'CREATIVE HISTORIES & INDUSTRIES' - drug of consumerism

Dame Vivienne Westwood, a British fashion designer and businesswomen.
Best known for and largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into mainstream.
I've decided to post a blog about this excentric lady because I feel she pushes the boundries of 'mainstream' fashion.
Its as much about well tailored suits as it is cultural influences.
As a political activist she's joined forces with Liberty - the British civil rights group and launched a limited selection of tshirts bearing the slogan 'I AM NOT A TERRORIST, please don't arrest me' illustrating that fashion is not just about style but about communicating with the world whether it be representing culture or something not directly linked to fashion like climate change.
Shes most famous for her style of branding; Westwoods branding is entirely built around her own personality and charisma as a designer. Over time the brand and its 'orb' logo has become the designers identity. The amazing thing about her is that she controls her own branding, although graphic designers are at the route of the initial design process the brand is totally revolved around her and her fashion line.
Although still an independant and relatively small organisation/company, Vivienne Westwood has unconsiously managed to create a graphic identity that is focused, instantly recognizable and cosistent throughout her collections; it's this that makes her so iconic.

nostalgic dreams and sinister scenarios.

                   Abandoned Places - Henk Van Rensbergen

creative practices....

I was planning on taking 24hrs to record all signs of creative practices, however there just isn't enough time in the day to even begin thinking about it.

Absoulutely everything I look at has been touched by the creative industries, from newspapers to school uniforms to paintings hanging in rooms yet never noticed. 

The creative industry is behind all of this, from graphic designers to photographers to fine artists, they are the people behind everything we see. 

Since researching the world of creative practices I've noticed the tiny details in a magazine, the difference in advertising and the difference a font can make. 

The creative industry is the most powerful way of communicating to people who are often oblivious to the real design behind what they see.

What was the last image/object/artefact that excited you? How, why & where did you encounter it?
St. Nic Horizon 202 photograph by Markus Hartel, found whilst reasearching the world of blogging.
A gritty, black and white timeless collection of street photographs.
He says "kids, take a seat and let me take the photographs".

What excites you about your chosen area of Creative Practice? Why have you chosen to study it further?
I like being able to capture something that won't be here forever, I like feeling like i'm the only one who saw it at that moment.
When you photgraph somebody in colour you photograph their clothes. When you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their soul.

What do you hope to achieve at the end of these 2 years? What would you like to be doing?
 I'd like to grow as a photographer, have the opportunity to photograph the extraordinary and possibly move into the world of photojournalism. 

What sorts of things have you written about and/or researched specifically before? E.g are you particularly interested in a specific area, issue, theme, genre, subculture, type of design etc? 
Documentary photography, street art, the decline in tradition and the effect of mass production.  

What excites you now? What sorts of arts, design, performance, media, spectacles etc do you go & see/take part in? What do you read? What feeds your interests? 
I like Bruce Davidson's style, the Brooklyn Gangs and the wonders of street life.
Street renegades, the new underground art. Artists frustated by wholesale corporate theft or street creativity and using different materials and techniques to get their work noticed.

T

T

blind thief...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UyNu2ecnAE

drawings by Murico.

Guardian Camera Club.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/sep/30/photography1#/?picture=367189029&index=1

THE OLD GUY ON FLAG DAY - Thomas Tulis

                                                                    

"Two hundred and fifty images laid before me and I was enthralled. They were perfect, I wish I used more of them. The photography brought a sense of presence, of immediacy and of realism to a space that I know would soon be awash in metaphors within a visionary frame."    Steven Guynup