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The Magazine of the University of the Arts London Students' Union
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no. 14 the green issue
less commonmore sense
The Green Issue27 magic
Ariane Leblanc
28 they’re all boundJonny Briggs
30 fifteen men in my jacketDamian Kruhelski
32 recycling is sexy...Giselle La Pompe-Moore | Ada Zanditon
34 consumeSelvi May
35 can sustainable fashion survive the crunch?Julia Crew
36 consequencesYong Ping Loo
38 wastelandSilvia Capurro
41 the price of charitySean Parker
42 winds of changeRichard John Willsher
4 designing greenBarbara Ward | Yong Ping Loo
7 chlorinePaul Engles | Abigail Rose Liparoto
8 icelandLouise O’Kelly
12 slow travel in the cityWen Yuan Wu
14 sunsetPuneeta Sharma
16 rags are riches: a tale of cinderellaImogen Thomas
17 here boy!Isamaya Ffrench
18 one man’s trash is another man’s treasureSHINNI
22 Jeff Hahn
24 fsc promotionNatasha Rodwell
26 an analysis of the green issue, based on double glazing, socks, and cherriesAndrea Hooymans
call for submissionsDo you want to see your work published? Less Common More Sense is now calling for work on the theme of Uncensored. Visit www.suarts.org/lesscommon to submit your work. We welcome submissions from all areas of the creative arts. You must be a current student or an alumnus of the University of the Arts London.
copyright 2009The Students’ Union, University of the Arts London and the authors. No article may be reproduced or altered in any form without the written permission of the editor(s). The views expressed by the contributors/writers are not necessarily those of the editor(s), the publishers, or the University of the Arts London.
the wealth of the land
Scarlett Shillingford
(BA Graphic Design)
The piece is to raise people’s awareness to the
importance of our planet, and the physical
substance of land in a time of climate change
and global warming.
cover design
lead designer Barbara Ward
less common | a science degreemore sense | leaving science for artgreen is looking after our home
fashion sub-editor Giselle La Pompe-Moore
less common | obsessed with anything pink!more sense | my vegetarianismgreen is the new black
online development Amy Marks
less common | amaranthinemore sense | amalgamatinggreen is amelioration
proofreader Alex Linsdell
less common | being boiledmore sense | feeling fascinationgreen is protect and survive
designer Dani Matthews
less common | a fan of spidermanmore sense | see things differentlygreen is #127a38
deputy editor Tatiana Woolrych
less common | need music to workmore sense | need sunshine to livegreen is switching the light off
marketing & promotions Liggie Pelekani
less common | I work better when it’s dark outsidemore sense | laugh often and dream biggreen is recycling more
arts sub-editor Stephanie Grace
less common | more unconventionalmore sense | less foolishgreen is a bit postmodern...
2 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
editor-in-chief’s letter
Welcome to the first issue of Less Common More Sense produced by this volunteer team, and my first as editor-in-chief. Off the back of our second
Guardian Student Media award (for design), there’s a lot of pressure on the team to perform, and I hope that you’ll enjoy the fruits of this exceptional
collaboration in the pages that follow. We also greet for the first time a Less Common Online team, and a dedicated Marketing and Promotions
volunteer; these new arrivals will doubtless see us skip to giddy heights thus far unexplored in Less Common’s history!
Given the illustrious honour of choosing the theme for this issue, I jumped at the chance to push one of the Students’ Union’s key campaigns of this
year, ‘Green is the New Black’ (www.suarts.org/green). Aside from the blithe hope that someone might interpret the title literally and go for something
in emerald shades (though perhaps our poem on infanticide by chlorine treads close to this one), an eco-issue seemed an appropriate choice to
spring from the loins of the 20,000+ collective of creatives that occupy the walls at Arts London (and, indeed, some of the alumni who submitted for
this issue – see the work of Johnny Briggs on pages 28-29).
‘Sustainability’ seems to have slipped from a buzzword to a prerequisite these days, but thankfully appears to have retained most of its importance.
Perhaps the answer isn’t to enforce a sense of obligation (and to aim for ‘carbon footprint’ to be listed beside ‘dimensions’ and ‘budget’ for every
project), but there’s certainly something to be said for keeping these matters in mind, even when a task might not immediately scream ‘eco’.
From a personal perspective, dabbling in recycled carpet tile shelters focused my attention onto the potentially unusual nature of this subject more
closely than ever before, and I’ve taken great pleasure in challenging the definition. For, lest we forget, sustainability is more than recycling and turning
down the temperature of your washing machine – it’s equally important that we all endeavour to cultivate an ecologically sound lifestyle and culture
that can endure for generations to come. Each of us has a part to play, be this through our art, design, fashion, photography or – that most inevitable,
and off-putting, of words – our politics.
On Accessibility - to fit in all the fabulous content, sometimes the text in the magazine can be quite small. If you have difficulty reading this size text just
go to www.suarts.org/lesscommon and use our handy online version with built-in zoom function.
Kit Friend | Editor-In-Chief, Less Common More Sense
SUARTS Campaigns & Communications Officer | Chair of The Arts Group - www.artsgroup.org.uk | www.arts.ac.uk/showtime/kitfriend | www.suarts.org
less commonmore sense
editor-in-chief Kit Friend
less common | an unhealthy obsession with miniature railways (www.streamlinedlocomotion.blogspot.com)
more sense | an Arts Degree should allow you to get rich (www.suarts.org/funding)
green is living in a way that means my descendants will be able to
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 3
About the image: Cause and effectUsing the iconic Recycle logo as a reference point, Yong Ping Loo decided to create an illustrative style narrative around the logo: showcasing the vicious cycle we all live in and the varying aspects of life on Earth. We all depend on our planet for survival and the only way we repay Mother Nature is by demanding more and more. Our greed and need for our selfish growth has often left nature
neglected and abused. Will we only stop when the effects are immediate? The longer we take to make decisions and to take a stand, the harder our fight for survival becomes. We all have the right to survival, don’t we? We do not need to be stereotypical green activists or tree-huggers to make a positive change in our environment. All it takes are small everyday decisions to be responsible for our own consumption and to be open to change.
