What's Up: Design Collaboration Across Two Continents
UW Nancy Nicholas Hall 1300 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: Thursday, April 5, 6pm, Nancy Nicholas Hall, 1300 Linden Dr., Room 1199
Please join the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative on Thursday, April 5 at 6 pm in 1199 Nancy Nicholas Hall for a panel discussion and trunk sale with the participants and organizers of an extraordinary transcontinental co-design project. The panel discussion will be led by Judy Frater, director of the Somaiya Kala Vidya, a design school for traditional artisans in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India. Joining her from India are Zakiya Khatri, a bandhani (tie and dye) artist, and Prakash Siju, a rug weaver. Additional speakers will include student designers and faculty from UW–Madison. A trunk sale of Khatri and Siju’s textiles will be held at the conclusion of the hour-long panel discussion.
The ubiquitous nature of smartphones and internet access provides new opportunities for artisans and designers to collaborate around the world. During the Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 semesters, students enrolled in Professor Jennifer Angus’ “Textile Design: Manual and Computer Generated Imagery” class were paired with artisan designers in Gujarat. With no opportunity to meet in person, design teams used the popular communication app WhatsApp to each develop a collection of scarves. The immediacy of digital communication facilitated a rapid back and forth rapport between the designers and the opportunity to build spectacular synergy. Great friendships were formed alongside amazing collections as participants discovered design is a universal language that crosses cultures.
The 4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative is a campus-wide effort convened by the School of Human Ecology, the Global Health Institute, and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. The Wellbeing Through Design and Microenterprise Project seeks to support community and family wellbeing through economic empowerment. Over the past four years, faculty and students from UW-Madison have built relationships with artisans at several global sites, realizing the opportunity gaps these artisans face. The project connects the work and lives of artisans to the educational experiences of UW-Madison students. Through collaboration, artisans increase their capacity to create desirable products, command fair prices in the marketplace, and bring much needed resources to their families and communities. Through classroom projects, internships, and ongoing exchange with artisan partners, UW-Madison students strengthen their design expertise as well as gain a genuine and global perspective on their chosen careers.