PAST EVENTS
2017
FAAR Boston Panel
Panel and Presentation Series: The intersection of fashion and aerospace
November 2, 6-8pm
Fashion and Aerospace have been partners since the first Space Age. Their historical achievements have paved the way for a robust textile industry that serves both our Space endeavors and our life on earth. An introductory presentation by FAAR founder, Lee Anderson, will give an overview of that shared history, and some of the most exciting new and upcoming developments.
The panel, following the presentation, will demonstrate these overlaps through a deep dive into the interdisciplinary interactions behind their work, and discussion of some of the following questions:
– Demonstrate what it means to design for humans in all their complexity.
– Look at ways that tradition and innovation co-exist in the development of new products, systems and technologies
– Discuss new technologies or methods that are changing the way work gets done
– Provide examples of interdisciplinary input that goes into products and services, and examples from the panelists own work
Panelists:
Yuly Fuentes-Medel of Descience
Julianne Gauron, Creative Strategist and Designer
Michael Lye of Rhode Island School of Design
Moderated by:
Lee Anderson of FAAR and Starkweather
The Shared Future of Fashion and Aerospace
Panel and Presentation Series: The intersection of fashion and aerospace
An introductory presentation will look at the shared history of fashion and aerospace, their mutual long-term interests, and the incredible possibilities of what could be if they proactively work together. A panel discussion will follow, on the practice of envisioning new realities, finding opportunities through differences, and interdisciplinary collaboration
NEW YORK @ GALVANIZE SOHO
October 23, 6:30-8:30pm
Francis Bitonti of Studio Bitonti
Sabine Seymour of SUPA
Ted Southern of Final Frontier Design
Barbara Cottrell Trippeer of FIT, and Design Researcher
FIELD/WORK
October 14, 2017
Chicago Artist Coalition
How To Use Your Map And Compass
Fashion + Aerospace @ NewSpace Chicago
September 14, 2017
mHUB
Founder, Lee Anderson, will be speaking at NewSpace Chicago on the intersection of Fashion + Aerospace.
Read About the event, and see the video here
The Outpost
September 8-10, 2017
Camp Navarro
In this Biomimicry workshop at the experiential marketing event The Outpost, immersed in the Redwoods and the landscape photography of Reuben Wu, teams will create designs inspired by nature, suitable for both earth and space environments.
Read more about the event here
Learn more about The Outpost
Envisioning New Realities: the intersection of fashion and aerospace
Chicago, July 20, 2017
6-8pm
Lost Arts, 1001 N North Branch Street
In a world where the future is arriving each day at an accelerated pace, technology has initiated a paradigm shift that is still in flux. Through technology, previously divergent industries have found common ground to collaborate and excel in this new economy. And yet, in many ways, we have not reconciled the conflicting demands of stakeholders, expectations from past paradigms, and short vs. long term outlooks. The result: industries with shared long term interests are tackling interrelated issues in isolation, and on wholly unsynchronized timelines. What would happen if new channels of communication and collaboration were introduced?
To allow ourselves to imagine the future relationship between fashion and aerospace challenges us to take steps towards that reality starting today. The first stages of this evolution are already happening, with parallel exploration into technologies such as 3-D printing, biometrics and advanced recycling being innovated in both the fashion and aerospace industries. What would happen if those efforts were aligned?
An introductory presentation will look at the shared history of fashion and aerospace, their mutual long-term interests, and the incredible possibilities of what could be if they proactively work together.
A panel discussion will follow the presentation, discussing the practice of envisioning new realities, finding opportunities through differences, and interdisciplinary collaboration
PANELISTS:
Sean Lally
Sean Lally is the author of the book The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come. He is the host of the podcast ‘Night White Skies’ and is currently associate professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Anke Loh, MFA
Anke Loh is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Fashion at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has taught since 2005. Her current research entails finding ways to integrate stretchable circuitry into textiles, ready-to-wear fashion and accessories.
Anke Loh has collaborated with a range of interdisciplinary teams. Her work on incorporating fiber optics into interactive fabric included working with Luminex (Italy and Miami) and the computer science department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She broke new ground by integrating Philips Lumalive panels into dresses and skirts, featuring video imagery on soft embedded LED screens. She is presently collaborating with the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin to research and explore the possibilities of stretchable circuitry.
