW 16/17′s colour collection ‘Citopia’. In particular, ‘Petal Mist’, ‘Air Blossom’, ‘Hyper Terra’ and ‘Synthetic Star’. 

The trend of incorporating image-overload into design has seen a lot of vintage inspired pieces accompanying the contemporary. This lead me to explore the fascinating world of Ai Weiwei through his current exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. 

There is a running theme throughout the exhibition of taking inspiration from and often modifying ancient, traditional design. Weiwei’s ‘Grape’, consisting of several wooden stools, looks like a contemporary piece of art but was created through traditional Chinese joining techniques, which uses no man-made joinery.  However, ‘Grape’ is more than an interesting re-imagination of design, it can also be interpreted to represent a gathering of individuals - no one the same - counter-acting the oppressive communist government in China. 

Continuing the political theme of Weiwei’s work, his instillation piece ‘S.A.C.R.E.D’ has been likened to the stations of the cross. This piece invites the viewer to peer into puppet sized, brutalist boxes of his detainment. Ai Weiwei shares his vulnerability with the viewer through smaller scale, positioning himself underneath the viewer, and extending the huge invasion of privacy by state officials who didn’t leave his side for 81 days. Ai Weiwei’s ritualistic depiction of this experience seems to document the death of a certain part of him, but the art speaks as an act of defiance and in its existence resurrects the spirit of rebellion.

As our day-to-day lives become more saturated by different images, society faces visual bombardment more than ever. Many designers are incorporating this into their latest collections, including Comme de Garcon’s SS’16 collection. I was particularly intrigued by Walter Van Beirendonck’s latest men’s collection. Beirendonck has created a rich visual language, through combining child-like patterns and textures with modern emoji-like images such as a feathered hat creating a face and repeated imagery resembling the middle finger. 

The ornate patterns and textures are similar to that of the Victorian era. The Victorians dressed in such a way to flaunt wealth and success, echoing innovations being made in technology leading to a huge economic boom. Perhaps Beirendonck is mocking our society for it’s comparatively juvenile and easily distracted nature through drawing comparisons between high society and young children.

Walter Van Beirendonck, SS16, http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/gallery/20023/5/walter-van-beirendonck-ss16, 21/06/15.

Replica of Van Gogh’s ear. 

BioBots is a 3D printer specialised in producing functional living cells. It uses powder ink, a binding factor and cells. As well as offering a solution to transplants, this creation could help end animal testing by providing living tissue to be tested on without the moral issue of compromising another being’s life.

Natasha Lomas: ‘BioBots is a 3D Printer for Living Cells’, http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/04/biobots-is-a-3d-printer-for-living-cells/, (May ‘15).

Laura McQuarrie: ‘BioBots' Medical 3D Printing Machine Creates Functional Living Tissue’, http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/biobots, (March ‘15).

“So far our clients are literally working across the spectrum from bone to lung, liver, heart, brain, skin, cartilage using these processes” - Danny Cabrera, co-founder of BioBots. 

Behnaz Fahari has created a modern scarf/collar made from 3D printed small quills in faux-fur style. There is a gaze-tracking camera is concealed inside the garment. When eye-contact is detected the garment responds by moving in a life-like manner. 

Behnaz Fahari, Caress of the Gaze, https://vimeo.com/138697237, Sep 2015, http://www.behnazfarahi.com/204244/7618948/gallery/caress-of-the-gaze