Previous Day Seminars

Day Seminars: 2012-13

Barcelona '92: Una olimpiada del Disseny

Date: 11 and 12 December 2012 (two half days)

Location: Palace of Virreina (Room 4), La Rambla, 99, Barcelona

Convenors: Isabel Campi (Eina School of Design and Art, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and president of Fundacio Historia del Disseny), Raquel Pelta (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Barcelona and editor of Monografica.org magazine), Anna Calvera (Faculty of Fine Arts University of Barcelona), and Guy Julier (University of Brighton/Victoria & Albert Museum Principal Research Fellow in Contemporary Design)

The seminar is organised in conjunction with Monografica.org magazine.

Barcelona hosted the XXV Olympic Games in 1992. This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the event. The Fundacio Historia del Disseny, Monografica.org magazine and the Design HUB Barcelona will commemorate this anniversary at this seminar that gives a critical and historical view of the event.

The Olympics were a great opportunity for the city of Barcelona that went into a deep transformation. Design played an important role in these games. Designers and managers made a great effort to project to the world an image of an avantgardist and Mediterranean city far away of the "typical Spain" of bull fighters, flamenco dancers and paella. The Barcelona games are widely acknowledged as a role model for the use of design and branding in subsequent games and contributed to the city's importance as a reference point for urban regeneration programmes elsewhere. Shapes, colours and typographies were carefully selected according to the local traditions, but reinterpreted in a postmodern and contemporary way.

After the games Barcelona became a sort of modern, fashionable and international city and the footprint of the games can still be felt in the city. However, there has no been historical research or even any effort to investigate and disseminate the Olympic heritage into the young generations of designers. The seminar gathers historians and designers active in the 92 games because they are still alive and can provide a critical and, by now, contextualised view of the significance of this event.

Seminar Programme

Session 1 Raquel Pelta: "The Barcelona Olympics corporate image" With Josep Ma Trias and Javier Mariscal (graphic designers)

Session 2 Anna Calvera: "The aesthetics of the Barcelona Olympic Design" With Jaume Masferrer and Manuel Huerga (design managers)

Session 3 Isabel Campi: "Objects for the sacred fire" With Andre Ricard, Ramon Bigaa and Carles Riart (product designers)

Session 4 Oriol Pibernat: "Reinventing Barcelona" With Guy Julier and Viviana Narotzky (historians)

For more information, please contact: info@historiadeldisseny.org

Day Seminars: 2011-12

Ideas of the Handmade: Histories and Theories of Making

Date: Friday, 20 April 2012

Location: Hunter Lecture Theatre (O17), 
Hunter Place, Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh, Lauriston Building, Laurison Place
 Edinburgh EH3 9DF

Conveners: Dr Catharine Rossi and Dr Juliette MacDonald, Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh

Ideas of the Handmade: Histories and Theories of Making is a one-day seminar devoted to craft. It will bring together a variety of craft-related research and researchers in order to investigate and champion the importance of craft, an area largely marginalised in design history and yet vital to contemporary and historical design culture in terms of practice, production and consumption.

The symposium builds on the recent surge of interest in craft amongst academics, practitioners and the public alike. There is an appetite not just for consuming and producing craft, but also for critical ways of thinking about the handmade. The variety of subjects and arguments at the seminar showcases research by established and emerging voices in thinking about the handmade, whose research moves encompasses both the identification of craft as a set of material-based disciplines as an expanded view of craft as a multiple, shifting concept that exists in relation to art, design and architecture. The papers range from revisitations of historical figures and institutions such as Ernest Gimson and the Dovecot Studios to reflections on the role of craft today in the prototyping and innovation process. Together, the seminar combines historical and contemporary perspectives by both academics and practitioners from a variety of multidisciplinary approaches that will lead to further developments in craft-related design history.

Bringing together independent practitioners and academics based at a variety of institutions including Edinburgh College of Art, the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee, Ideas of the Handmade will showcase and connect the rich variety of craft-related research being conducted in Scotland and will serve as a contribution to ECA's active research culture.

Programme of the day:

9:30 - 10:00 Registration

10:10 - 10:15 Welcome

10:15 - 10:45 Annette Carruthers (Senior Lecturer, School of Art History, University of St Andrews)
''I See More than Difference - I see Opposition': Gimson, Lethaby and the D.I.A'

10:45 - 11:15 Francesca Baseby (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh & Dovecot Studios)
'Fact or Fiction? The Creation of Dovecot Studios' identity after World War Two'

11:15 - 11:45 Coffee Break

11:45 - 12:15 Andrea Peach (Lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies, Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen)
'Crafting Revivals? An investigation into the Craft Revival of the 1970s. Can Contemporary Comparisons be Drawn?'