Anke earned a Master’s Degree in Fashion Design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1999. She is impassioned by travel and observing compelling and dissonant cultural dynamics.
Ovetta Sampson
Ovetta is a Senior Design Research Lead at IDEO here in Chicago. But before that, she picked up her M.S. in Computer Science at DePaul University while working as the website administrator for the Driehaus College of Business.
In a previous life, (she's had many), she was a journalist for about 20 years having her work appear in such publications as The Washington Post, the Colorado Springs Gazette, The Chicago Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor. (She still writes for publications on occasion and authors books). She left the newspaper world for adventure and became a global writer and editor for humanitarian organizations interviewing people all over the world. Along the way she picked up some website design and application coding skills (enough to be dangerous) and fell in love with designing and crafting digital products.
Learn more about our host, Lost Arts
Personal Values: "How To Use Your Map & Compass"
June 28, 2017
6-8pm
Lost Arts, 1001 N North Branch Street
Every day we make decisions and exhibit behavior on auto-pilot. After a while, we can easily look back to find we’ve forgotten where, or why, we started. In order to re-orient ourselves, we need to establish a basis for that internal compass: personal core values. Your values are crucial principles that guide your behaviors, your decision-making process, and practically everything else that you do. People throughout history have used core values to create guidelines for their own self-development, and groups have used them to build community around shared values to achieve great things.
In this workshop we will explore different types of value systems from around the world, and throughout history, and use guided exercises to help participants identify their own personal core values.
This evening is an opportunity to reconnect with what drives you. You will leave the event with a deeper understanding of why values matter as well as new approaches to orienting and activating your own internal compass.
Learn more about our host, Lost Arts
Define Your Company Values
Tuesday, May 23 6:00pm-8:00pm
Lost Arts, 1001 N North Branch Street
Company values are more than a sequence of words or esoteric concepts, they are the foundation and spirit of your company or your practice. They are the reason people want to work for you, and the reason your customers choose you over the competition. They are the thing that you look to when important decisions leave you at a crossroads.
In this workshop led by Lee Anderson of Starkweather, we will look at some of the greatest examples of company values and the ways in which those values are communicated to the public and to their employees. We will then workshop your own company or professional values (existing or under construction) and ways to communicate them beyond verbiage.
You will leave the event with a deeper understanding of why values matter as well as new approaches to identifying and embodying the values of your own business or practice.
This event is for current and future founders, artists and freelancers, managers and branding professionals.
Supplies, beer, and bubbly water will be provided for attendees.
Register Here
Learn more about our host, Lost Arts
IN-COURSE WORKSHOP: Systems
April 26, 4-6pm
Research & Development Methods, Parsons The New School for Design
The idea is not to solve all of the problems, but to put a context around where we are and identify what kind of initiatives might help activate and empower change makers. We want them to get pushed and cultivated to their full potential. This starts with education, but it continues through work environments and then the cycle repeats. *We dissect the environment in order to find the right questions to ask, which will then lead to the deployment of problem solving methods.
Suggested readings:
https://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/Rotman_SAS_IDEO_Winter09.pdf
http://www.incose.org/AboutSE/WhatIsSE
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/10210?gko=20cca
http://www.iftf.org/future-now/article-detail/designing-a-new-operating-system-for-work/
Case Study: https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-intuit-built-a-better-support-system-for-intrapreneurs
ROUND TABLE: Fashion & Aerospace
March 8, 2017
In a world where the future is arriving each day at an accelerated pace, technology has initiated a paradigm shift, particularly in traditionally human-centered fields, that is still in flux. Through technology, previously divergent industries have found common ground to collaborate and excel in this new economy. And yet, in many ways, we have not reconciled the conflicting demands of stakeholders, expectations from past paradigms, and short vs. long term outlooks. The result: industries with shared long term interests are tackling interrelated issues in isolation, and on wholly unsynchronized timelines. What would happen if new channels of communication and collaboration were introduced?
To allow ourselves to imagine the future relationship between fashion and aerospace challenges us to take steps towards that reality starting today. The first stages of this evolution are already happening, with parallel exploration into technologies such as 3-D printing, biometrics and advanced recycling being innovated in both the fashion and aerospace industries. What would happen if those efforts were aligned?
