Nadezhda Fedotova with her winning design

The competition is part of Swarovski’s decade-long sponsorship programme with CSM. It involved students on BA Jewellery Design working within one of four themes, Berlin, Istanbul, Fiction and Luminescence.

The panel of judges included Nadja Swarovski, jewellery designer Hannah Martin, and In Detail blogger Beanie Major who reviewed the finished work last Friday at King’s Cross.

Nadezhda Fedotova prize-winning design was inspired by ceremonial African masks and Voodoo relics. She created a multifunctional magnetic bracelet/necklace in brass and carved wood, set with Swarovski Gemstones. Second prize went to Joann Hong (Istanbul) for her feathered neckpiece, set with Swarovski Elements, which wraps around the wearer like smoke tendrils from the sweet tobacco smoked in Turkish harems. The award for Best Use of Gemstones and Best Use of Crystal went to Eleonora D’Ottavi and Esna Su respectively.

Giles Last, Senior lecturer in Jewellery at Central Saint Martins said:

“We have been delighted to work with Swarovski over the last ten years, developing an excellent example of a collaboration between Education and Industry. It is always fascinating to see how the students respond to the challenge and we look forward to continuing this productive and meaningful collaboration in the future.”

All the winning pieces are on display at Central Saint Martins until May 18.

Visit the BA Jewellery Design course page

Zuleika Penniman showcases her Berlin-inspired neckpiece

Last month students of Central Saint Martins’ MA Fashion presented their collections as part of London Fashion Week. Amongst the eclectic and exciting designs, the work of Luke Brooks stood out.

Joint winner of the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award 2012, Luke’s first look relayed distinctly Olympian references and so the UAL 2012 HQ team quizzed him on just how much the impending Games have inspired him…

Credit: Catwalking.com

‘I’m not really sure what to say in relation to the Olympics and what I just showed. It isn’t something I have been focusing on per se but it is looming all up in our grills here in London and I’ve been touched imaginatively by some of its tentacles, so to speak. More than the actual event, I suppose it is its epic nature and the hysteria that often goes with epic things that I have responded to there with that first look. Looking back I see that the ultra-graphic nature of all things Olympic related must have played a part, as it renders the competition easy to make reference to. The imagery, the colours alone, are ingrained, evocative and therefore pretty powerful. The Olympic dream however, is only one current of discussion that has been affecting me recently. So have all the manifestations of apocalyptic or mega-change stories surrounding the year 2012. They are exciting. As is talk of extraterrestrial life. For example, I thought for a few minutes recently about what kind of display (fashion and otherwise) we’d put on if we knew aliens from some neigbouring planet were coming down for a chat, a variety show and a cup of sugar. That scenario in my mind would probably involve romantic united-folk-of-earth head-gear. But maybe they’d relate more to our work-a-day clothes as some of them are said to be grey all over anyway. They might take umbrage at some of our ritzier styles and zap us. It could be best to play it cool in Calvin Klein and loincloths. Who knows?

Credit: Catwalking.com

On a practical level, that Olympic look came about quickly and without preparation. I had already made the body covering element a couple of months before and then it occurred to me that the colours of the rings sort of went with it. I am always pondering ideas of Gods and halos and related stuff, and the Ancient Greek/Olympic vibe connects with all that to me. I also saw that my rings were a bit like dream catchers, which felt poignant; having five catchers on one’s head. Like the title of that basketball film ‘Hoop Dreams’. By happenstance I already had the right yarn colours and wire and kit. If I hadn’t it probably wouldn’t have transpired, because I was working fast and kind of impatiently. I was in reveller mode that day and I couldn’t wait to get to the party.

Credit: Catwalking.com

But all said and done, that first look is a potential solution to the pressing problem of what we will be wearing when we toddle, bound or rollerblade down to Stratford in the summer or to any of the associated knees-ups.’

Credit: Catwalking.com

Find out more:
- UAL 2012 blog
- MA Fashion course page

The MA Art and Science interim show “Experiments” opens on Wednesday 23 May 2012

Dates: 23-25 May 2012
Times: 10am – 5pm
Location: Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, Byam Shaw Building, 2 Elthorne Road, London, N19 4AG
Tube: Archway

Private view: Wednesday 23 May 2012, 5pm-8pm

Find out more:
- MA Art and Science course page

Sensing Obscurity (I, II, III) is a project by Erika Tan that questions ‘what happens to symbols of cultural dominance when the world order shifts?’