A change to a sustainable lifestyle. From our decisions come actions, and from our actions comes change.
Further work by Yong Ping Loo can be found on page 36.
4 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Green doesn’t have to be green. Nor does it
have to look handmade, using poor-quality
media and earthy tones. To work sustainably
doesn’t need to curb your creativity, the
results can be as sleek and polished as your
imagination desires. This is why we have chosen
to design this issue of Less Common More
Sense around the opposite of green: pink.
As well as using pink as the signature colour of
this issue, we have used a spacious layout with
a strong use of white, because sustainable and
recycled paper has moved on from the dull
beige colour traditionally associated with it. And
to prove this, we have printed this issue on stock
that is 80% recycled (the other 20% being from
sustainable forests).
Finally, we have used dyes that we know won’t
harm the environment. Because, let’s face it,
we only have one planet – and if we cock it
up, then we’re all in trouble.
Image by Yong Ping Loo
(BA Hons Graphic Media Design)
designing greenBarbara Ward (ABC Graphic Design)
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 5
www.suarts.org/green
chlorinePaul Engles (MA Publishing)
Old apple, lurid skin, cellophane scars
from the Pit Stop wrapper,
left for a week in the bowl.
Is it dust? Is it chalky?
It’s not as it tasted
before news broke
of the girl only six
whose face was the colour
of the face of a witch in a film.
Not just the gills, sick, sick.
He boiled it for guests
but let his daughter drink from the tap.
They broke every bone they could find:
dazed on a morphine drip
he chewed through his top lip muttering.
Purify my child, sterilise.
Swallow a lungful of this
and you’ll sleep in my coffin tonight.
Four pints a day and I’ll bask
in your emerald glow.
Your breath sets playmates
clawing necks, their haemorrhaged pupils,
a rolling cloud over Ypres or the Somme.
Image by Abigail Rose Liparoto (BA Hons Illustration)
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 7
These images are from a series taken whilst on
a road trip around the south coast of Iceland.
Only one road is open around the edge of the
island during the winter months, as all internal
roads become impassable due to weather
conditions. Whilst travelling in my tiny little
rent-a-car, I became aware of the force of the
elements, as high winds battered my car and
snow whipped up to make the road barely
visible. The impression of a small population
surviving in this immense landscape seemed
in stark contrast to life in London, where nature
is pruned back and weather can be merely
an inconvenience.
Iceland’s unusually diverse and beautiful
landscape is a result of the country being one
of the most active volcanic regions on earth.
It is incredibly stark and isolated in places, with
vast plains of black volcanic rock stretching
for miles into the sea. Glaciers cut their way
down from the mountains and out into the
ocean, breaking up into large chunks of ice.
The country is called a land of fire and ice,
but it is closer to a land of mist and steam.
Geysers spurt hot water out of the earth, fed
by the many geothermal springs. Reykjavik,
the capital, translates as ‘bay of steam’, and
derives its name from the many hot springs in
the area. It also contributes to the country’s
sense of magic and mystery, with a long
tradition of myth and folklore. There are many
legends relating to the history of Iceland, often
inextricably linked in with their environment.
It is this relationship with their surroundings that
sets Icelandic people apart. Despite their
extreme environment, they have managed to
settle the land since the times of the Vikings,
making do with what little resources were
available. The country is almost devoid of
trees, and houses were once constructed
of driftwood that washed up on their shores.
Animal bones were used as toys and tools.
Locals washed their clothing in local hot
springs, while the sea provided an abundant
supply of food. It is this ability to adapt that has
led to inventive use of their local resources in
more recent times. Geothermal fields spouting
geysers just outside of Reykjavik provide the
city with heating, hot water, and drinking water.
Deildartunguhver is Europe’s largest spring,
and water literally boils up out of the earth
here to be pumped to nearby towns and
greenhouses for heating. Other than being
purely efficient, the hot springs have always
been central to community life. Every small
town has its own swimming pool with hot pots
– hot spots for catching up on local gossip!
These outdoor tubs are the hub of social life
in Iceland and are frequented by everyone,
from young to old, who sit to steam and chat.
The geothermal water is also reputed to have
healing properties, which makes it altogether
a somewhat healthier option than going to
the pub.
Iceland is also the only country in the world
that obtains all of its electricity and heat from
renewable sources. Geothermal fields heat
almost the entire country and produce some
electricity, whilst the majority is created through
hydro-power. This self-sufficiency is probably
quite fortunate in the current financial climate.
It also makes for much more sustainable
and renewable use of energy than limited
supplies of gas and oil. It is encouraging to
see how a government can work in harmony
with their environment to produce cheap,
efficient energy sources, independent of world
economics or fuel prices.
icelandLouise O’Kelly (ABC Diploma Photography)
www.suarts.org/lesscommon8
9Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue
10 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 11
slow travel in the cityWen Yuan Wu (MA Graphic Design Graduate 2008)
There are many ways to travel in the city.
However, we hear of less and less people
choosing walking as their main method of
transport. Yet walking is essential. It may take
more time than by more modern modes, but
it provides a great opportunity to go into the
city and have a more meaningful, memorable
experience during a journey. The flow of
people, the changing weather and lighting,
different architectures and green spaces – all
of these make the city vivid and colourful. We
gain a closer look at surroundings and people.
