Category: Interviews and features

MA Fashion Alumna Ruth Jacob Talks about Life After Goldsmiths

The MA in Fashion is the youngest of our Design MAs: its first students came to Goldsmiths in 2013. Ruth Jacob was part of this inaugural group of Fashion students, and now she’s sent word to us on what her studies at Goldsmiths meant to her, and what she’s been up to since graduation:

“Since graduating from Goldsmiths in 2014, I have endeavoured to keep myself linked with fashion as much as I can. The MA Fashion was quite different to what I expected, as it took on a more contextual and theoretical viewpoint. However, this provided me with a great opportunity to learn about fashion from different viewpoints and to broaden my awareness of the industry. Being a student in the first ever year of the MA Fashion course was truly exciting and it also revived and reasserted my enthusiasm and curiosity in the subject.

While on the course, I was able to build on ideas and develop techniques that I am using today for personal projects; some of which I am working into professional ones. One of these is a fashion and lifestyle label called BIGGER BOY, which aims to combine culture and adages from Africa with contemporary fashion and style. The research and development for the label began while I was studying for a module called Social Paradigms. The course involved exploring how fashion and society interrelate. I looked at how aspects of race and ethnicity correlate with fashion. The MA Fashion degree has definitely enhanced my entrepreneurial drive.

But this is by no means my only area of interest. Others include media publications, textiles and accessories and amongst others. In addition to this, I am also completing a PGCE qualification to become a Fashion Lecturer in FE education. Having the opportunity to teach future generations about the industry, practice and subject of fashion is something that I will relish.”

We’re always interested in knowing how our graduates are evolving after leaving Goldsmiths, so if you, too, want to share your story, get in touch at n.barbu[@]gold.ac.uk.

MA ID 02: Andrea Petrucci explores the use of personal data in contemporary times

This year’s MA Interaction Design show is now over, true, but we still have another interview for you! Andrea Petrucci talked to us about his project on personal information and the way it is being used in today’s society:

Andrea Petrucci

What was your background before the MA in Interaction Design course at Goldsmiths?

I did my BA in Media Art back in Italy. My focus had always been on analogue and multimedia installations. I started to experiment with Interaction Design for my graduation project, focusing on tangible interfaces. Basically, the concept was being able to do video editing using objects instead of a screen interface. That lighted up an interest in Interaction Design that brought me to Goldsmiths. Continue reading “MA ID 02: Andrea Petrucci explores the use of personal data in contemporary times”

‘City Strips’ explores the cities of comics franchises without their heroes

Last week, the 310NxRd space at Goldsmiths hosted an exhibition of ‘City Strips’, a zine of comic architecture produced by P.O.I.

Comic series are usually all about the superhero and his adventures, but ‘City Strips’ is all about the cities: it removes characters and speech bubbles from issues of popular franchises such as ‘Superman’, ‘Batman’ and ‘The Walking Dead’, allowing us a better look at the spaces that these heroes inhabit.

The purpose is to explore the context that gives comic heroes agency, Goldsmiths Design lecturer Stuart Bannocks explains. It’s also undeniable that these comic cities are an important part of who its heroes are: “Spiderman could only be Spiderman in New York; if he were in London, he’d have to walk everywhere or take the bus!”

Don’t worry if this sounds exactly like your kind of thing and you missed the exhibition, though; you can also find ‘City Strips’ in comic shops.