Art School in Poland

The first full day we had in Krakow we went to an art school called The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. It was a great school that has been there for over 132 years, there were many different buildings and campus' spread over the city all filled with different art subjects such as sculpture, painting, drawing, stage design, interior design and graphics, the degree  is spread over 5 or 6 years and gives the students an opportunity to try as many different fields as they want, and then specialise in one subject. I really loved the print rooms, they had many of them each one from different types of printing such as mono, or lithography printing. 

Poland 2011

This year we went to Krakow in Poland on the College residential during November, three people from surface design went and more from illustration. 

Krakow was a place I had never been before and wouldn't have thought of going, but I am so glad I did.

Krakow was filled with tradition, culture and history, folk traditions including horse drawn carriage traveling around the main square with an outdoor market market hall. 

Also beautiful architecture and buildings, all about five stories high and painted different pastel colours, and wonderful churches and towers.

Here are a few pictures: 

Chloe Owens

Chloe Owens is an artist/crafter who specialises in appliqué, free hand machine embroidery using salvaged fabrics she has collected over the years. She produces cushions, soft toys, canvasses, greeting cards, and t-shirts, sewing together a mixture of fabrics of different prints, colours and styles, and then free hand sews on top using a sewing machine to create layers of stitching in different colours. I think that her work is beautiful and interesting, and I thought that it fits in with the work that I am doing now, with re-using fabrics and quilting techniques.  

She also has a book on Amazon that you can buy now!

War Time Fashion

I found these videos on youtube, I know that they are from American and they didn't have rationing like we did in Britain on clothes and fabrics, but it can give an idea of some of the fashion during the war and the shapes, colours and styles of the clothes during that period. 
The first video is a a modern reenactment of fashion and clothes in the 40's, and is British.  

TRAIDremade

TRAIDremade recycles, refashions, and remakes textiles that would otherwise be thrown away, and they create individual and unique new pieces of clothing from them. Each piece is handmade in a workshop by the seaside in Brighton.
Instead of throwing away clothes TRAIDremade encourages people to recycle their clothes to help fight poverty in developing countries. 
TRAIDremade is un by a UK based charity called TRAID, the money raised is used to fight global poverty. 
Their shops are all based around London and Brighton, you can also volunteer at one of the three shops.

A Question Of

A Question Of is a sustainable and eco fashion collection, whose mission it is to make sustainable living a simple choice. They treat all their workers fairly, with respect, to use eco friendly materials to help the environment and improve human health. Their products are made in Africa under fair trade conditions, they want to support people and workers in developing countries, paying them a fair price for their work, and better working and living conditions for African textile workers.

Eco Boutique

As part of my new brief I had to look into sustainability and eco fashion because of the current effect 'fast fashion' is having on the environment and the earth. 
I found eco boutique online and I thought that there morals and ideas about fashion are fantastic, they want to go back to when people bought  less and cherished what they did have more. They want to promote 'slow fashion', their limited edition collections are unique and individual. 
They also have strong ideas about eco fashion including; the t-shirts are made with 100% organic fabrics, 90% less CO2, and water based inks that are environmentally friendly, when possible use 100% biodegradable mail bags that are made from 100% recycled materials, and any waste that they produce will also be recycled. 
They mostly make t-shirts for both men and women, but they also create accessories including scarves and jewellery. 

Website Address; http://ecoboutiqueshop.co.uk/index.php/