And get to experience the culture, history, and
the breadth of the city, whilst walking in it.
This project attempts to encourage others to
experience a walking journey through the city,
and explores the different experiences we have
by different means of transport (slow and fast,
traditional and modern, walking and the tube),
in order to redirect our attention to that which
has become familiar over time.
I’ve produced a visual comparison of slow
travel and fast travel based on the same
route, which presents geographical journeys
as visualised mapping information, and
examines how our perception of daily travel is
manipulated through visual scale.
“...walking is less expensive, causes less
pollution, is good for your health, and provides
more opportunities for ‘experiencing’ a journey.”
My work is a time-based visual description
of a daily journey. The typical journey started
from home (Rotherhithe, London) to London
College of Communication, where I usually
12 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
work, and to central London, which is for
leisure and social activities. The slow method
of travel was walking, and the journey took 2
hours, 24 minutes and 19 seconds in total. The
fast method of travel was modern transport:
bus and the tube. It took 45 minutes and 30
seconds in total.
In order to make the time difference more
visible, I decided to put all the information into
the cycling grids. The grids related to the idea
of time-based description (a clock), which can
systematically represent movement of time in a
controlled method. Considering that common
elements appeared during both the slow and
fast travel processes, I set up a colour code
system. This code helped me to translate the
findings of my research into a more effective
information design language, and directly
informs readers of the different experiences of
my slow and fast journeys in the city.
From the visual comparison, we can see that
modern transport offers people a fast and
effective experience of travel. Walking probably
is the slower method of travelling, but walking is
less expensive, causes less pollution, is good for
your health, and provides more opportunities for
‘experiencing’ a journey. Nowadays, travelling
quickly is the primary concern of most people.
We place emphasis on the fastest means of
transport, but we think less about why we travel,
and what we expect of the journey. At the
same time, the joy of travel is disappearing,
and by rushing to their destinations people are
destroying the environment, and giving less
consideration to the experience of travel.
As a designer, I cannot force my entire
audience to make the same decision. And I
cannot change everyone’s habits, or methods
of travelling, but I can try to inform people of
what I believe to be the correct messages, and
the truth, through visual language. I think my
work will help people to understand and face
valuable concepts of travelling in the city.
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 13
sunsetPuneeta Sharma (BA Fine Art)
My work focuses on the theme of human
destruction to our planet.
I use photography to capture beautiful sunsets.
However, the sunsets we see aren’t what nature
has provided us with. They are the result of the
gases and oils we use and burn everyday –
hence the amazing colours we see.
Over the summer I have begun painting some
of the sunsets that I have photographed. Some
people say it reminds them of Turner’s work.
However, Turner was affected by nature; this
time, we are affecting our planet.
14 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
15Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue
Once upon a time in a land not so far away,
Cinderella planned for a prestigious ball in total disarray.
Her hair was matted, and with rags so tattered,
She wondered what to do; work had made her so shattered!
In times of need, she looked to her ugly stepsisters for aid,
Yet they scorned at her because she was merely a maid.
Distraught, distressed and without a dress,
Swiftly she searched their wardrobes to some success.
Prada, Cavalli and McQueen to name but a few,
Cindy’s eyes lit up; my, what a view!
Kaleidoscopic, the gowns wrapped in plastic,
Their tags still intact, unworn… this was fantastic!
Thrifty Cindy set about with thread,
Altering the McQueen, thoughts running through her head,
To twirl and laugh and dance til 12 o’clock,
Eco-Cindy had saved the day with her second hand frock!
Alas, though, the stepsisters caught her red-handed,
Tore the dress from her, and left her stranded.
With little more than a few pennies in her purse,
Cinders hit the streets whispering a curse.
Who needs those forlorn frocks anyway?
Bought in haste, and left to decay.
The stepsisters ordered from as far as Timbuktu,
Totting up the air miles for an ill-fitting, out of vogue tutu.
Is this throwaway fashion really worth all that?
Cinders thought in Oxfam as she tried on a fabulous hat.
And then she saw it; her bargain, her find, her treasure!
The most gorgeous gown; she whipped out her tape measure.
A few stitches at the waist and it would fit a treat,
Her glittering glass slippers would adorn her feet!
And with a bag nabbed at a swishing party,
Cindy’s outfit was complete; she looked fashionable and arty.
Cinderella waltzed with confidence into the ball,
The stepsisters muttered at her entrance to the hall.
Is it Galliano? Chloe? Marc Jacobs? Westwood?
The whispers that followed her made Cinders feel good!
She kept them guessing, no one knew her trick,
Even Prince Charming thought she looked slick.
She was gorgeous, dazzling and unique;
When times are hard, try eco-chic!
rags are riches a tale of cinderellaImogen Thomas (BA Fashion Journalism)
16 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
here boy!Isamaya Ffrench (BA Product Design)
A collection of
stilettoes and feminine
shoes made of raw
hide and dog chew.
It draws on the notion
that aesthetics can
defy convention.
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 17
one man’s trash is another man’s treasureSHINNI (FdA Art & Design)
18 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 19
The process is simple enough: do not judge
materials by their price tag. The principle is
no more complicated: one person’s trash
is another person’s treasure. The work itself
becomes nothing but a byproduct, a happy
accident. As an art foundation student I
am surrounded by many people who are
experiencing the true meaning of the word
‘budget’ for the first time. Everyone has to eat,
and with most art supplies costing us an arm,
a leg, and a three-course meal, the typical
art student’s lifestyle is not one associated with
glamour. Add to that an endorsement of ‘the
sustainable lifestyle’ and an acute awareness of
what and how much one is buying, and you’re
in a real pickle.