12:15 - 12:45 Ellie Herring (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh)
'Furnishing Windows: The Craft of Window Display'

12:45 - 14:00 Lunch (provided)

14:00 - 14:30 Dr Nuno Sacramento (Director of the Scottish Sculpture Workshop)
'The Lost Hand'

14:30 - 15:00 Dr Jessica Hemmings (Head of Context/Deputy Director of Research, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh)
'Smart Writing about Smart Textiles'

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 - 16:00 Dr. Louise Valentine (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design)
'Craft and the Innovation Agenda'

16:00 - 16:30 Arno Verhoeven (Lecturer, Product Design, Stage 1 Coordinator, School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh)
'From Concept to Creation. Low-fidelity Prototyping and its Role in Designers' Sense-Making: a protocol analysis.'

16:30 - 17:00 Plenary Session
Chaired by Stephen Bottomley, Head of Department of Silversmithing and Jewellery, School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh

17:15 Drinks Reception

Thanks to the generous support of the Design History Society and Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh, the Day Seminar is open to all and is free to attend. RSVP however is essential as places are limited. Please confirm your place by email to Dr Catharine Rossi (c.rossi@ed.ac.uk)

Design Histories and Design Studies in East Asia

Friday, 25 November 2011, University of Brighton

M2 (Board Room), Grand Parade Building, Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton

With the surge of scholarly discussion in the global/ transnational frame, design historians have begun to direct their attentions to design studies and design histories of non-western regions. Recent publications on the development of design outside the Euro-American region reflect this academic trend of inclusion and diversity. As an academic discipline, design histories and design studies in East Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea) are in different stages of development with specific geographical, historical and cultural conditions.

This seminar aims to investigate similarities and differences in design developments and design histories between regions in order to speculate about a new critical framework for understanding East Asian design in relation to the global state of design culture from a historical perspective. This seminar will explore key questions such as how modernities in East Asian design emerged from interactions with Euro-America, while being characterised by inter-regional interventions, and how they engaged with global innovation and creativity during this process.

The seminar will be an opportunity to connect scholars in UK and Europe in order to generate further discussions and collaborative projects with a wider network of scholars from the East Asian countries.

Programme of the day:

9:30am - 10:15am Registration/ Coffee and Tea

10:15am - 10:30am Welcome

10:30am - 11:00am Dr. Yuko Kikuchi (Reader, TrAIN and CCW College, University of the Arts, London)
'Issues and Perspectives on Writing a 'Global Design History' from a 'National Design History' in Japan'

11:00am - 11:30am Junko Mori (Independent Scholar, RCA Graduate)
'Modern Seating: Japanese Women and the Use of Chair in 1920s and 1930s'

11:30am - 12:00pm Yumi-Kim (PhD candidate, Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University)

'Redefining the Korean National Identity: The Western Shift, Gwangmu Reform and Decorative Arts, 1882-1905'

12:00pm - 1:15pm Lunch

1:15pm - 1:45pm Dr. Simona Segre Reinach (Contract Professor, Iulm University, Milan)
'A New Map of Distinction: Italians Brands in China'

1:45pm - 2:15pm Dr. Wessie Ling (Senior Lecturer, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London)
'transnationality and hybridity of Chinese/ Hong Kong fashion'

2:15pm - 2:45pm Dr. Jiyeon Hong (Independent Scholar, Edinburgh College of Art Graduate)
'Conceptualisation of (Tran-)cultural Identity in South Korean Second-hand Consumer Practice'

3:00pm - 3:30pm Stefan R. Landsberger (Professor of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Dept. of Art, Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
'Chinese posters'

3:30pm - 4:00pm Dr. Yunah Lee (Lecturer, University of Brighton)
'Ideas of Modern Democratic Korea: South Korean posters since 1945'

The Day Seminar is free thanks to the generous supports from the Design History Society and the University of Brighton. For further information please email Dr. Yunah Lee (yl10@brighton.ac.uk)

Day Seminars: 2010-11

Country houses: then and now: formation, patronage and interpretation

Monday, 6 June 2011, University of Wolverhampton

Organiser and contact: Margaret Ponsonby, University of Wolverhampton (M.Ponsonby@wlv.ac.uk)

