Course Syllabus
Scandinavian Textiles and Fashion Workshop |
 |
| Semester & Location: |
Spring 2024 - Stockholm |
| Type & Credits: |
Exploration Elective Course - 3 credits |
| Major Disciplines: |
Design, Fashion Studies, Studio Arts |
| Study Tours: |
Denmark |
| Faculty Members: |
Gigja Gudjonsdottir (current students please use the Canvas Inbox) |
| Time & Place: |
Tuesdays, 14:50-17:45 Classroom: 1D-508 |
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
Gigja Gudjonsdottir
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Fashion Design, Iceland Academy of the Arts, 2011. Fashion Design. Universität der Künste Berlin, 2010 - 2011 (Exchange semester). Technical Pattern Design – CLO3D course at Tillskärarakademin Malmö, Stockholms Tillskärarakademi, 2023. Diploma of Education, 3D-Modellering Blender, Yrgo, 2023 Diploma of Education. Freelance Fashion and 3D Design consultant working with various brands e.g. H&M, Divided, Understatement Underwear, Creation Fields, Boob design, and & Other Stories, Sep 2019- present. H&M Senior Product Designer at H&M Ladies Footwear department, Aug 2016 - Sep 2019. H&M Junior Footwear Designer at H&M Ladies Footwear department, Oct 2014 - Aug 2016 H&M Lingerie Design Assistant at H&M Ladies Fancy Underwear department, Jan 2012 - Oct 2014. Gigja Gudjonsdottir is an experienced fashion designer with a background at H&M and collaborations with various brands. She has designed a wide range of products, including shoes, handbags, belts, lingerie, and womenswear, demonstrating her versatile adaptability. With expertise in 3D modeling and Clo3d fashion design software, Gigja strives to merge her creative vision, innovative approaches, and commitment to sustainability, aiming to make meaningful contributions to the fashion industry. With DIS since 2023.
Readings
- Barnard, Malcolm. 2002 (reprinted 2008). Fashion as Communication. Second Edition. Oxon and New York: Routledge: 72 - 101
- Kollnitz, Andrea and Pecorari Marco (red) 2022. Fashion, Performance and Performativity - the complex space of fashion. Bloomsbury: 27 - 41
- Julie Sommerlund, Ideological design,
- Recycling from waste in Fashion and textiles, Pandit, Pintu, Ahmed, Shakeel, Singa etc
- Fletcher, Kate. 2014. Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Second edition. London & New York, Routledge: 139 - 161
- Svendsen, Lars. 2006. Fashion: A philosophy. London, Reaktion Books: 90 - 110
Field Studies
A vital portion of our learning will take place outside the classroom visiting companies, showrooms, outlets, researchers, designers and artists.
Study Tour
The course includes a 3-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.
Guest Lecturers
Mina Lundgren - Notion of form https://www.notionofform.com/
Approach to Teaching & 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).
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% |
|
Assignment 1 - Fashion, textiles and Gender exploration:(Teams) |
30% |
|
Assignment 2 - Copenhagen Moodboard (Teams) |
30% |
|
Assignment 3 - Fashion vs Costumes exploration (Individual) |
20% |
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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