Buy nothing year?

I didn't make a new years resolution but on the 2nd of January there was a documentary on TV that definitely made me think that Buy Nothing Year might be one. Overal spullen / Stuff Everywhere by Judith de Leeuw painstakingly reveals how much stuff she has in her house, because she sets out to count it all! Not a small nor easy task. Eventually she ends up exhibiting it all in a big empty hall, categorized by type and neatly laid out flat (Things Organized Neatly style) Passers by look at the stuff and try to say something about the owner, confrontation and reflection on how stuff reflects who we are.


well, at this point the New Years resolution was already too late, because I had already been to the sales, my bi-yearly fashion fix and bought a lambswool sweater and 4 pairs of woollen stockings (you never know when they go out of fashion).
So too late to really stick with the good intentions. Earlier on I had read about the 5 pieces wardrobe principle, there is even a Facebook group for that.. I liked the idea of 5 pieces wardrobe. It's not buying nothing, but it limits your retail-therapy and it's a principle that creates awareness of your consumption patterns and what's worth investing in.

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The girls from the Free Fashion Challenge are definitely more brave than me, they really take the challenge, stopped buying clothes for one year. It's an experiment and they will record their reactions and experiences. What happens when fashion addicts kick off? and how is it that fashion has become more about consumption than self-expression?

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There is also a group on Flickr called Fabricate fashion. These people are challenging themselves to make or buy only handmade for their wardrobe for a year. A good excuse to get creative, use up their fabric and yarn stash and avoid consuming mass-manufactured goods.

So when I initially thought about this new years resolution, I really thought about buying nothing, nothing at all, not just fashion, excluding daily necessities of course. I think I have enough, there is actually not much I really need. And on-top of that I like to think of myself as a creative person with lots of yarn and fabric stash so I should be able to provide myself for a year and I could organize the occasional swap-party. But I have already relaxed my criteria, I think it's ok to buy second-hand and maybe there are just a couple of things I really need like a fully automatic espresso machine and a Media Player that can easily play content from my HD and internet on my telly. (ironic, but true) So even if I will not manage completely at least I question myself more if it's really necessary to buy something.

Besides from that an odd feeling of disloyalty to the Economy starting to creep onto me. I started to think through that if we all start to buy nothing, the economy will stop. That is really scary, the continuation of the economy as we know it all depends on us keeping consuming. There is something utterly dis-functional about that system, it must be possible to think of another kind of economy, one where the re-circulation of goods is stimulated and rewarded. Where the first time consumption of raw materials is priced according to the environmental impact of the total costs to the environment. Well I'm not an economist so these are just a couple of ideas.


Thanks to Claudia and Jacqueline for inspiring me to write this piece

Social Media fatigue

Is social media the new opium for the people? Are we getting addicted? At least our compulsion to continuously update status and tweeting has been responded to with some recent new signage; “in case of fire, please leave the building before tweeting about it” and “please look where you walk, don’t update your FB status now”. The social media moment; when somebody notices our presence and responds is addictive because it flatters our ego. It remains an odd feeling for one to be interrupted in real-life conversation because your partner has to instantly check reactions when a Twitter @mention flickrs on the smart phone, it can break relationships. Where do we live most? Social Media is our second life and our existence and response-rate has become vital to social inclusion in many circles. And with the new Timeline app to come, Facebook is promising to become our companion from birth to death, a digital red thread that records your important moments through your entire life. A sort of Museum of Me+.

But already the first signs of fatigue are surfacing. A recent study published by Gartner puts numbers to it; 31% of Aspirers (younger, more mobile, brand-conscious consumers) indicated that they were getting bored with their social networks. 24% of respondents stated that they are using the social sites less often compared to when they initial signed up, only a young and tech savvy group (37%) stated that they were using the sites more often compared to when they signed up.