At least, so it seems. Turns out art supplies are
not actually limited to art stores, and they are
by no means limited by a budget. There is an
unimaginable amount of objects around us
that are not only absolutely free of charge,
but sometimes more inspiring than shiny paint
tubes or immaculate white canvases. The
problem is that they are easily overlooked
because they are placed in unfortunate
locations – ones that tend to communicate
a lack of ‘usefulness’. You know the like:
rubbish dumps, the pavement, eerie and
diseased-looking street corners…
But when I realised this was actually a secret
hidden resource, a whole new world opened
up. It is like walking into an art supply store with
an empty wallet but realising you could walk
home with whatever you wanted. And the
icing on the cake was the fact that this was all
environmentally friendly, as it was basic (albeit
slightly atypical) recycling.
“Everyone has to eat,
and with most art supplies costing us an
arm, a leg, and a three-course meal,
the typical art student’s lifestyle is not one
associated with glamour.”
With these thoughts in mind, a cardboard
box becomes a valuable surface; a plastic
bag an interesting texture; a piece of torn
smelly fabric a beautiful collection of colours
and shapes – and that is only the tip of
the iceberg. These materials are almost
unnervingly versatile, and each offers room
for exploration and experimentation like no
other material I have bought in an art store.
Suddenly, you are hit with this awareness of
pigment and texture in all objects around you,
and you discover new purposes for some of
the most common things. You never know
what you might (sometimes quite literally)
stumble into.
Most of my work does not start with an intention
or idea; it just starts with an object and a
surface (I am more of a 2D aficionado). The
rest happens by itself. I love to emphasise
that the work was done with a sustainable
message in mind, but how exactly that
message is communicated is up to the viewer
to decide. Having only just tapped into this
resource in the last year and a half or so, I
have a lot of discoveries ahead, but if there is
one thing that is crystal clear, it is that ‘green’
art is not as hard to produce as ‘normal’
art. London is an extremely resourceful city,
and I encourage every artist interested in
exploring the sustainable side of creativity to
periodically stop for a minute and browse their
surroundings. The limits of materials are, really,
what you make them.
20 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 21
Jeff HahnFoundation Media: Animation Pathway
www.suarts.org/lesscommon22
23Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue
U2 are one of the only bands to use guitars
made from FSC-certified wood. To raise
awareness of this fact, I have created an
album cover design detailing how a guitar
is made, and highlighting their use of FSC
wood to promote the organisation and raise
awareness of their tree logo.
fsc promotionNatasha Rodwell (Graphic & Media: Information Design)
www.suarts.org/lesscommon24
25Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue
“Art doesn’t have to be serious, but it should be
creative. It should help us figure out how to live.”
– Maureen Rice, Actress
As art shows people aspects of life, it
influences what they think and how they think.
It works the other way as well. The overall
green focus of our western society is well
reflected in the offer of new courses around
the university, the CSM innovation centre, and,
more importantly, in our daily work. Since we,
as artists, show our ideas about everything
(otherwise known as ‘life’), we reflect on society,
as we live there. Thus, ‘green’ comes forward
in our work through themes, materials, and (for
instance) philosophical ideas about producing
and selling our creations.
It is evident that the green issue is alive in our
university. Even the course representatives have
continually been voting for more recycling
around the college; various ideas on recycling
and rubbish separation have been brought
forward, but it’s not always as easy as just
getting an extra pair of bins. For instance, the
students were told that the company collecting
our rubbish doesn’t do recycling. So, if you want
to change that, you’ll have to persuade the
college to contract a new collector; there’ll
be a shortage of money, or no manpower to
organise it, and then you’ll have to draw up
a financial, or logistical, plan – and, if you’re
capable of doing all that, hope your hard work
won’t end up in a drawer somewhere.
Since we’re not all course reps, let alone reps
with time and energy to devote to these things,
we’ll have to go green closer to home. But what
more can you do than separate your garbage
and switch off the light? It’s not like you’ve got
a couple of hundred quid to spare for some
double glazing. And, in any case, garbage
and double glazing aren’t interesting enough
subjects to spend your time contemplating.
What you want is something fresh, young,
luscious, and lifestyle, with a cherry on top.
We have exchanged almost all of our duties
for our desires. We used to feel obligated to
social classes, guilds, and families, but now
we are much more independent. Now that we
fix our attention on the individual, our primary
obligation is to ourselves. This is because, after
the industrial revolution and the computer age,
we are well-rooted and settled. And, with all of
these things sorted, we need to give meaning
to our lives. We need to fill that empty space;
we want to feel good about ourselves, and we
want to satisfy our spiritual and moral needs. We
want that cherry on top, and saving the planet
is behind door number 3!
Only, ‘back to nature’ is only ‘back’
because nature used to be part of our primary
needs. A means of getting what we really need
to survive. Nowadays, we turn dead animals
into home-grown disinfected pre-packaged
ready-to-eat pulp. We are as far from nature as
a noodle take-away, and what’s behind door
number 3 is nothing but smoke and mirrors. The
green issue has indeed become a powerful
tool for advertisement.
‘Back to nature’ equals low-fat luxurious sushi
lunchboxes at £6.00 a pop. A light or diet
version proves no longer to be sufficient.
The health department goes green; it’s all
ready-to-eat, with fresh and clean lounge-like
rooms, sporty wellbeing blurbs, green logos,
and green walls – even the hip twirly-wirly wall
paintings if you’re lucky. If we really cared,
airproof lunchbox sales would have gone
through the roof a long time ago. But it’s all
about the image, about the package, and
the latest fashion. Be part of the scene and the
mirrors will tell you that you are forever young,
sexy and successful.
The ‘green label’ is well on its way to take its
place next to child labour-free and non-animal
tested standards to prove one pair of socks
to be better than another. But the true market
value turns out to lie in the hype, because
people want the whole package, a total
makeover, a fresh start. Sign up for a fitness
club; five-a-day; recycle; 1001 things you
can do with an old hat, and so on. The green
madness makes the green age.
