Alessandro D'ottavi: Milan, Italy, Screenwriter and free-lance journalist.
It's always like this, at the beginning of something new, I feel always the same. I feel slow, awkward, in one word I feel dumb. It's because I'm overwhelmed by new things, my brain has to decode so many new elements that it is not able to do its normal job. and this is exactly what has happened to me in these first days in London at Central St. Martins Central College. It's funny how in these situations the brain focuses on apparently insignificant things: a kitchen (pic 1), a light switch (pic 2), the floor of a very standard building lobby (pic 2).in our everyday life we don't pay attention to these little things, but may be they are not so insignificant after all. They are the basic commodities that shape our world, they make our life the way we perceive it and essentially they make us who we are. Once we experience something new they are the first thing that we are in touch with and they are there to remind us how amazingly different we are. This is why I do think that that feeling of dizziness we have at the very beginning of a new experience is not that bad after all.
Over the week of the course students began collecting information for a lifestyle board from a variety of sources which included photographs, magazines, site visits etc. Students initially identified a target market for their concept, specifying where the location for their apartment would be and began to build their narratives around this. Naturally the pieces here would only form one part of a much bigger project, and of course they are work in progress. With more time, students may have considered electronic means of presenting their ideas however low tech means are quickly produced and do have an immediate effect of communicating their thoughts.
During the week of the Interior Styling Course, students had the opportunity to work with Photographer Austin Hutton on a potential Magazine Editorial. The students worked in groups of three and were given just 40 minutes from start to completion in order to develop a concept and select products from our vast store of props. This is the first time that students had worked with a photographer and with this kind of brief, however, here are some examples of the work the students produced with Austin. Naturally this is a huge learning curve for anyone beginning their styling career although I think you will agree that the outcomes are actually not bad at all for a first attempt.
After working with the photographer Austin Hutton on a photo shoot for a potential magazine Editorial (image below), students began completing their final presentation. Each student had a 40 minute session with the photographer in order to pull together their theme. Every one had a different focus, as one would expect; each one was equally exciting - the results of which I will publish over the next few days. (Above) students from Italy, Germany and Switzerland begin pulling together the 'look' for their concept for a loft apartment, searching for inspiration from a wide variety of resources and enabling them to build on their resource books, contacts and network.
Students arrived for their first day of the Interior Styling course at Central St. Martins from all across the globe, travelling from places such as Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Taiwan, Brazil, London, Turkey, Bulgaria, Pakistan, and Italy. All have a wide variety of backgrounds including Marketing, Photography, Interior Design, IT, Accountancy, and Retail. This always makes these courses so exciting. Having issued the students with a brief: to create a concept for a loft apartment, identifying their target market and producing a proposal which should include materials, lighting, furniture etc., students will experience a wholly varied selection of site visits. Here students visited St. George's development in Vauxhall - a £0.5 million apartment / show home before scouring Lassco's Architectural Salvage, Ornaments & Curiosities to begin to gather in resources. You will be able to follow their journey, professionally and personally over the next week.
Through my city wanderings I came across the Geffrye Museum. Formally a hospital, I had heard of it many times over the years and in fact had seen some trade shows here, although I don't think I have ever really looked at the exhibits. Along the side of the building are a series of room installations that covers UK domestic interiors from Victorian, Georgian, in fact all the way through the 20th Century. While these are not the most lavish of 'sets', the kind of thing you would expect at the V&A they do have enormous merit and have subsequently proved very useful in researching and identifying trends through the last century. My favourite is definitely the G-plan furniture of the late 1950's and early 1960's. There is also a great exhibition on here to at the moment, Ethelburga Tower, At Home in The High-Rise, by my colleague at the University of the Arts, London, Mark Cowper which makes the visit to this little gem in London's East End even more rewarding.
My very first professional job at the tender age of 20 (sadly so long ago now) was working with a Textile Designer named Kate Blee based in Rivington Street, now new(ishly) built up. At the time I remember having to walk through what was then a series of building sites to get to the studio, based above an Architectural practise along this street. Although I have been along here many times since I left Kate I don't ever remember looking at it with the same eyes. It does still appear to have that nightclub after the party feel about it - you know, when the main lights are switched on at the end of the night and you suddenly realise that the carpet is stained and sticky, the walls are falling down and your date is no longer as pretty as the flashing club lights led you to believe in fact, as the graphic says, Scary. Anyway, through serendipity I did find this place, in particular the window display below which is quite interesting. This is the home of YCN.72 - a place which showcases and provides a platform for emerging talent
