Alter-Design

Duration: 39:12 minutes.

Genre: Documentary/research footage.

Role: Director/Narrator/Editor.

Description

A love story of slow-making, upcycling textiles, and ethical systems, and an exploratory development tool for self-practices in Vancouver. Alter-Design is a project rooted in the big question many designers and artists have- why should I make? It is the search for answers within my own self-practice and values I want to keep perpetuating, while also keeping in mind other ways of making and being.

While starting off busying hands with an upcycling slow-made project textile representing my fears with money and the loss of craft, we looked at other ethical women-run solo studios in “Vancouver”, and asked interviewed them about themselves and their work, to see how they can run their practice full-time, while also being the sole employee. Their voices and important as it is hard to navigate the situation of slow-making and custom work, while also layering onto how hard pricing is. And blended in are the current Industrial Designers of this class, letting us know their practices and values. All of these questions and their creative voices can be seen in a video accompanying this project in a multi-disciplinary love letter to design as a send-off and a search for purpose in the material world. The definition of Industrial Design is basically designing for mass production, versus Alter-Design, which is an alternate way of designing that is now being focused on not adding more waste to the world, while fulfilling a dream and purpose in your heart.

Featuring interviews with:

Stephanie Schneider (Glasnost Workshop) instagram: @glasnostworkshop

Heather Woolley

Jamie Dawes (Fyoocher) instagram: @fyoocher.ca

Lacey O’Neill

and

Diane Jordens (Toad’s World) instagram: @dianejordens

Film