Central Saint Martins and the V&A are exploring the archives at Blythe House. As part of the process, in October 2014 the museum’s James Sutton joined Jo Morrison, Elizabeth Wright and the second year MA Design students to discuss some of the research undertaken to date. This swift article uses the theme of ‘frames’, and shares some of the ways in which frames, and the act of framing, were investigated during the workshop. Continue reading
Tag Archives: blythe house
Blythe House project: chaos and radical containment?
The Blythe House project being undertaken by Central Saint Martins MA Design students and CSM staff and the Victoria and Albert Museum, is motivating for a number of reasons – one of which is its experimental and collaborative nature. The project itself has been described in earlier posts, and will be documented periodically as part of the research process.
Whilst the MA Design students’ rigorous critical engagement in the Blythe House project is underpinned by ‘the deviant traditions of studio and conservatory’ (Schon,1987:17), this article will consider the larger institutional setting – the educational system within which the project is undertaken. By taking time out to acknowledge the landscape, we, the staff team, are putting into practice Donald Schon’s ‘reflection-in-action’. Continue reading
Digital literacy: design research at Blythe House
Walking amongst Dame Edna Everage’s boxed wigs, Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe costumes, black and white photographs of the V&A estate through the decades, iconic printed posters and one of Hussein Chalyan’s garments – as part of his final collection at Central Saint Martins – is all in a day’s work for the curatorial and Higher Education teams at Blythe House. However, for CSM’s staff and students it was an extraordinary and fascinating adventure.
As explained in an earlier post, the reason for the MA Design first year cohort to be amongst so many boxes and costumes and objects, is the experimental project being undertaken at the V&A museum’s archive. This article will provide a brief summary of how the group have been invited to foreground their research tools and processes as part of the study. Continue reading
Digital literacy: this way for tassels and pompoms!
Living in a perpetual upgrade culture, where technological obsolescence is the norm and our personal digital devices have become ubiquitous and mundane artefacts, has huge implications for 21st century art and design archives, and for art and design education. It is with this in mind that students and staff from Central Saint Martins today embarked upon an experimental project set at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which explores designerly relationships with mobile technologies as part of the creative research process. In doing so they are contributing to the ongoing discussion about what digital literacy means in a contemporary art and design setting. Continue reading