Todays lecture was by a girl whom was previous student at MMU. She graduated 3 years and go and already she has overcome so much and still is in her early days. I was really inspired by Lauren, and really is in awe of her and what she has achieved.
I took some sneaky shots of the presentation she presented, and a mixture of my own research i did to find out more about Lauren Bowker.
She said the rejection of this course of course was depressing however she wanted to prove them wrong and with the determination she had, this was achieved.
Her first advice was that we should go out, get drunk, and have fun. She said going to and getting drunk gets your numbers and networks with different people. Going out lets you meet people and then this creates contacts and sometime this can give you opportunities.
Sorry guys, looks like I've got to go out more: oh no!!....
Anyway, in her third year she had come up with an idea of creating a changeable ink, which on the garment would change colour. She was interested in how much pollution was in the garment so this ink would change colour due to the amount of pollution there was in the garment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATgo-Z5SsTk
She wanted to follow through with this idea of changeable fabric and patterns with different atmospheres, RCA told her that basically where are the designs. That it wasn't very design based. It through her and they told her that she had to create something for M&S. She immediately designed a jumper which using this ink allowed it to change colour and create a print through the rain falling on the jumper.
M&S said that this isn't very marketable and that it would not sell. She then went through the design progress again, and used the idea of the print which appeared after the reaction of the ink but turned it into a print itself and created a very normal 6 piece womans collection. With this she actually won, through how she explored the whole process.
Lauren stated that the best thing about being a designer is to keep being open minded, and also keep your artistic skills. if you loose these and forget them, you will become very narrow winded and keeping your self open allows you to achieve different possibilities. One for example is that she got collaborated with 2 engineers, which now are her 2 best friends. They were given the task to design the future 2040 air bus, which is simaralily like a plane however it is so futuristic. This scared me a little. I didn't like to think that in nearly 30 years, things like this would be around.
The roof became transparent and this allowed you to have such a view of the sky. The seats moulded to your body. There were so many gadgets it scared the hell out of me. However this was a prime example into how we can get involved to any design based projects if we kept being open minded.
She also said she became involved within this company of PHNX. This came apparent in her 2nd year of RCA and up until 6 months ago. She was involved in making wearable technology, and made use of the ink she invented and made feathers change colour.
The dye actually allowed the feathers to change colours from a variety of 7 different colours not from dark to light. I still don't understand how this can be achieved however it amazes me. I have found another video of this, which if you check on my blog there is a post of it.
http://vimeo.com/54939542
She then splurged out that she is working on a project for the next coming olympics that they are trying to create clothing which is more aerodynamic and this also has the ink in the material so that it would change when the muscles are working. this would work through it changing with the thermal and temperature of the athlete.She has also worked with a business: Wold and Badger, which admittedly said she was useless and not very nice to work for. She created a shop window installation for them, which changed colour when in the light from the sun. Eventually they wanted to move their shop and so asked lauren to have it back and look after it. Herself and another colleague: Ryan Hopkinson had to do some piece and spread for a magazine and had nothing to photograph. So silly enough they just thought they would set alight the installation. they photo documented this, and in the end the whole entire piece blew up.
Wolf and badger were not impressed however ryan and lauren got a nice set of photographs to use and publicise.
Moving on she also said she collaborated with Peachoo & Krejberg. Here she was asked to create 3 sculptures using the feathers and she was given 3 tones of set colours she was allowed to use. She basically created a wearable feather sculpture however did not make them change colour and used the palette she was given. But for the after party she created another which changed colour as a centre piece. This fashion show was in paris AW12.
I have linked a video which a found on youtube of the final walk of the fashion show which shows the entire collection including the 3 pieces created by Lauren Bowker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IaBVWgA-ME&feature=player_embedded
She also has worked with Tim Walker, which then had Kate Moss modelling one of Laurens Scultpures made from feathers.
After talking through the past work she has created she started to talk about what she is doing currently. recently there was a talk at RCA where a guest speaker: WILL I AM came and talked about how he loves fashion and the idea of wearing technology and computers. Immediately lauren thought that his ideas were very dated and at the after party she decided to go over and tell him, that he should have her working for him, and then she started to tell him her ideas, and plans, and the work she is presently doing. He loved her ideas and then asked for her number.
Lauren 10 minutes later received a text from him saying he would like to hang and chat about ideas. Cut along story short he then has Given her money into the company and has created a new label " THE UNSEEN".
This is still ongoing and is all confidential, so she would not speak a lot about it, however she did say that it involves wearing technology, and since she has already told us what she can do and whom she is working with to combine new materials and the materials she had produced. This will be something to watch. I cannot wait to see what this may bring. The whole concept is putting human in the centre of technology.
To finalise everything off, she told us to go start networking.
NETWORKING IS KEY. You need to find someone that backs you up. If you believe in it, you will find someone that will back you up.
She also explained that she has quite a few projects coming up and so if we would like any internships that we should email her, and also that if she doesn't use us, she has a lot of contacts and she would put forward our CV to anyone that is looking for an internship.
This sounds so promising and has made me really determined to pursue what i want to become.
After i finish this post i am going to quickly update my CV and email it to Lauren, so fingers crossed guys.
www.seetheunseen.co.uk
behindtheunseen.tumblr.com
@PHNX
Lauren 10 minutes later received a text from him saying he would like to hang and chat about ideas. Cut along story short he then has Given her money into the company and has created a new label " THE UNSEEN".
This is still ongoing and is all confidential, so she would not speak a lot about it, however she did say that it involves wearing technology, and since she has already told us what she can do and whom she is working with to combine new materials and the materials she had produced. This will be something to watch. I cannot wait to see what this may bring. The whole concept is putting human in the centre of technology.
To finalise everything off, she told us to go start networking.
NETWORKING IS KEY. You need to find someone that backs you up. If you believe in it, you will find someone that will back you up.
She also explained that she has quite a few projects coming up and so if we would like any internships that we should email her, and also that if she doesn't use us, she has a lot of contacts and she would put forward our CV to anyone that is looking for an internship.
This sounds so promising and has made me really determined to pursue what i want to become.
After i finish this post i am going to quickly update my CV and email it to Lauren, so fingers crossed guys.
www.seetheunseen.co.uk
behindtheunseen.tumblr.com
@PHNX
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