Course Syllabus
Scandinavian Textiles and Fashion Workshop |
 |
| Semester & Location: |
Spring 2023 - Stockholm |
| Type & Credits: |
Exploration Elective Course - 3 credits |
| Major Disciplines: |
Design, Fashion Studies, Studio Arts |
| Study Tours: |
Denmark |
| Faculty Members: |
Alina Rentsch & Jeppe Juel Rishøj (current students please use the Canvas Inbox) |
| Time & Place: |
Tuesday 14:50-17:45 in 1D-409 |
Course Description
Expand your understanding of Scandinavian design, art and culture and unleash your creative identity by exploring textiles in fashion and surface design and how they change the way we dress as well as inform the spaces around us. The course combines visits to Scandinavian designers and artists, global brands the likes of H&M, Filippa K, and Marimekko with readings and studies of tactility, expression, and materials. Scandinavian Textiles and Fashion Workshop is appropriate for students in studio art, interior design, architecture, design history, information design, creative management or business. Students will work in analogue and digital media. User knowledge of Adobe Suite is helpful.
Learning Objectives
- To cultivate ways of exploring textiles in fashion and surface design and their intersections with identities, histories, narratives, and cultures in the contemporary world
- To introduce tools and optics that can support students individual explorations of textiles in fashion and surface design
- To plan, execute and document actual individual and team-based explorations
Faculty
Alina Rentsch
MFA, Fine Arts, Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, 2022. MA, Transdisciplinarity, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, 2019 and BFA, Fashion-Design, Weissensee Academy of Art, Berlin, 2017. Gallery Assistant, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, 2022-present. Project Manager, Carsten Höller AB, Stockholm, 2019-2020. Art Mediator, KW-Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2019. With DIS since 2023.
Jeppe Juel Rishøj
M.A, Cand.Des, (Fashion Design, The Royal Danish Academy). Jeppe work with an artistic and experimental approach to fashion design, working in a cross field between the digital and analogue mixing traditional clothing construction with digital art and sculpting methods. In his projects Jeppe explores clothes as an extension of the body, and fashion's ability to transform and abstract our physical self. With DIS since 2021.
Readings
- Barnard, Malcolm. 2002 (reprinted 2008). Fashion as Communication. Second Edition. Oxon and New York: Routledge: 72 - 101
- Black, Holly. 2022. Material Gains: Unpicking Art in Fabric at the 2022 Biennale. Elephant
- Bryan-Wilson, Julia. 2017. Fray: Art and Textile Politics. Chicago & London, University of Chicago Press: 1 - 28
- Fletcher, Kate. 2014. Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Second edition. London & New York, Routledge: 139 - 161
- Kollnitz, Andrea and Pecorari Marco (red) 2022. Fashion, Performance and Performativity - the complex space of fashion. Bloomsbury: 27 - 41
- Svendsen, Lars. 2006. Fashion: A philosophy. London, Reaktion Books: 90 - 110
- Urbach, Henry. 1996. Closets, Clothes, Disclosure in Assemblage No. 30, Aug, 1996. The MIT Press.
Expectations of the Students
Be prepared to participate, contribute, ask and answer questions, in other words, to explore:
- Are you willing to test new ideas and new ways of thinking?
- Do you promote an environment where everyone feels free to express their ideas and stretch their thinking?
- Do you contribute to the learning environment of the class as a whole by sharing your thoughts and experiences?
There will be about three hours of class time a week and you are expected to work an average of six hours per week outside of class (this includes time spent on individual urban explorations, activity on the discussion board, the development of your journal/lookbook, and the design of the moodboards).
Field Studies and Study Tour
A vital portion of our learning will take place outside the classroom visiting companies, showrooms, outlets, researchers, designers and artists.
The course includes a 4-day study tour to Copenhagen, Denmark. This trip will come at no extra cost to you but is a mandatory part of the curriculum of this course. Travel will take place during the period of your semester known as the ‘Study Break.’
Information regarding programming of the short tour and the field studies will be provided on Canvas at the start of the semester.
Evaluation
This course is an 'exploration elective'. Exploration electives are designed to be very interactive and you can expect to spend much of your class time using Stockholm – and Europe – to explore the topics of the course. The scope and quality of the 'exploration' rests on your individual engagement and curiosity as well as on what you add to the concerted exploration of the class as a whole.
Engagement: Be engaged in class, on field studies and on study tour. Be inquisitive, daring, open-minded. Be patient to allow those who are not so keen on talking in class to gather their thoughts - depth is shaped by thought, not speed. Our guest speakers and people we go to meet are smart and busy people giving us their time. Prepare and respond with all you’ve got.
Fashion, textiles and Gender exploration: In this group assignment you venture on a gender scavenger hunt in the city of Stockholm. You will through a series of observations among styling exercises explore which roles gender play in the shaping of scandinavian fashion & textiles and how clothing in general let us express and read gender.
Fashion vs Costumes exploration: In our everyday lifes we perform identity simply through getting dressed everyday, is life a sort of costume party, is everyday halloween? In this Individual Assignment you will examine the intersections between costumes and fashion, performance and identity through an exploration including photo-observations and written reflections.
The Moodboards - an initial definition: A mood board is a type of visual presentation or 'collage' consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition. A mood board can be used to convey a general idea or feeling about a particular topic. They may be physical or digital, and can be effective presentation tools.
Copenhagen moodboard exploration: This is a team-based exploration of the textile and fashion urban landscape of Copenhagen, Denmark, the destination of our four-day study tour. The study tour is used to gather material for the moodboard which will be finished when we return to Stockholm. The quality of the final moodboard rests on your teams ability to shape and execute an interesting united exploration of Copenhagen.
Grading:
| Assignment |
Percent |
|
Engagement in class and on field studies and study tour (Individual) |
20% |
|
Fashion, textiles and Gender exploration:(Teams) |
30% |
|
Fashion vs Costumes exploration (Individual) |
20% |
|
Copenhagen Moodboard (Teams) |
30% |
Individual grades for team assignments may be applied. The course policy is that late assignments are not accepted.
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:
DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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