Published 02-02-2009
Keywords
- Designer Makers,
- Materials,
- Raw Materials,
- Organic Materials,
- Wool
- Bellacouche,
- Animal Husbandry,
- Cycle of Life,
- Death,
- Plastics,
- Wool Industry,
- Consumerism,
- Burial,
- Ceremony,
- Natural Burial Movement,
- Environmental Impact,
- Shrouds,
- Coffins,
- Textiles,
- Textile Industry ...More
How to Cite
Abstract
Designer makers are physically more engaged with material than industrial designers who increasingly work remotely on computers, seemingly unconcerned with the sources for the raw materials, their processing, and what may happen to products at the end of their useful life. Actual hands-on physical engagement with manipulating material brings a closer knowledge, respect and a sense of awe with that material and has lead, in our case, to a desire to be knowledgeable about its source. Questions arise of where it comes from, how it is grown, in the case of wool for instance the quality of husbandry. If organic standards are met so much the better. This underpins my work and that of Anne Belgrave, and our partnership that is Bellacouche.
This paper seeks to present an overview of the thinking behind our business. There are many aspects to our holistic approach, all of equal importance to the cohesive whole, and all of which we are striving towards, and have yet to fully achieve.