It’s obvious that the old recycled marketing
tricks have been working on various fronts.
We’ve got vintage; change CD covers into
pencils; invent neo neo fashion trends; reuse
musical riffs. The latter does imply that recycling
doesn’t always have to be a good thing
for everyone. The breaking news about the
tap water in London having gone through
a minimum of 12 bodies did shock a lot of
people. But imagine Homo sapiens 200,000
years ago, its species multiplying through the
an analysis of the green issue, based on double glazing, socks, and cherriesAndrea Hooymans (BA Hons Fine Art)
26 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
magicAriane Leblanc (BA Graphic Design)
ages, reaching an estimate of about 6.7
billion last year; imagine how many people
that would be through the ages and then think
about the amount of water on this planet. Your
next sip of water might have been part of a
dinosaur’s doodoo. These are the facts of life.
And with the comfort and knowledge we have
today, we can spend some time reflecting on
these things.
It’s a wonderful idea that something that once
was a disposable Sainsbury’s bag may today
keep you warm in the form of your stay-in-bed-
and-watch-mindless-telly-all-day fleece jumper.
This is what is possible and what’s being done.
Our behaviour is changing. We’re reusing the
things we take from the earth, and trying to take
less in the first place. And if the reason for this
is because we want to be fashionable, to go
with the flow, or fear global disaster, it doesn’t
change that fact.
But there is another motivation. With all our
knowledge and means of communication, we
are much more engaged with the world, and
with the work that needs to be done. Lobbying
the back rooms of parliament or sitting in a
rubber boat saving whales isn’t everyone’s cup
of tea, especially since these things take you
into such extremes that you’d have to make the
environment part of your life. If you don’t want
to devote your life to the green issue, you’ll be
forced to do your bit in the little time you have.
That’s why it’s not strange that not everyone
will fight for the environment so actively, and
that most people leave their good deeds at a
monthly deposit. If you would want to do your
bit at home, you’ll have to change something
in your daily routine, and changing a habit
takes a considerable amount of time and
energy. You can’t blame the English for not
knowing foreign languages, since English is a
universal language. Likewise, going out of your
way to dispose of your green leftovers properly,
or separating plastic from paper, isn’t as easy
for everyone as it sounds – not if you haven’t
been brought up with it. That’s not an excuse
though. We’re part of a great change, and we
need to fight for that change: F*cking Recycle
(a poster collection by Becky Redman). That’s
without the cherry. We can be someone else’s
cherry though:
We can create and influence through our
creating and inventing new ideas. Our
inspiration inspires others to live and do what
makes them happy, and if that’s planting
trees in Tooting, researching natural energy,
or building eco-villages, they are in any case
saving the word… And so are we.
this is a magic place with magic trees where magic happens
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 27
28 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
they’re all boundJonny Briggs (Chelsea Alumni: BA Fine Art)
This piece was inspired by a painting on
the wall of my bedroom as a child, where
Jesus was surrounded by intimidatingly tame
animals. I have also speculated over the
fantasy of play, and a game my four sisters
used to play as children, where their tops were
stuffed with cushions and toys, fabricating a
pregnancy. My mother represents my sisters
here, animalistic and united in their similarity.
Thirty different animals are also hidden within the
image, disconcertingly tame against the feral
humans who appear ritualistic, meditative, and
absorbed in nature.
To reveal where the animals are hiding, visit
www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 29
fifteen men in my jacketDamian Kruhelski (BA Photography)
I became a part of the story in 2000 when I
got the jacket from my uncle in Poland. My
friends were organising a New Year’s Eve party,
and everyone was supposed to wear clothes
from the 1970s. I needed bell-bottomed
trousers and it turned out that one of my uncles
had got some. When I visited him, as well
as the trousers he also found in his wardrobe
the leather jacket, which he hadn’t worn for
10 years. Since it was too short for him he
asked me if I would like to wear it. After my
happy “yes” he gave it to me, but didn’t tell me
how he got it, and I didn’t ask.
I discovered the rest of the story of my leather
jacket when I started doing a project for the BA
Photography course at LCC. The idea for the
project was simple; I wanted to photograph
strangers in the leather jacket in order to
question the image of men in it, and challenge
the pop culture, which suggests that a man
in a leather jacket is a true man. Only when I
phoned my uncle and found out how he got
the jacket did I start thinking that clothes which
are manufactured to last longer than only one
season are uncommon in the modern world.
30 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Silesia, the part of Poland that I come from,
belonged to Germany before and during the
Second World War, and many families have
relatives there. Those people from Germany
were sending second-hand clothes to their
relatives in Silesia in the 1970s and 1980s. That
is how a friend of my uncle got the jacket.
At that time in communist Poland, people
couldn’t simply go to the shops and buy things,
thus exchanging was very common. In parcels
that were sent from Germany were clothes of
different sizes, and my uncle merely swapped
with his friend another piece of clothing for the
leather jacket. He was wearing it until it was too
short for him, and after that he hanged it in his
wardrobe, where it stayed for 10 years.
After I found out the rest of the story I wanted
to enrich the project with that knowledge, and
that is why I decided I would photograph the
men against different shops. I wanted to make
the viewer think about ‘things’, and the ways of
obtaining them. Modern western societies treat
‘things’ as temporary objects, and companies
are no longer interested in producing them to
last as long as possible. Items are produced to
be replaced with other articles in the near future.
I knew that with this project I would not
change the situation in the world where mass
production is so common, but at the same
time I wanted to make people think about
obtaining things. As consumers, we can all put
pressure on manufacturers by not choosing
new items produced to last only a short time.