The project seeks a post-colonial reclamation to the possibility of telling stories through the use of a multiplicity of narrative devices. The premise is that it is in the way that histories/stories are told that produces and re-produces untold stories, narratives and events. Set in Saltram House, an English Manor House (now National Trust property), the film takes place ‘some point in the not so distant future’, at a moment in time when Chinas ascendance as a global power has given rise to an opportunity to re-visit history differently. Using a mixture of documentary and narrative film tropes, the cut and paste aesthetics of hip-hop and chinoiserie; Saltram House, history as we know it under-goes a slippery transition in an attempt to remain relevant and shore-up its status as cultural capital. References to past events, unfolding archaeologies, recurring cinematic specters (Ang Lee’s Sense & Sensibility was filmed here in 1995) and the re-enactments and enactment of relational positionings.

Sensing Obscurity (I, II, III) is a work in three parts. A 2-channel installation, which is located entirely within the hermetically ‘sealed’ interior of Saltram house. The second, a spatio-temporally deferred work disseminated through a form of digital bootlegging; and the final work which explores the format of citation, reproduction, mimicry, piracy and uses the motif of spinning encountered within each work to contemplate the continuities of history and the impossibilities of dis-entanglement.

Works:

Sensing Obscurity I: The Manor House; English Literature; artefacts and the performativity of objects; contrapuntal readings; and looking inwards backwards. Duration: 28.31min. Medium: 2-channel HDV projection, 4 track audio, looped

Sensing Obscurity II: The Chinese Chippendales. Duration: 1.30min. Medium: streamed video with bootleg DVD http://thechinesechippendales.blogspot.co.uk

Sensing Obscurity III: “After” Chinoiserie. Duration: 5.40min. Medium: single channel HDV. A collaborative work with Neil Rose.

The work will be shown for the next 12 weeks in Plymouth as part of Sinopticon.

Find out more:

• http://www.sinopticon.org/exhibitions/

Cinzia Ruggeri, Homage to Lévi-Strauss dress, Autumn/Winter 1983-4 * V&A Images

Curating Postmodernism is the first Ideas in Progress seminar from the Fashion History and Theory Research Group at Central Saint Martins. It will be held at Kings Cross on the 16th May.

In this seminar Dr Glenn Adamson, co-curator of the recent V&A exhibition ‘Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 to 1990′, will discuss the central place of stylisation in the history and theory of postmodern design. He will also describe the process by which the show was put together, including collaboration with external designers, and his experiences working with living artists, architects and designers to reconstruct narratives of the 1970s and ’80s.

Glenn Adamson is Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Dr. Adamson is co-editor of the triannual Journal of Modern Craft, and the author of Thinking Through Craft (Berg Publishers/V&A Publications), an anthology entitled The Craft Reader (Berg, 2010), and the forthcoming book The Invention of Craft (Berg, 2012). His other publications include the co-edited volume Global Design History (Routledge, 2011). Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 to 1990 was on view at the V&A from September 2011 to January 2012 and is now touring in Europe.

To attend please RSVP to: a.sagoo@csm.arts.ac.uk

• Open to all
• Wednesday 16 May 2012. 6pm Room D113, Kings cross site.
• There is no charge for this event but to guarantee a space please book early. You may not be able to access the building if you have not contacted us by email beforehand.

Central Saint Martins ongoing collaboration with Island Records saw the KX Platform Theatre play host to Keane on Friday 27 April 2012.

An audience of competition winners, students, staff and management from Universal and Island Records attended the live showcase and Q&A launching Keane’s 2012 long player, ‘Strangeland’.

‘Strangeland’ is Keane’s fifth LP and follows four consecutive No 1 albums, which account for 12 million sales worldwide. The event was streamed live on Amazon, in association with LOVEFiLM.

Find out more:
- Platform Theatre website

Six CSM students are exhibiting in UAL Platform’s touring show, Xhibit 2012, whose last venue is the Menier Gallery in London Bridge from 1-5 May.

Xhibit has been running for 15 years, aiming to find the crème de la crème of current student work from all over the University of the Arts London.

This year a record breaking 1,200 works were submitted, which were narrowed down to just 21 by an expert judging panel consisting of our Student Union President Ben Westhead, Vickie Hayward (Creative Director of JaguarShoesCollective) and Sarah Williams (Gallery Manager and Curator at Jerwood Visual Arts).