Social media is also increasingly branded, which in many cases doesn’t add value to people’s social media experiences. Most people use the web for consumer research, and 54% of people admit that social media is a good place to learn about brands and products, shows a recent study by tnsdigitallife. TNS also talk about the digital waste, the pollution in the social media space caused by misguided brand presence. It leaves behind traces of dead or inactive social media pages; branded pages on Facebook or Google+ that don’t get updated anymore, probably because of the lack of a long term social media strategy by many brands and companies.

So we should not let ourselves be blinded by social media marketing, it will increasingly become difficult to catch the attention of the social media consumers, and the big question is who are they and will they be in the near future? We will need to innovate and diversify to keep their attention.

Published in edited form in Philips Design New Value News trends in December

Affordable art for Christmas

Art is fighting back by becoming affordable, that's what you could start thinking when you notice how the artistic sector is trying to enter the gifting market around Sinter Klaas and Christmas. We all know the traditional Christmas markets where you can buy traditional Christmas items and presents. This year Utrecht housed at least 3 staged artistic Christmas markets. Collectives of artists and designers coming together to expose in a temporary gifting gallery. Characteristic is the large amount of small and affordable items, affordable gifts, and it's not all visual arts, there is lots of semi-utilitarian and quirky items for the interior and wardrobe. There are also modern takes on Christmas items, like contemporary takes on the Christmas tree etc. (see my previous post on Utrechts creative markets around Whit weekend)

DepARTmentSTORE in the CBKU, Plompetorengracht 4, Kunst doet goed.
The CBKU housed a clear exhibition, with great curation resulting in a curious collection of interesting yet accessible art and design. Nice little things that you could easily imagine having at home adding an artistic touch to your interior or wardrobe. Some items where of course a little more outspoken, which made a good contrast. I believe it was mostly local (Utrecht) artists and designers which was also a great achievement.

Stitch-hacked furniture by Decodel

gallery impression

still-life and upcycled bench

Kerstboom Uit het beste resthout gesneden door http://www.gebroedersbosma.nl/

contemporary embroidery

De Super de Kunst, Tractieweg, 25-27th of November.
Perhaps the most artistic market, or contrary to what the name may make you think the least commercialized one, it felt most like the Atelier-route. The pop-up Art-Supermarket took place in a big industrial hall had been transformed into something vaguely resembling a supermaket making use of industrial scale scaffolding to create boots for the individual artists, some of them coming from other parts of the county. There was also space for some Christmas coziness with gluhwein and cookies.

Stairway to Heaven by http://www.gebroedersbosma.nl/

Toffe Peer by http://www.iliasernst.nl/

Cash & Carry @ Kunstliefde, Nobelstraat, geef eens kunst kado. As the name suggests the art can be carried away immediately upon paying. The exhibition is advertised to be housing professional artists and the level of the work seems quite high. Mostly visual arts, no utilitarian items. This gallery has been having a Christmas sales exhibition since 2002.

reverse grafitti - cleaning up the urban landscape

Is it art? or is it a crime? does it improve the neighborhood? or does it deteriorate the neighborhood? Cleaning graffiti raises many questions, it provokes us to think about who is responsible to keep our neighborhood clean; ourselves, us that live there, do we have a civic responsibility that goes beyond the front-door? Or should the government be held responsible? after all we pay our taxes? In the end the ethical question is; should somebody that cleans the street, even if it's partial, and they leave a statement behind, should they be sentenced or not? after all, they where cleaning. Apparently we still miss legislation in this area.

Meanwhile marketeers have picked up this new area of advertising. There are already verious advertisement agencies that specialize in tagging our pavements using stencils and high pressure cleaners. Is that ok? even if they apparently ask the government for permission, I think it's questionable,  after all, these tags are way bigger than the traditional stickers and they are more permanent and intrusive than flyers. even though you have to admit that it does wear out after time...

