The Higher Seminars consist of lectures around the field of design. Some of the lectures are given by researchers and designers close to home. Others are external to present different methods, know-how, and insight into discussions across a wide range of issues facing the industry, from sustainable design and supply chains to opportunities and developments in technology.

The Higher Seminars primarily target The Swedish School of Textiles' PhD, MA and BA students of fashion and textile design. However, the seminars are also open and available to all, meaning that anyone can come and listen. 

Moderator and organiser: Saina Koohnavard, fashion design lecturer at the Department of Design, The Swedish School of Textiles.

Below is the schedule for upcoming seminars.

Welcome!

Location and time

When: Tuesdays, even weeks at 13:00-14:30
Where: Zoom/Campus 

 

SPRING 2023

The seminars of the spring semester take place on Zoom or on campus. More information can be found under each seminar. 

 

10 January - Varvara & Mar

Varvara & Mar is an artist duo formed by Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet in 2009.  In their practice, they confront social changes and the impact of the technological era. They are fascinated by artificial intelligence, kinetics, audience participation, and digital fabrication, which are integral parts of their work. In their seminar, the duo will examine potential opportunities and dangers presented by the development and use of creative AI systems. The seminar will also cover the history and current state of the field, as well as the ethical and societal implications of creative AI. 

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Vestindien B, Textile Fashion Center

 

24 January - Emma Hamshare

Addressing contemporary material and spatial challenges, Emma Hamshare works at the intersection of often delineated disciplines. Her work echoes the symphonies of everyday life and makes use of scientific knowledge and technological innovation.

​Working with art and intelligent materials to improve health and well-being in an increasingly chaotic world, colour is translated into code, pattern into numbers and movement into sounds.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art, she has worked in research to create innovative textiles and garments for Fairspace at Imperial College to improve the health of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Emma now lectures on the Fashion Design Development course at LCF University of the Arts London.

Emma will share and discuss finished and unfinished projects, working in new mediums and considering the design of playful soft systems using inputs and outputs.

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Vestindien A, Textile Fashion Center

 

7 February - PUTPUT

In their artistic practice, PUTPUT explores our immediate surroundings and the objects we use, abuse, admire and interact with in everyday life. The duo often enters into negotiations and discussions with specific items to fully explore what the items are and what they may become. They exhaust, distil and clarify ideas in order to arrive at works that are simultaneously self-explanatory, ambiguous and deeply superficial.

PUTPUT was established in 2011 by Stephan Friedli (CH) and Ulrik Martin Larsen (DK) as an interdisciplinary partnership that brings together design, art, photography and concept. The two share a common and deep-rooted fascination with everyday objects as playful constructions when, as PUTPUT, they transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Ideas, concepts and the notion of creating fictional but recognisable object typologies are the very core of their artistic practice. PUTPUT’s highly stylised visual universe references surrealism and the use of Objets Trouvés, interpreting classic genres such as still life through a contemporary lens.

web: www.putput.dk
IG: @putput.dk

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Zoom 

 

21 February - CANCELLED

 

28th of February - MA Speed Presentations

Every year, our MA students in Fashion and Textile design present the core of their degree work projects or design programs in a Pecha Kucha format. On this day, nine students will share their work and the main motivators behind their design developments. 

Location: Vestindien A
Time: 13:00 - 15:00

 

7 March - MA Speed Presentations

Every year, our MA students in Fashion and Textile design present the core of their degree work projects or design programs in a Pecha Kucha format. On this day, nine students will share their work and the main motivators behind their design developments. 

Location: Vestindien B
Time: 13:00 - 15:00

 

 

AUTUMN 2022

The seminars of the autumn semester will take place on Zoom. More information can be found under each seminar. 

 

4 October - Stina Randestad

Stina Randestad, alumni from The Swedish School of Textiles and founder of her own design studio STINARAND, shares her journey from her BA through different workplaces and MA studies, to finally running her own company. The talk will be split in different chapters where you as an audience are welcome to ask questions and discuss after each chapter, treating themes such as: 

- From school to work
- PR / networking / presentations
- Running a small business
- Finding money
- Projects - where do I find them and how do I do it
- Work ethics / brand values
- Expression / curating your style
- Success / regrets

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Zoom

 

18 October - Rikke Gertsen Constein, SONY

Art Director and CMF (Colour, Material, Finish) designer Rikke Gertsen Constein has been working for Sony for 20 years. Her talk will focus on how CMF design has evolved from being mainly hardware design to digital design and beyond.

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Zoom

 

1 November - Adrian Zethraeus, Science Park Borås

Designing for a circular economy means adopting a holistic approach to material use, product design and the business model in order to create a system that is as resource-efficient and sustainable as possible. This seminar will focus on results and insights from different projects on circular design conducted by Science Park Borås.

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Zoom

 

15 November - Natalia Särmäkari

Natalia Särmäkari is a fashion and design researcher from Helsinki. She has recently defended her doctoral dissertation at the Department of Design, Aalto University, Finland. Särmäkari's seminar presentation will introduce her research journey, focusing on digital fashion from the perspective of designers' authorship and professionalism. Combining theoretical investigation and empirical case study research, she will delve into the emerging culture of digital 3D and algorithmic fashion design.

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: Zoom

 

29 November - PUTPUT - CANCELLED

In their artistic practice, PUTPUT explores our immediate surroundings and the objects we use, abuse, admire and interact with in everyday life. The duo often enters into negotiations and discussions with specific items to fully explore what the items are and what they may become. They exhaust, distil and clarify ideas in order to arrive at works that are simultaneously self-explanatory, ambiguous and deeply superficial.

PUTPUT was established in 2011 by Stephan Friedli (CH) and Ulrik Martin Larsen (DK) as an interdisciplinary partnership that brings together design, art, photography and concept. The two share a common and deep-rooted fascination with everyday objects as playful constructions when, as PUTPUT, they transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Ideas, concepts and the notion of creating fictional but recognisable object typologies are the very core of their artistic practice. PUTPUT’s highly stylised visual universe references surrealism and the use of Objets Trouvés, interpreting classic genres such as still life through a contemporary lens.

web: www.putput.dk
IG: @putput.dk

 

 

13 December - Akane Moriyama

Akane Moriyama is an artist/designer based in Stockholm. With her background in architecture and textiles, she intervenes architectural spaces with textiles. By combining different techniques such as dyeing, knitting, sewing, printing, and weaving, she creates textiles that change the space and reveal the hidden qualities of the space. Since her first commission, Curtain for O House (Kyoto 2009), she has been working on various scales of artistic projects such as Cubic Prism (Texas 2013), Curtain for Hirakata T-SITE (Osaka 2016), Mirage in the Forest (Ibaraki, 2017). She recently completed a large-scale fabric installation at Sergels Torg in Stockholm, where more than 1500m2 ultra-thin fabrics were floating in the wind.

Time: 13:00 - 14:30
Location: On campus, Vestindien A