Title Contemporary Design, Craft and Dress in Context: an
international perspective from 1950 to the present day
Code tbc
Level 2
Credit rating 10
Pre-requisites
An ability to research, select and present written and visual evidence as
specified in Level One General Aims and Objectives.
Type of unit
Compulsory core seminars; weekly 1.5-hour seminars over 1 semester
Introduction
A seminar-based exploration of the values associated with design, dress and
craft since 1950, concentrating on Britain, Europe, America and Japan.
Aims
(1) to develop and deepen students’ understanding of specific aspects of late
twentieth and early twenty first century crafts.
(2) to familiarise students with a range of approaches to the study of the late
twentieth and early twenty first centuries as a basis for their own research of
this period.
(3) to further develop, and refine, students’ presentational skills, both oral
and visual,
Content
This unit examines the various alignments, with either fine art or industry,
and the relevant supporting institutions, of design, fashion and craft
production throughout this period. Students will be encouraged to establish
links across these areas of practice, for example presenting a case study on
Laura Ashley under the theme of ‘Tradition and Nostalgia in Design in the
1970s’ or on Issey Miyake in a seminar on Japanese contemporary craft, or
on ‘green fashion’ as it relates to ideas about sustainable design. It also
evaluates the development of a trans-disciplinary approach in understanding
the power of the object and placing the process in a social context.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the unit students will have developed:
(1) An awareness of the impact of changing economic, social and commercial
structures upon the production and consumption of contemporary design,
dress and craft.
(2) A critical understanding of contemporary issues and debates.
(3) An appreciation of a range of approaches to analysing contemporary
objects.
Teaching and learning strategies
Seminars, private study
1
Learning support:
indicative reading/reference
Crafts Council, The New Spirit in Craft and Design, 1987.
Crafts Council, The Body Politic: the role of the body and contemporary craft,
2000.
Davis, F, Fashion, Culture and Identity1994.
Evans, C, Fashion at the Edge , 2004
Greenhalgh, P., The Persistence of Craft: the applied arts today, 2002.
Jackson, L., The New Look: design in the fifties, 1991.
Hickey, G.A., (ed), Making and Metphora discussion of meaning in
contemporary craft, 1994
Technical Support
Appropriate technologies for presenting text and images
Assessment
1 seminar presentation
Assessment Criteria
The seminar presentations are assessed on
(1) the extent to which a coherent analysis has been presented
(2) the extent to which the presentation has utilised, and indicated,
appropriate visual and textual material (including primary source material
when easily accessible)
(3) the extent to which the presentation identifies and addresses key issues
and key texts in the field
(4) the extent to which the presentation is clearly structured and clearly
delivered.
Assessment process
Presentations will be assessed by the unit tutor.
Further headings for purely administrative purposes
Examination Board(s) to which the unit relates: tbc
Unit team/authors/coordinator Jill Seddon
Date of first approval
Date of last revision
Date of approval of this version
Version number
If a replacement, previous unit of study it replaces
School home SHACS
External examiner tbc
2
3