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 31
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recycling is sexy...Giselle La Pompe-Moore (BA Fashion Journalism)
Using something again and again is extremely
powerful. Although it is still the same thing every
time it’s used, it evolves, and takes on different
characteristics. Our Eco-Goddess wears
stunning sustainable designs throughout, and
takes on different characters and movements
in each pose. Even though her image is
recycled, the message behind her clothes
remains the same. Modern and innovative
sustainable designs such as this show that
sustainable materials need not affect the visual
aesthetic of clothes any longer.
Ada Zanditon:The clothes featured in the shoot are by London
College of Fashion graduate Ada Zanditon. The
talented womenswear designer graduated in
2007 with a first-class degree. She is a pioneer
for young, modern, and beautiful ethical
designs. Her talent hasn’t gone unnoticed, as
she won the Prize for Creativity at the Ethical
Fashion Show in Paris. Her designs were also
shown at the Hangzhou Grand Theatre in
China. Ada Zanditon has shown that ethical
fashion need not just be organic cotton t-shirts,
but can be classed as eco-couture.
Fashion Editor: Giselle La Pompe-Moore
Photographer: Serge Kovalenko (MA Fashion Photography)
Clothes: Ada Zanditon (Womenswear Design Graduate 2007) www.adaz.co.uk
Fashion Assistant: Andre Davies (BA Fashion Journalism)
Model: Lisa Payne (BA Fashion Journalism)
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 33
Over the summer I had a project entitled
‘consume’, where I was required to collect
one hundred objects that fit into a shoebox.
I collected over one hundred forks. Metal,
wooden, plastic, sporks, airplane forks,
hand crafted forks, hospital forks. I think I have a
pretty vast collection!
Simple objects – in this case, forks – contribute
to our extremely high consumpution/waste
levels, especially in our Western consumerist
world. I found it so easy to collect the items;
thousands of people buy readymeals with forks
included in the packaging, and places such
as EAT and Pret a Manger hand out thousands
and thousands of plastic forks every day.
Small items can easily accumulate to waste.
The items were used to generate images in
the dark room.
consume Selvi May (FDA Design of Visual Communication)
www.suarts.org/lesscommon34
can sustainable fashion survive the crunch? Julia Crew (MA Fashion & the Environment)
The crunch, credit crisis, the economic
downturn, recession… words and phrases that
have become all too familiar over the past
few months. As the gloomy forecasts continue
for the foreseeable future, the realisation is
beginning to sink in that there will be no quick
fix solution. It’s a worrying situation for the
fashion industry, which has been one of the
first to suffer from consumers cutting back on
discretionary spending.
The situation is one that fashion, an industry
built around consumerism, is poorly prepared
for. Consumer confidence is down and
people are economising and being more
careful with their money – unbelievable! Sales
figures for many high street retailers have
been down in their year-on-year comparisons
– shocking! Many retailers were rolling out
discounts well before the Boxing Day sales
bonanza in an effort to tempt shoppers to
spend – unthinkable!
But in this climate of increasing sobriety
– society is beginning to wake up to the
consequences of years of excessive debt
and wasteful consumption – isn’t it more
unbelievable that the UK clothing and textiles
industry is responsible for up to 3.1 million
tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of waste
water in a year? Isn’t it shocking that the last five
years have seen an increase in the proportion
of textile waste at council tips – up from 7%
to 30%; a trend that is becoming known as
the ‘Primark effect’? And isn’t it unthinkable that
people across the globe suffer horrific levels of
exploitation, purely so that we can buy more
cheap new clothes which are then discarded
in a matter of weeks?
...”isn’t it unthinkable that people across the
globe suffer horrific levels of exploitation,
purely so that we can buy more cheap
new clothes...”
Here in the UK, in our modern-day capitalist
society, markets are created to serve false
needs. We have been driven to consume,
and to define ourselves by what we own.
But this has not generated a greater sense
of happiness or satisfaction. Many people
are easily manipulated by the propaganda
of media and advertising, and most of us
are familiar with the sensation of wanting
something again, almost before the buzz
of buying a new item has faded. Very few
people are engaging fully, or positively,
with the experience of shopping. We are
stuck in a seemingly inescapable cycle
of wanting and desiring products, the
manufacture and distribution of which pollute;
waste resources; exploit people – and will
not magically improve our lives or satisfy any
real human need.
It is important to recognise how many
benefits there are to sustainable fashion. It can
create livelihoods and encourage economic
growth – not deplete them. That increased
efficiency and improved transparency leads to
higher levels of trust, competitive advantage,
and better business and consumer
relationships. Sustainability is also losing its
‘worthy’ image, and becoming aspirational.
It is defined by desirability, beautiful design,
quality, and better service. When the core
values of a business are addressed, it will
resonate far more meaningfully than token
gestures and greenwash.
Perhaps 2009 will see the beginning of a shift
away from cheap, fast fashion and passive
consumerism, and towards something that is
more considered, engaged and responsible.
As people cut back on their spending, there
is an opportunity to refocus: to take stock and
see what is really important. People may be
buying less, but perhaps they’ll be more willing
to trade up on quality – looking to invest their
money in something durable, something they’ll
want to keep. Consumers will engage more
with their purchases, taking a closer interest
in the background of a product. And, if that’s
the case, I think sustainable fashion is in a very
strong position to weather the storm, survive the
crunch, and bounce back bigger and better
than ever.
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 35
I designed this image with the idea of our
choices and consequences of our actions.