UAL Platform, part of SUARTS, has been touring the show around London, starting off at Central Saint Martin’s in mid-march, then to Kingsgate Workshop Trust in North London, and now to the Menier Gallery in South London.

Here are the six works from CSM students in the exhibition.

(Top row, l-r)
Szu-Ying Chen (BA Fine Art, year 2) Slaughtered Ewok, Illustration (ink)
Ghazelle Avarzamani (MA Fine Art) Mr and Mrs Andrews, Textile (needlepoint)
Jakob Powell (BA Fine Art, year 1) EX NIHILO, Photography

(Bottom row, l-r)
Sarah Fortais (MA Fine Art) Anglomophone, Sound sculpture
Stephanie Cristofaro (BA Fashion Print) Full Bloom, Textile
Lucy Read (BA Fine Art, year 3) An Opening Up, Illustration (charcoal)

Xhibit is proud to be collaborating with Made in Arts London, a new online enterprise from the University of the Arts London that sells student and recent graduate art and design. All works on sale in Xhibit 2012 are available to purchase at www.madeinartslondon.com and we will be staging a pop up shop at the Menier Gallery during the Private View on Tuesday 1st, Friday 4th and Saturday 5th.

Please join us for the private view of Xhibit 2012, Tuesday 01 May 2012, 6:00 – 8:30pm, The Menier Gallery, 51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU

Sarah Fortais will also be staging a free sound art workshop from 2-4pm on Saturday 5th – all materials provided, just pop in!

The exhibition is open 01 – 05 May 2012
Tues – Thurs 11:00 – 18:00
Fri 11:00 – 20:00
Sat 11:00 – 16:00

Find out more:
-BA Fine Art course page
-BA Fashion course page
-MA Fine Art course page

Emily Wardill, still from Fulll Firearms, 2012 courtesy of the artist and Jonathan Viner, London

Fulll Firearms is co-commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery, If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution(Amsterdam) and Film London’s FLAMIN Productions. It is co-produced by FLAMIN Productions and City Projects (London) with support from M HKA, (Antwerp), Badischer Kunstverein (Karlsruhe) and FRAC Champagne-Ardenne (Reims). Additional support is provided by the European Commission (Brussels) and Mondriaan Foundation (Amsterdam).

Microsoft Ltd today unveiled the twelve shortlisted designs and final winner of its inaugural PC Hardware Design Project with Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.

Twenty four MA Industrial Design students were briefed to create and design a range of innovative hardware and user-experience devices which consumers could be using in the future.

Microsoft tasked participating Industrial Design students to conceptualise ideas which demonstrated new thinking in computer interaction – challenging each to devise possible alternatives to the mouse and keyboard or, alternatively, visualise technologies that could be used in the future, based on emerging tech trends of today.

The shortlisted designs were showcased in an exhibition at the College last night. One student, 24 year old Victor Johansson, from Sweden, was selected as the overall winner and awarded first prize. Victor’s winning design was the Keyflex, “an evolution of the humble keyboard.”

Rather than just pressing keys, the user bends, squeezes, twists and flexes the device to control it. It can also be bent upwards and downwards to control the volume. By pressing the ‘modifier key’ at the same time, the action of bending gets assigned to a different function (e.g. fast forwarding a movie). The device can also be twisted to pause or escape. When using social media, the user can squeeze either the right or left side to ‘share’ or ‘like’.”

'Keyflex', Victor Johansson

Scott Smith, Principal User Experience Designer with the Microsoft Hardware User Experience Team and judge of the PC Hardware Design Project, commented:

It has been a fascinating experience to see students who hail from a diverse mix of backgrounds and nationalities developing fresh insights into the world of man/machine interaction. I was particularly impressed with Victor Johansson’s design as he successfully met the overall goal of the programme and really showcased a possible future trend which addressed a clear consumer need – a quality that is at the forefront of all Microsoft design thinking.”

Find out more:
- MA Industrial Design course page

American Postcards documents the experiences and impressions of three European photographers in post 9/11 USA (2004 to 2005).

It features photography and writing by London College of Communication graduates (BA Photography) Norman Wilcox (UK), Amanda Johansson (Sweden) and Ronan Haughton (Ireland). It also features the work of Art Kaligos (USA), a photography graduate from Parsons School of Design New York.

American Postcards also features exclusive writing by Peter D. Osborne, author of ‘Travelling Light, travel and visual culture’.

Find out more at www.americanpostcards.co.uk