Read about it here
FOCUS GROUP: Culture/Values
March 21, 6-8pm
Hosted by
Manufacture New York
850 Third Avenue (between 30th & 31st street)
Floor 7
Brooklyn, New York 11232
On the topic of culture and values in the fashion industry, we will be looking closely at happenings in the fashion industry and peripheral industries through news coverage and the unique vantage points and expertise of the participants.
The following topics will be discussed:
1. Foundation: Defining core values, and not putting them up on a shelf to get dusty. Company culture is a living thing you have to take care of and cultivate.
True or False: In fashion, people don’t take jobs for the company culture. They take jobs for the product category or the prestige.
True or False: In fashion, design ethos/collection aesthetic is prioritized over company culture
2. B2B vs B2C culture: Does the nature of your company culture change if you are a customer facing brand versus a business facing brand?
True or false: Direct to consumer fashion brands are creating an opportunity for increased focus on company culture
3. Vernacular: “Startup founders” vs “young designers”
True or false: Fashion designers are not seen as or referred to as entrepreneurs
The following readings are recommended:
What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care?, Harvard Business Review
Keeping Core Values Alive, Case studies
Culture: Why It's The Hottest Topic In Business Today, Forbes
What It Means To Work Here, Harvard Business Review
Ten Signs of A Progressive Company Culture, Forbes
Build Sustainability into Your Business From Day One, The Business of Fashion
New Vogue: Company Culture, The New York Times
*All attendees are encouraged to come prepared with one example of company culture in the fashion industry that sets a positive example.
The purpose of the readings and outline is to create a framework for the discussion, and for each attendee's expertise.
These events are participatory - we look forward to carrying the conversation forward with you!
FASHION WEEKEND
February 25-26, 2017
Fashion Weekend is an opportunity for students from Parsons Fashion and School of Design Strategies to collaborate in problem solving for a real life case study proposed by a leading fashion company. Fashion Weekend will focus on the design of systems in the industry rather than the design of products, calling on skills developed in each of the academic departments. Over the course of two days, they will learn tools for system thinking, cross-disciplinary brainstorming and presentation. The weekend will conclude with pitches in front of a multi-disciplinary panel from the subject company. The skills developed during this weekend will support the attending students in their continued course work, and help them stand out as they enter into their future careers.
2016
WORKSHOP: Define Your Company Values
on December 29
Learn how to create, communicate, and sustain your company values
Company values are more than a sequence of words or esoteric concepts, they are the foundation and spirit of your company. They are the reason people want to work for you, and the reason your customers choose you over the competition. They are the thing that you look to when important decisions leave you at a crossroads.
We will look at some of the greatest examples of company values, and the ways in which those values are communicated to the public and to their employees.
We will workshop your own company values (existing or under construction) and ways to communicate them beyond verbiage.
You will leave the event with a deeper understanding of why values matter, and new approaches to identifying and embodying the values of your own business.
THIS WORKSHOP is for current and future founders, human resource professionals, managers and branding professionals.
WORKSHOP: System Thinking
December 8
Learn how system thinking can help you in your career and running your own business
System thinking is a unique process for decision making and problem solving that takes into consideration all of the interacting elements related to an issue. It means looking at the bigger picture and the long term. It means looking across disciplines and across industries. More than anything, it is understanding that all things are interrelated. There are infinite opportunities in those overlaps, but the connections aren't always easy to see. Our goal in this workshop is to show you how a problem-solving mind set can help you identify those opportunities, gauge feasibility and measure their potential impact.
You will leave the workshop with new tools for how to switch between big picture thinking and real time action, to identify opportunities for partnership and collaboration with other teams within your organization or across companies and disciplines, and a vocabulary for communicating these tools to your colleagues and peers.
THIS WORKSHOP is for problem solvers, looking for new ways to approach systemic issues in their workplace. The principles of system thinking can be applied during routine planning, or to support time sensitive decision making.
WORKSHOP: System Thinking
October 8, 2pm-5pm
Learn how system thinking can help you in your career and running your own business
System thinking is a unique process for decision making and problem solving that takes into consideration all of the interacting elements related to an issue. It means looking at the bigger picture and the long term. It means looking across disciplines and across industries. More than anything, it is understanding that all things are interrelated. There are infinite opportunities in those overlaps, but the connections aren't always easy to see. Our goal in this workshop is to show you how a problem-solving mind set can help you identify those opportunities, gauge feasibility and measure their potential impact.