The fate of our planet is in our hands – human
beings are just one of the only many species
who live on Earth, but are solely responsible
for its destruction. In the last century alone, our
planet has seen more changes in its climate
than ever before. Rising sea tides, the hole in
the ozone layer, melting of the solar ice caps,
deforestation, and disappearing islands – just
a few examples of the negative impacts
industrialisation has on our planet. Developed
countries trade responsibilities and human rights
for their own greedy pursuits and consumption,
at the expense of our environment and the
lesser-developed countries. Today, the current
measurement of atmospheric CO2 is 385 parts
per million (ppm) and increasing at an alarming
rate, a far cry from the 275 ppm measured in
the pre-industrial revolution days. Scientists draw
the limit at 550 ppm, and anything between
450 and 550 ppm would result in irreversible
impacts on all of us. So where do we go from
here? Life or death?
consequencesYong Ping Loo (BA Hons Graphic Media Design)
36 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 37
wastelandSilvia Capurro (MA Graphic Design Graduate 2008)
1.1. the research approach
To start this project has been easy
I have been moved by anger and shame for
my country: Italy.
A country which deserves better.
Better than its politics who are the joke of the
whole world.
Better than having its main national systems
corrupted by the people who are always a bit
more ‘equal’ than others.
And better than witnessing the devastation of
one of its most flourishing and beautiful regions:
Campania.
A lot of issues highlight the lack of efficacy of
Italy: transport, companies, urban services, the
media, and so on.
Of course, the common factor of all these
problems is politics, but as a graphic designer
– and so as a communicator – I found that
communication also bears a main responsibility.
To continue the project was incredibly difficult
I have chosen the waste problem in Campania
because it is the most representative and
scandalous current issue relating to the lack
of working systems. I soon understood how
complex it was to understand it.
Because I have been influenced by the
‘disinformation’ process of the Italian media, I
had to eradicate my preconceptions and then
to think of a means of imparting the knowledge
to others.
According to Reporters Sans Frontières
(RSF), which has made the first world chart
demonstrating press freedom, in fact, Italy
occupies the fortieth place.
38 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Italy, because of the unsolved conflict of
interests of the prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi, is behind South Africa, Uruguay,
Taiwan, and only just above Israel, South
Korea, and Kosovo.
To understand and develop it was also hard
First of all, gathering information was kind of a
challenge. Nothing complete and effective
exists. National medias have reported it just
superficially, and I had to pass through the
word of mouth process, getting in touch
directly with people who live the everyday
reality of the place.
The reality, the actual situation, the
comprehension of how it should be, the
acceptance of all the deaths and the
poisoning, as well as the complete state
of abandon experienced by people from
Campania every day for 20 years (by the
media and by politics), was a reality hard to
understand – even harder to digest.
To design was, on the other hand, not an
issue. I wanted to inform other people of the
problem in a direct way, sparing them the
trouble I had in gaining the information. A
clean design, helped by the power of the
icons, and a clear layout tries to make the
content easy to reach. An always-present toll
bar menu makes the navigation flexible and
easy to approach.
1. 2. the project
1. 2. 1. what is it about?
Waste disposal in Naples is under the attention
of all the world’s press and represents a very
serious problem for people from the region of
Campania in Italy.
I have always found it as the most
representative of the national problems, the
most dangerous and uncivilised.
Nevertheless, the Italian media have reported
the whole thing simply as an urban waste
disposal problem, mainly related to the
incapacity of the citizens to recycle or to
organise themselves.
On the contrary, the situation is much more
complex than this suggests. We are not
speaking, as the media want to make it
appear, about a local problem caused by
regional laziness and ignorance.
Even if cultural factors have a part to play,
it is also the case that big economic
interests gravitate around the districts of Naples
and Caserta.
Politics and the mafia play a dominant role;
waste disposal is a multibillion business, and
operates in the way that it does for
financial reasons. Of course, when in 1989
a roundtable took place (known as the
‘Villaricca meeting’), at which politicians,
Camorra, and businessmen signed the deal
for waste disposal management and control,
they were very conscious of the cultural
factors, and the attitude of the citizens in
the area.
The reasons for the problem are very
deep seated.
1. 2. 2. wasteland
‘Wasteland’ was born as an information
platform to get information but also able to
connect people, making them able to share
information and opinions and giving a starting
point for future active cooperations between
the citizens and the associations.
‘Wasteland’ is a website which provides all
of the information to give a general and
complete overview of the problem. The
sections help to navigate through the main
issues (the areas/the people/the system/
the story so far) and the interactive sections
which get the users involved (download/blog/
links/info).
In the ‘WASTE CATEGORIES’ (section 8), icons
identify the main waste areas according to
the type of pollution. Each of them has a map
where the main areas are indicated, as well as
an information page.
Any page contains a picture, explanatory
text, a main sentence, and a quotation
from biologists, lawyers, breeders, writers, or
environmental and association members.
In ‘THE EFFECTS’ pages, the dioxin effects in
the animals and in the human being are
explained, while the “PEOPLE” section identifies
the protagonists, and those responsible for the
waste disposal problem - from the local mafia
(Camorra), to the writer Roberto Saviano.
‘THE SYSTEM’ section represents the complex
systems related to the waste issue in a
graphically simple way, as the information
design principles warrant.
‘THE STORY SO FAR’ contains a timeline,
starting in 1989 and finishing in 2008. Every
year contains information about the main
occurrences in the waste crisis history, and
indicates who was the Prime Minister, the
Minister of the Environment, and the Waste
Emergency Extraordinary Commissioner.
Finally, in the interactive part, the audience is
invited to download the information material
to promote the website as an information
tool, and to leave comments and information
through the blog. Moreover, it is possible to find
more information and useful links.