Draft plan of event (titles tbc)

Jon Stobart (and Mark Rothery) (University of Northampton)
'Rearranging the furniture: fashion, status and personal preference at Stoneleigh Abbey, c. 1730-1800'

Helen Hughes (Historic paint specialist, formerly of English Heritage)
'Past Splendour – Present Pragmatism: recreating 17th century interiors at Bolsover Castle'

Sarah Kay (Project curator with National Trust)
'The Attingham Rediscovered Project'

Lucy Armstrong (Project curator with National Trust)
'Representing Berrington Hall'

Rosie MacArthur (University of Northampton)
'The Hanburys at Kelmarsh: an online exhibition'

Archiving Design Organisations

Monday, 6 June 2011, University of Brighton

The Design Archives at the University of Brighton hold the archives of three major design organisations - the Design Council, the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA) and the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). The aim of this seminar is to develop discussion about particular issues related to the archives of design organisations. As well as including museums, regional archives and university collections, it will engage design organisations that face the challenge of balancing the need to record and preserve their significant heritage with the current demands of records management in a digital era. The histories of design organisations are critical in explaining the wider context of how and why design is provoked, produced, and promoted in broad political and economic frameworks both nationally and internationally. Similarly, it is research into design organisations that has the most potential for engaging other disciplines and research communities, extending the remit of design history within and beyond the humanities.

Speakers included Professor Jonathan Woodham, Director of Research, Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton (introduction); Leah Armstrong, AHRC doctoral student (the design profession and the archive of the CSD: a research project); Jo Maude, Design & Art Direction (the D&AD and the archive challenge); Donna Loveday, Design Museum (the Design Museum: its heritage and its future); Susan Bennett, William Shipley Group for RSA history (Over two centuries of design history : the RSA archive).

For more information contact Deborah Hickmott or call 01273 643217

Perspectives on mid-century Modernism

Friday 12 November 2010

Mawby Meeting Room, Kellogg College, 62 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN

Despite the popularity of modernist studies in other disciplines, the history of the spatial and material cultures of modernism is only now beginning to progress beyond the historiographical and methodological prejudices of the 1970s. It is timely therefore to examine both new subject matter and new, often interdisciplinary, methods for the history of modernism. Bringing together a range of scholars, from the doctoral to the established, the day seeks to invite a wider public to engage with Design History, as well as foster scholarship and networks within the discipline. Speakers researching different aspects of the history of modernism in the period between c.1920s and 1960s will present their new research exploring hitherto little-considered aspects of this period, and the variety of media which constituted modernist practice at this time.

This event is supported by the Design History Society and is the first of their new Regional Seminar Series.

All are welcome, but places are limited to 50 and must be reserved by Wednesday 10 November. If you wish you may book lunch (£9.50). To reserve a place and/or lunch please contact: edarling@brookes.ac.uk

10.30: Introduction to the day (Dr Elizabeth Darling, Senior Lecturer in the History of Art, Oxford Brookes & Dr Claire O’Mahony, University Lecturer in the History of Art, Department for Continuing Education and Fellow of Kellogg College)

10.40: Professor John Gold (Professor of Geography, Oxford Brookes): Plurality revisited: reflections the changing meanings of architectural modernism

11.20: Elisa Sai (doctoral student, University of Bristol): Notions of Space in 1930s Futurist Aeropittura: Continuity, Innovation and Reception

12.00: Stephanie Bolton (independent scholar, Sussex): ‘A Chronicle of Doing’ - Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Lobster film and the community of Littlehampton

12.20-12.30: morning summing up and comments.

12.30-1.45: Lunch in Kellogg College Dining Hall (must be reserved)

1.45: Robert Chester (doctoral student, Loughborough University): MARS Attacks: Designing the Radio for the Inter-war British Domestic Environment

2.05: Peter Stilton (doctoral student, University of Bristol) ‘The Hidden Persuaders’: British Pop Art and the Fear of Consumer Society

2.35: Dr Sarah Walford (post-doctoral student, University of Warwick) Building the nursery: Donald Gibson and the making of a modern City Architect’s department

3.00: Tea

3.15: Dr Robert Proctor: (Lecturer, Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art) Reorienting the Sacred: 1960s Church Design

3.45-4.30: Professor John Gold: reflections on the day followed by questions and comments.

4.30 Close

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