METHODS & TOOLS

How do we start to do things differently as designers?

Becky works in very creative & innovative ways. Here, she shares some of her frameworks, approaches & lessons, in the form of films, talks & essays. Card decks & worksheets are often used, alongside audio visual resources, in real life & online settings. (You are invited to download the tools from the Action part of this website.)

Circular Fashion Course

Training films on YouTube.

This free online course was made with Inspire Circular & Centre for Circular Design at UAL, as part of the World Circular Textiles Day 2050 work. It offers 26 short films on YouTube to help anyone interested in fashion & textiles understand the basics.

Design Tools: demo films

Watch how you can use more of the tools.

During the lockdown in 2020 Becky made these films to share some of the ‘how to’ approaches from her work over the years. You can access all the tools she talks about in the Action part of this website.

THE TEN: animations

Ten ways to think about sustainable design.

These strategies were developed & tested over many years by Becky, with fellow researchers & designers. The animations provide a useful overview of the core sustainability issues that design need to understand & consider.

THE TEN cards: demo film

Ten ways to ‘play’ with sustainable design.

These cards can be used in lots of different ways to explore sustainable design. Most often used to help redesign a current product, into one which is less harmful to the planet, they can also be used to help create focal points & actions plans. You can download a PDF version of the cards from the Action part of this website.

Origins of The TEN

At this 2015 event by Zero Waste Scotland, Becky gives a lightening quick overview of how she used the redesign & remaking of used shirts to evolve The TEN sustainability strategies.

  • Watch: Practice-based Sustainable Design Strategies

    Novel materials & prototypes from the VF Corporation ‘Responsible Living’ exhibition are used in this Faculti interview to explain how sustainable design strategies were used to demonstrate to brands how their products might be improved.

    Watch

  • Read: Designers in Residence

    Report which details the ‘how to’ of the Designers in Residence project, led by Becky, for Phase II of the Mistra Future Fashion programme in Sweden. Becky & co worked within the HQ of Filippa K in Stockholm, to support the development of new fast & slow circular products.

    Read

  • Read: DDMI

    A white paper on how the ‘Design-Driven Material Innovation Methodology (DDMI)’ was applied in the Trash-2-Cash Project.

    Read

  • Read: Building Bridges

    Design Journal article which describes how Becky used podcasts to strengthen the interdisciplinary collaborations within the Trash-2-Cash project.

    Read

  • Read; Divide, Switch, Blend

    Journal article - led by Dr Cathryn Hall, Becky’s PhD student at the time - which explored two different ‘hats’ for industry entrepreneurship & academic practice-based textile design research.

    Read

  • Read: Face-ing Collaboration

    ‘A Meditation on the Faces of Circular Fashion Research’. Journal article which looks at how portrait photography, drawing & meditation practices built the relationships in an EU Horizon 2020 consortium project.

    Read

  • Read: Postcards from The Edge

    Exploring the Edges of Regenerated Fibre Development and Design Driven Material Innovation. Article that discusses the use of the postcard in different ways in collaborative projects.

    Read

  • Read: Design Thinking for Sustainability

    Article led by Dr Kirsti Reitan Andersen, which reflects on the work Becky & co did at H&M in Stockholm, which used The TEN in lecture & workshop sessions with 30 of the Buying Office ‘New Product’ team members.

    Read

  • Read: The Textile Toolbox

    ‘New Design Thinking, Materials & Processes for Sustainable Fashion Textiles’ reviews the design research conducted between June 2011 and May 2015 by a team of University of the Arts London (UAL) textile researchers, led by Becky, who were part of the Swedish funded multi-disciplinary Mistra Future Fashion (MFF) consortium.

    Read

  • Read: We Shape Our Tools...

    …Then They Shape Us’. A Cumulus paper by Becky & Prof Kay Politowicz, presenting the TEN cards as a tool which changed the facilitators as well as the design thinking workshops participants.

    Read

  • Read: The TEN - a Tool for Narrative Prototypes

    An essay by Kay Politowicz & Becky about how & why they created the TEN & what they can be used for.

    Read

  • Read: Textiles, Environment, Design

    ‘Making theory into textiles through sustainable design strategies, pedagogy & collaboration.’ Essay in which Becky, Kate & Clara each reflect on their approach to making & theory.

    Read
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