You will leave the workshop with new tools for how to switch between big picture thinking and real time action, to identify opportunities for partnership and collaboration with other teams within your organization or across companies and disciplines, and a vocabulary for communicating these tools to your colleagues and peers.
THIS WORKSHOP is for problem solvers, looking for new ways to approach systemic issues in their workplace. The principles of system thinking can be applied during routine planning, or to support time sensitive decision making.
FOCUS GROUP: Education
September 22, 7pm-9pm
Surface relevant experiences and untapped opportunities in fashion education. What are the skills in demand in the work place? What extra curricular options are available to enhance those skills?
WORKSHOP: Define Your Company Values
August 27,
Learn how to create, communicate, and sustain your company values
Company values are more than a sequence of words or esoteric concepts, they are the foundation and spirit of your company. They are the reason people want to work for you, and the reason your customers choose you over the competition. They are the thing that you look to when important decisions leave you at a crossroads.
We will look at some of the greatest examples of company values, and the ways in which those values are communicated to the public and to their employees.
We will workshop your own company values (existing or under construction) and ways to communicate them beyond verbiage.
You will leave the event with a deeper understanding of why values matter, and new approaches to identifying and embodying the values of your own business.
THIS WORKSHOP is for current and future founders, human resource professionals, managers and branding professionals.
IN-COURSE WORKSHOP: Systems
April 26, 4-6pm
Research & Development Methods, Parsons The New School for Design
The idea is not to solve all of the problems, but to put a context around where we are and identify what kind of initiatives might help activate and empower change makers. We want them to get pushed and cultivated to their full potential. This starts with education, but it continues through work environments and then the cycle repeats. *We dissect the environment in order to find the right questions to ask, which will then lead to the deployment of problem solving methods.
Suggested readings:
https://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/Rotman_SAS_IDEO_Winter09.pdf
http://www.incose.org/AboutSE/WhatIsSE
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/10210?gko=20cca
http://www.iftf.org/future-now/article-detail/designing-a-new-operating-system-for-work/
Case Study: https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-intuit-built-a-better-support-system-for-intrapreneurs
FOCUS GROUP: Culture/Values
March 21, 6-8pm
Hosted by
Manufacture New York
850 Third Avenue (between 30th & 31st street)
Floor 7
Brooklyn, New York 11232
On the topic of culture and values in the fashion industry, we will be looking closely at happenings in the fashion industry and peripheral industries through news coverage and the unique vantage points and expertise of the participants.
The following topics will be discussed:
1. Foundation: Defining core values, and not putting them up on a shelf to get dusty. Company culture is a living thing you have to take care of and cultivate.
True or False: In fashion, people don’t take jobs for the company culture. They take jobs for the product category or the prestige.
True or False: In fashion, design ethos/collection aesthetic is prioritized over company culture
2. B2B vs B2C culture: Does the nature of your company culture change if you are a customer facing brand versus a business facing brand?
True or false: Direct to consumer fashion brands are creating an opportunity for increased focus on company culture
3. Vernacular: “Startup founders” vs “young designers”
True or false: Fashion designers are not seen as or referred to as entrepreneurs
The following readings are recommended:
What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care?, Harvard Business Review
Keeping Core Values Alive, Case studies
Culture: Why It's The Hottest Topic In Business Today, Forbes
What It Means To Work Here, Harvard Business Review
Ten Signs of A Progressive Company Culture, Forbes
Build Sustainability into Your Business From Day One, The Business of Fashion
New Vogue: Company Culture, The New York Times
*All attendees are encouraged to come prepared with one example of company culture in the fashion industry that sets a positive example.
The purpose of the readings and outline is to create a framework for the discussion, and for each attendee's expertise.
These events are participatory - we look forward to carrying the conversation forward with you!
FOCUS GROUP: State of the Industry
February 22, 6-8pm
250 Hudson (entrance on dominick)
New York City
Focus group: uncovering the issues with the intention of getting it all out on the table to inform our programming through the rest of the year.
What are the issues on your mind? What questions should we be asking? Who should we be engaging? How can we help? What discussions do you crave?
2015
PIONEER MODE
November 13-14, 9am-6pm
Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator