Laundry Narratives: Reflections on Design, Laundry Practices and Sustainability

28. Juni 2016, 19:00-20:30 Uhr
Emma Dulcie Rigby, Buckinghamshire New University, UK

Abstract
In this presentation I will discuss the key insights from my practice-led PhD.  Through re-examining laundry as a social practice the research develops a series of design provocations to challenge the organisation of laundry practices, and by extension the frequencies and processes in which laundry is carried out. It highlights that understanding laundry as a social practice opens a space to reconceptualise design, laundry behaviour and sustainability. This provides an alternative lens from which to view and develop design theories and practice for sustainability in fashion.

Biography
Emma is a senior lecturer of fashion design at Buckinghamshire New University.  She is also finishing a practice-led PhD at Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion.  Her work is focused on understanding and responding to environmental challenges in the fashion sector, particularly during garment use and laundry.

Image “Recording laundry norms” photographed by Ana Escobar

 

 

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26. May 2016

In Focus

The main goal of the Muthesius University in Kiel is to promote art, design and spatial strategies via research and development projects as a focal point for work and intellectual debates. As the only art university in the State of Schleswig-Holstein, the Muthesius is not only a place to develop culturally relevant biographies but with its project studies also a place of particular experimentation and realisation. To a certain extent, the profile of the Master’s programme represents study courses and development possibilities for students unique in the Federal Republic of Germany.

“At the centre of the Muthesius University’s focus is art and design, the creative and productive. Around this centre there revolves the fundamental relationship between theory and practice. This reciprocal relationship is a permanent process, a circular movement around the centre held by art and design. It needs free space to move. Thus, the firt condition for art and design at our university is freedom! To study at the Muthesius is the desire to use this freedom to mature into an equally creative and productive personality. In this way, we can provide our students with personal biographies”, promises President Dr. Arne Zerbst.

Around 660 study places are currently spread across the study courses in Fine Arts, Fine Arts for Secondary School Teachers, Spatial Strategies, Communication Design and Industrial Design.

RESEARCH AND PROJECTS

Training and education at the Muthesius are project-oriented. Students are encourage early to gain experience with real clients. The Project Office, the Publication Office and the Centre for Media are interdisciplinary departments which help students to complete their projects successfully.
By particpating in the excellence clusters the Muthesius University is one of the internationally visible and competitive research institutes contributing to the sustainability of research in Germany. Numerous cooperation partners at local, national and international level appreciate the Muthesius University’s interdisciplinary structure and the personal atmosphere of the class sizes of a maximum to 20 students – an excellent basis for discourse leading to innovation.

INTERNATIONALITY

Each term, students and lecturers discuss national and international positions in art and design within the framework of interdisciplinary workshop weeks and internally organised, public symposia. International lecturers are always a part of these required courses. Young people from over 30 countries around the world come together in Kiel to study art and design. They make up 14 per cent of the student body, with an increasing tendency. This puts the Muthesius University above the national average.

WEBLOGS OF THE FIELDS OF STUDY (In German)

In order to make the variety of the Muthesius University more informative, in addition to the »official« information pages (the coloured half of the website) there are over 30 weblogs (the white half of this website) updated by the individual study courses/departments themselves (in German only).

 

SEMESTER TIMES

Winter semester 2023/24
Start of semester: 01.10.2023
End of semester: 31.03.2024
Start of classes: 23.10.2023
End of classes: 16.02.2024
(non-lecture period: 23.12.2023-7.1.2024)

Summer semester 2024
Start of semester: 01.04.2024
End of semester: 30.09.2024
Start of classes: 02.04.2024
End of classes: 19.07.2024