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 39
XHIBIT09_A4ad_.indd 1 1/23/09 12:17:41 PM
the price of charitySean Parker (Graphic & Media Design)
Green is far more than just part of the colour
wheel. Green is ecology, green is nature,
green is recycling. Now, I’m not trying to make
out that I am some sort of ambassador for
Mother Nature: all I’m saying is that I like to
do my bit for the environment. Apart from
separating the cardboards from plastics at
home, and occasionally putting a can in those
special bins, I really am no saint. But over the
past few months I have come to realise that I
actually lend more to the cause than I first led
myself to believe. It was something that slipped
under the radar, modest and undervalued:
charity shopping.
Charity shops are a hub of society; they form
communities and bring together generations.
They are eclectic treasure troves dressed as
humble meeting places for our seniors – a
cunning disguise. I have been looking through
charity shops for a couple of years now, ever
since I overcame my snobby perception of
second-hand goods as soiled or damaged.
The temptation of rummaging around a
basket of trinkets, in the hope of coming across
something strange and beautiful, is now often
hard to resist. There is no guarantee one will
find anything of great monetary worth, but
it is sometimes equally valuable to dig out
something that jogs nostalgia or pulls at your
sentimental strings. For me, the experience of
charity shops is not just in the unpredictability,
but also the memories from childhood it brings
back: visiting the bootsales with my parents
on bitter November mornings in the local
farmer’s fields. Friendly competition, bartering,
the exchanging of anecdotes; the sense of
goodwill is what attracts me to this kind of place.
The majority of my pocket money used to get
spent on Pokémon cards and Pogz, which were
pretty much standard toys of preference in the
mid 90s. I am actually convinced that I still have
a holographic Charizard somewhere. Recently,
I have grown up a bit and moved onto
matchbooks. Collecting things is a habit I picked
up from antique collectors from the bootsales,
except my compilations aren’t worth nearly as
much Royal Doulton tea sets or samurai swords.
In fact, I’m a bit of a hoarder. In my room I even
have a drawer specifically for Ordnance Survey
maps. Like, if we ever got lost in Gloucester
or Islamabad, I’d be the man everyone turns
to. Honestly, I keep everything. Just in case. I
decided to save the tags from some of the
clothes I bought - just as mementoes, I guess.
Now, these labels are not particularly amazing
exhibitions of graphic design, neither are they
hugely inspiring as a collection, but they record
a specific moment in time: data translation.
They relay to us the volunteer’s valuation of an
object at the moment of contact; an individual’s
personal assessment of the monetary worth. To
the charities, this is money that can be filtered
into funds for medical equipment, excursions,
even something as simple as a bed for a night.
But to the environment, this process of recycling
is invaluable.
winds of changeRichard John Willsher (BA Hons Fashion Photography)
From a series of portraits, looking at and taking
references from more sustainable cultures.
42 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
Less Common More Sense | The Green Issue 43
Abigail Rose LiparotoBA Hons IllustrationCamberwell College of Artwww.abigailliparoto.blogspot.com
Barbara WardABC Graphic DesignLondon College of Communication
Paul EnglesMA PublishingLondon College of [email protected]
Louise O’KellyABC Diploma PhotographyLondon College of Communication
Wen Yuan WuMA Graphic Design Graduate 2008London College of [email protected]
Puneeta SharmaBA Fine ArtCentral Saint [email protected]
Imogen ThomasBA Hons Fashion JournalismLondon College of [email protected]
SHINNILevel 4 Foundation Art & DesignCentral Saint [email protected]
Natasha RodwellGraphic & Media: Information DesignLondon College of [email protected]://andapickle.blogspot.com
Jonny BriggsChelsea Alumni: BA Fine ArtChelsea School of Art and [email protected]
Andrea HooymansBA Hons Fine ArtCentral Saint [email protected]
Isamaya FfrenchBA Product DesignCentral Saint Martinsisamayaffrench@gmail.comwww.wordswithmyfather.blogspot.comwww.redbubble.com/people/isamaya
Giselle La Pompe-MooreBA Fashion JournalismLondon College of Fashion
Andre DaviesBA Fashion JournalismLondon College of [email protected]
Lisa PayneBA Fashion JournalismLondon College of [email protected]
Serge KovalenkoMA Fashion PhotographyLondon College of Fashionwww.skovalenko.com
Ada ZanditionWomenswear Design GraduateLondon College of Fashionwww.adaz.co.uk
Selvi MayFDA Design of Visual CommunicationLondon College of Communication
Jeff HahnFoundation Media: Animation PathwayLondon College of [email protected]
Damien KrulhelskiBA PhotographyLondon College of [email protected]
Julia CrewMA Fashion & the EnvironmentLondon College of Fashion
Yong Ping LooBA Hons Graphic Media DesignLondon College of [email protected]
Sean ParkerGraphic & Media DesignLondon College of Communicationsean.parker.27@googlemail.commyonlinepsybook.blogspot.com
contributors
Richard John WillsherBA Hons Fashion PhotographyLondon College of [email protected]
Ariane Le BlancBA Graphic DesignCentral Saint [email protected]/photos/rayanne
Scarlett ShillingfordBA Graphic DesignChelsea School of Art and Design
Silvia CappuroMA Graphic Design Graduate 2008London College of [email protected]
44 www.suarts.org/lesscommon
STANDThe Students’ Union needs four exceptional and talented
individuals to lead the student body in 2009 and 2010.
Nominations are open from5th February - 19th February NOONIf you are interested in standing you can pick up an information pack from any of the Students’ Union bars, offices, the website or from the Student Hub at Davies Street.
Voting for this year’s elections will be held from10am Tuesday 10th - 12noon Friday 13th MarchThe results will be announced from 6pm at the election night special event in the Student Hub at Davies Street.
Fill in a nomination form on the website before noon on the 20th February.
www.suarts.org/elections
the magazine of the students’ union university of the arts london| www.suarts.org/lesscommon