Reverse Graffiti, Range Rover Nieuwegein

Something much more witty is this advertisement by the cleaners at Cartesiusweg, (apologies for poor picture quality) they have depicted different cleaners in Russian Avangardistic style, the cleaners are demanding respect and recognition for housekeeping work. It's ironic that it is right on the walls right next to the dumpster station.

schoonmakers graffiti Cartesiusweg

Reverse graffiti can also be used by yourself to brighten up your own pavement, to add a touch of homeliness to the urban landscape. This is a picture of a carpet that can be applied to your front pavement. Makes the neighborhood cozier I would say, invites you to create a homely living room outside and to sit down and have a chat with the neighborhood.

reverse graffiti - pavement carpet

Inducing warmth and conviviality to your local community by a little maybe illegal intervention, I really don't hope this kind of action will be punished any-time soon in the future

Fashions new Value-networks

The fashion system is sick and those of us that have been asking ourselves how it is possible that H&M can sell men's knitted sweaters for 20 euro, know it. Upon the first economic implosion in 2008 the fashion industry suffered, the October shows and sales-rooms where a catastrophe, serious plummeting of orders, read my post on Reshaping Attitudes in Arnhem, where some possible scenarios for change where proposed.

Now some changes are happening for real;  recently I have read about a lot of new "indie" brands that are inter-weaving consumable fashion products with social responsibility and care for the environment. Fashions answer to slumping markets, ethical concerns (outsourcing to 3rd world countries, sweat-shops, modern slavery, child-labor) and environmental concerns (pollution through the whole production and logistics chain)  is to bring the making process closer to home through local value networks. 

Many of these little companies have of course been inspired by American Apparel, who was one of the first to bring production back home. Also Nukohiva by Floortje Dessing was early in starting her sustainable fashion initiative (read my post here). American Apparel and Nukohiva are already big, these new "indie" brands/companies are independent they are not (yet) bought up by any fashion conglomerates, their business-models are different. They just do what they think is right, much of the time for very personal reasons and feelings of injustice.

I-did, slow fashion is a Utrecht fashion company,  so far it's a webshop and it has one real shop in the Pastoe factory in Utrecht. Skilled emigrants work in this craft-shop, either they bring in their foreign diplomas (that are not recognized in NL) or they follow an internal MBO education of half a year to learn the basics. The fashion is quirky and not bound to seasons, there is not a seasonal new arrival, items just stay in the collection for a long time. Each item has a name-tag of the seamstress that made it. It's like the traceability known from food brought into the fashion industry, it adds a personal connection, the idea that a real human being was making this with care and love.

I-did Slow Fashion

MMM, Mode Met een Missie, tagline; everybody deserves a second chance.
is more powered by social injustice, people that have to re-integrate into the labor market can get a chance with them. delinquents, disenfranchised, unsociable people, people with low work ethos and unschooled emigrants alike. Much of the funding for the company comes from the funds that are made available to re-integrate this kind of people. But to get out of the sphere of only being a social reintegration company they have teamed up with Claes Iversen, a young Dutch fashion designer. So social injustice and integration is getting linked to haute couture, quite a bridge to cross. But why not?

Claes Iversen for Ami-a-toi by Mode Met een Missie

Golden Hook, knitted by French grannys
grand-mothers master the art of knitting, we all know that. Golden Hook works together with grand-mothers to create their collection of fashionable knits (ala Wool-and-the-gang) It's a way for the pensioners to earn an extra buck in their old days. For the yarn Golden Hook works with local suppliers like sheep herds wool from Creuse, the cotton is coming from Egypt.

Golden Hook

Gudrun & Gudrun, an Faeroe Island knitting company that makes use of the local population to knit re-interpreted traditional Faeroe sweaters. Both have studied and worked in Denmark and upon their return to Iceland found they had to reinvent themselves to earn a living. They work with local wool and local Faeroe women to do the knitting paying fair salaries. In order to meet demand they have expanded their knitting community to also include women from Jordan and the Baltic countries. Their presentation and style is very fashionable and professional. Once when it became known that Sara Lund from The Killing (Forbrydelsen) was always wearing a Gudrun & Gudrun sweater, then their fame really started to rise.

Sara Lund (the Killing) in her famous Gudrun Gudrun snowflake sweater

Sløjfen, grannys from this Copenhagens activity center help produce fashionable sweaters for Henrik Vibskov and other Danish fashion designers, i.e. Mads Nørregård. The group calls themselves Kaffeslabberasen (coffeedrinking and chatting) and that is also the title of a book that has recently been published. In the book 7 designers have designed knitwear, the 7 grannies have knit it and written the recipes.

Bunker Architecture

Architecture is turning inwards with closed facades, no more looking inside. This new kind of architecture certainly is in contrast with the traditional Dutch houses in Utrecht. These houses with closed facades seem to protect their inhabitants from the outside world, locking it out. Maybe the information overload and stress is just too much and then the home, the safe haven is where we choose to isolate ourselves to retreat to refuge. It makes the house a place for introspection and reflection.

The first house here is designed and build by Urbanizer. The facade certainly stands out amongst the very traditional houses in the street. They say themselves that it's an abstraction of the garage that used to be here. I think it has strong resemblense with a Swiss shed with the wood cladding all around and the tapered wood that allows for a bit of light to enter through the front of the house. The wood gives it a warm radiation, so the closed volume doesn't feel hostile.



















The next house here is a utility building on the Kanaalweg. This is a completely closed box volume, windows are behind perforations. Whatever is going on inside is completely closed off from the outside. And with the warning sign on the front door, you could think it was dangerous. The windows are distributed in a random kind of pattern and are hidden behind perforations. It's beautiful in it's daring and striking simplicity, particularly if build by the government you will respect such a daring choice.

This is again a residence and clearly one where the facade has gone through a significant metamorphose. You can still sense the old structure of the house behind the cortens-steel cladding. Still it's beautiful and daring. The steel is cut in thin stripes, quietly resembling brick layers.

These interventions are small gestures that refreshes and updates the look of our city-scape. the revolutionary architecture by Herzog & de Meuron have had a lot of influence.

Knitting graffiti

Wild-knitting has been chosen as the Dutch neologism of 2011. It is sometimes also called knitting graffiti or yarn-bombing. What is it that is so special and beautiful about this that makes it worthy of this title?

Wild-knitting is an embellishment of the urban landscape, otherwise boring, dreadful, cold and soul-less urban elements are cheered up by wrapping them in warm and colourful cosiness, pulling them out of anonymity. It makes us smile. it's often also combined with tongue-in-cheek humour which gives us a big smile. It makes us enjoy the city in a new way. As it says on the site of Yarnbombing; "Improving the urban landscape one stitch at a time".  So contrary to original graffiti this is not aggressive or destroying the urban landscape. This is a protest led by "grannies" not by subversive 'gangs'. Though maybe the "grannies" also work in the shadow when they install the work?

Wild-knitting in the center of Utrecht. Photography Inge Noordijk

Wild-knitting by Breiwerkwest at Westergasterrein, Amsterdam

Wild-knitting by Breiwerkwest at Westergasterrein, Amsterdam

The urban interventions domesticates the urban landscape, it makes it more personal , it's claimed back by us, the inhabitants. Is this the awakening of a new sort of outdoor biedermeier?

Urban lampshade, Amsterdam. Photography Jacomine van Veen

Of course the Wildknitting exhibition in Artis helped create awareness about wild-knitting.

Breiwerkwest dressing some cosiness  on the dinosaur

Stitching graffiti is a more recent variation, using empty fences as canvas. I first saw one of these at Bricklane in London.

Lambrate, Milan during design-week

Zeedijk, Utrecht; "we live not according to reason, but according to fashion"

So there is a kind of activism to wild-knitting and stitching graffiti; this has been coined craftivism, protest through craft. Protesting against a cold male world dominated by power, protesting with softness and warmth. Bringing issues to our attention. When it's not about cheering up the urban landscape craftivism can also be a protest against the fashion-system. Protesting against the never-ending production and consumption of shiny new things by making fashion ourselves, knitting our own clothes. In public to make it clear to the world that we are developing a different view on fashion and consumption.