Assignment 1 – Creative Industry Report

This is Yuko Shimizu.

An award-winning Japanese Illustrator based in New York, whose works are mainly in the medium of brush and ink. She teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York and for everyone else around the world, we may take up her short course on Skillshare or learn from her frequent activity on Instagram.

The first thing that attracted me to this artist was that she integrates her Japanese heritage into her contemporary works; influence from the Japanese Ukiyo-e can be seen in her style. I believe that she takes heavy references from not only reknown ukiyo-e painter- Katsushika Hokusai but also Utagawa Kuniyoshi whom she mentioned in her blog post titled “15 Influencers that will stick with you forever”. Though the entire list is made up of artists from different fields of art and design, ranging from film directors, graphic designers to Authors, the presence of the ukiyo-e definitely echoes as seen when compared.

The last stand of the Kusunoki at Shijonawate by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Pandabear Girl by Yuko Shimizu

Yuko is also an inspiring figure as her success is truly built up through pure ambition. She was originally a PR worker and spent 11 years working as one after graduating with a business degree in university. The lack of an official art education made her insecure about her own work for a very long time. Then she finally made the switch in her early-thirties, giving up stable job and income to attend art school. I think it was admirable that she attended art school among 18 year olds and it really goes to show that there is no shame in striving for your goals no matter how old you are.

As a late bloomer myself, one who has been through art school and is still figuring things out, I find her story comforting. She has allowed my to learned that I am still young and that development is not a race for time.

You may view more of her works on her instagram.

Presentation Slides

Wearable Tech: Process

Sketch 

1st
2nd
3rd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skirt Volume Prototype

 

Paper was layer the wire prototype. Very inefficient, there must have been a better way to do this.
Pattern derived from previous mock up. I folded it into 6 then made a pattern for a single panel.
Extend bodice to stabilise bottom
Wrong bodice pattern (Top) Correct Bodice pattern (bottom)

Some Skirt Construction

Leds secured with hand stitching
Casing made with bias tape and intersection overlap are left open to be hand stitched later.
I accidentally sewed over an led and destroyed it. 🙁 

Hand-Crochet Fringe

Tutorial here: https://howdidyoumakethis.com/custom-fringe/

Crocheting with the help of a board to keep length constant.

Tech Construction

Made a pocket to house all my tech.
Sensor secured to fringe on mask
Wire to conductive thread. (Did not work)
Threading the cunductive thread round the skirt to seamlessly connect to arduino.
Light works but sensor does not.

Prev: Moodboard

IN/EX : identity unidentified

Concept

Identity is an elusive concept. It is a thing that presumably everyone should possess; to know who and what they are. But if there is no singularity in a person’s identity then which is the true you? Under French Psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan’s theory – The Mirror Stage, describes a scenario where a baby meets its own reflection for the first time. That is when it discovers itself, recognizing ‘me’ to be different from the objects in its surroundings. The discovery is centered around desire which is directed outside. Thus, “The not you, are a fundamental part of you.”

IN/EX draws inspiration from the mirror-ing and fluctuation of desires. The idea is mainly translated in the tech part whereby following the sight of the wearer, the exterior is reflected within, in the illuminated skirt. The veil and transparency of the garment is meant to represent the husk of the human appearance that is influenced by external happenings. The face of the mask is best to be covered with reflective elements for the mirror-ing aspect but when attempted it seemed to overpower just the mask and I intend to scatter some around the skirt to bring some balance to the work.

‘Final’ 

More rings of boning needs to be added for a fuller silhouette. I ran out of bias tape and so i left it incomplete to make it easier to re-do later.
Hand-crocheted Fringe turned out the best. They are secured by hand stitching onto the wire mask.
This is what is looks like when all the lights are lighted. The wire to conductive thread is not working, I have yet to figure out why, so that is another reason for in-completion.
I need to find a way to attach a boning to the back because now it is all sunken in. Tech is also in a mess, though all packed into a pocket.
As I said a mess.

Tech

https://youtu.be/8UstzBmCJbY

Fashion Show Role & Contribution

I was one of the two that were going to handle the music for the fashion show. Unfortunately, I was not present for the last lesson and am not sure if anything about the themes were discussed. But I wanted to create soundscapes tailored for each garment to bring them into spatial realm. Perhaps cyberpunk inspired.

Prev: Process

 

ECOnom

ECOnomyRice_Final Poster

ABSTRACT

The topic started with the COVID in its infancy, when it was still the WuHan virus. There was a lot of anger around because of the unhygienic wildlife dishes served in China, that was the speculated cause of the pandemic. It is a reasonable reaction but also a hypocritical one. Sure their exotic diet ended up killing 200 000 people within the span but an average diet is no where not as safe as you believe. 

In efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2050, a global goal made under the International Paris Agreement in 2015, global consumption of food especially meat and other animal products need to be reduced by more than 50% of what is consumed today. 

More than 45% of the Earth’s land surface are cleared woodland used to raise livestock and on top of that, cattle farming produce large amounts of methane contributing to almost a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. 

The best diet out there is actually a vegetarian diet and by switching to less carbon intensive or alternative, an individual’s carbon footprint can be greatly reduced to up to 96%.

 

PRODUCT

A promotional activity for sustainable dining in the form of a Self-ordering Kiosk/phone application.

The final design retains my original intention to redefine how we eat, I decided to focus on the thought process of making meal decisions, imagining it to be part of a larger exhibition or campaign by any sustainable food activist organisation e.g. Quorn, IMPOSSIBLE or IPCC (short for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change under the UN) etc. 

Prev: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/ytan149/sustainable-food-supply-prototype/

Reflection:

The most difficult task was to make the audience more aware of the impact of their choices and that emotional aspect to care is collectively agreed to be through guilt.

FYP Proposal Presentation

Topic: Singaporean Chinese Ethnic Identity

Culture is an ever-changing phenomenon, morphing at every major event in human history. Singapore being an amalgamation of multiple races is a epitome of diaspora; a hot-spot for culture integration. 50+ years down the road, Chinese culture in Singapore seems to have become ‘endangered’ as a distinct gap in ethnic identity between the younger and older generation is formed due to heavy western influences.

E.g. Speak Good English Campaign, Simplified general Culture education for multi-racial community etc

YING HUI_FYP PROPOSAL PRESENTATION_compressed