The projects that arise from the Reportage Photography short course at Central Saint Martins, never cease to amaze us! With each student’s journey on the course being vastly different, the course allows one to turn an amazing idea into an inspirational project. One such student on Reportage Photography course was Jade Holford. We spoke to Jade about her experience of working in a refugee camp and how it moved her to inspire good deeds with simply a camera.

What is your occupation? 

I’m a nanny and I am currently working on a speech therapy app when not looking after the kids.

What was your Reportage Photography project?

It is called Unique Giving and it is photo project that follows good deed chains.

What inspired you to create this project?

When I returned from providing humanitarian aid in a refugee camp, I felt I had lost my faith in humanity.  I’d never felt so guilty for having food and a bed and could not understand why more people were not doing more to help. I then did a shoe drive as the kids on the camp were wearing sandals in winter or shoes five sizes too big for them. While I was doing the drive, I became acutely aware of all the good deeds friends, families and strangers were doing and the penny dropped. Daily good deeds don’t end at the deed; they accumulate and encourage more good deeds towards one another. Sometimes weaving their way to the places that need it the most.

I chose the project to have a camera or good deed card passed along when someone does something nice to them, so that we can all say a little thank you to the people who make the world a nicer place.

What has been your favourite good deed so far?

A doctor sent me a photo of her holding her boyfriend’s hand and it read ‘To James, for just holding me when I had no words or energy left after a night of trauma calls’. To me it really encapsulates how I was feeling when I thought of the project, sometimes the smallest things mean the most and some of those little good deeds will end up being a part of a larger act.

Trauma Calls – Unique Giving

You studied Reportage Photography, why did you chose this course and what did you gain from this learning experience?

I wanted to learn about how to develop a project. I’d never completed a project before and was always unsure if I was going about it the right way. The course taught me so many things. I loved the classes where we explored our style and broke it down, looking at how and what we choose to take photos of, this has definitely changed the way I approach photography and choose my subjects now. We also looked at a lot of different photographers which opened my eyes to the numerous projects where the photographer doesn’t always take the photo which I thought was rather fitting for my Unique Giving project.

Reportage Photography runs throughout the year, please visit the short courses website for further information http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/courses/short-courses/

Alexis Panayiotou Fashion Drawing

To celebrate and highlight the talents of our Short Course tutors, Central Saint Martins Window Gallery at 1 Granary Square is currently exhibiting some extraordinary work.  From ceramics, to jewellery, haute couture embroidery, fashion drawing, photography and illustration, the exhibition will showcase the talent of seven of our short courses tutors.  Fashion Illustrator and Central Saint Martins tutor Alexis Panayiotou contributed a large scale drawing of artist Paul Kindersley, to highlight the kinds of exercises that take place on a Fashion Drawing course.  We talk to Alexis about his work in the exhibition, where he finds inspiration and his advice for aspiring creatives.

How did you become a Fashion Illustrator?

After I finished my MA in 2004 I worked for Basso & Brooke doing illustrations for their digital textile prints. I had trained as a womenswear designer but I enjoyed doing a job where I could draw all day and I ended up staying there for 4 years before I left and took a job teaching illustration at Central Saint Martins on the BA fashion course and for the short courses in 2008.

Alexis Panayiotou, Fashion Drawing

Where do you get your inspiration from and how do you stay inspired?

The initial idea for a project can come from anywhere. I go and see as much as I can, art shows, films etc. I look at illustrators I like, and other stuff like computer games, anime and comics, I like all sorts of imagery and it all feeds into the work. I go to life drawing classes as often as I can as it’s important to keep drawing as much as possible and I find that ideas often come during the process of making work. Unexpected things can happen whilst working that I couldn’t have foreseen or planned and by the time a piece of work is finished it has usually generated further ideas.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment, I am working primarily on portrait painting

Tell us about your work in the CSM Short Courses exhibition.

The work in the exhibition demonstrates the kind of exercises we do on the drawing course, but on a much larger scale. I wanted to produce some figures that reveal the workings of the drawing, like an anatomy diagram you can see the ‘innards’ of the figure in layers from the initial basic skeleton, the basic shapes of the figure either drawn or using collage, and then details like print and the face, although not always necessarily in that order.

Which piece of creative work in any discipline do you most love?

I like all sorts of work, it’s very difficult to pick one piece. I go to the National Gallery a lot and I have a few favourite paintings there, I particularly like Samson and Delilah by Rubens and The Bathers at Asnieres by Seurat.  I love John Singer Sergent’s picture Carnation Lily Lily Rose at Tate Britain, it’s a beautiful study of the light quality at dusk.

What advice would you give to aspiring creatives? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I suppose is to persevere and to work as often as possible. Drawing is a very demanding and at times frustrating process and progress can be slow and imperceptible. Keep all your drawings good and bad and then look back on them after a few months and you will see the improvement, provided you have kept working in the meantime. Norman Rockwell said that there is always a point during the course of making a painting when you feel like it has failed and you have to summon the will to push through and finish the work. This piece of advice, and knowing that a painter as monumentally talented as he was still encountered such problems, has helped me finish many a painting that I otherwise might have trashed out of frustration

Alexis Panayiotou teaches a range of short courses at Central Saint Martins, including Life Drawing for Fashion Designers, Create a Fashion Portfolio – Intermediate and Fashion Drawing for Beginners.  Further details on all of our courses can be found on the Short Courses website http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/courses/short-courses/.  The CSM Short Courses exhibition takes place in the Window Gallery at Central Saint Martins until 3 September 2017. To see what goes on in the CSM Short Courses classroom, follow @csmshortcourses and #MYCSM

Students from around the world study at Central Saint Martins on short courses taught by academic staff and alumni in our state-of-the art studios, to learn a new skill, focus on personal or professional development or to experiment with trying something new!

We are hosting an exhibition that highlights the talent of a few of our tutors.

The exhibition runs from 6 July – 4 September 2017

Come join us if you are in London!

Short Courses Exhibition, 6 July – 4 September 2017. Central Saint Martins, 1 Granary Square, Windows Gallery, The Crossing, London N1C 4AA.

Joanne Edwards has worked within the fashion industry for ten years, designing womenswear and bridal dresses before starting up her own range of headwear and accessories in 2012. Teaching the Accessories For Beginners, Couture Handmade Floral Crowns and Headbands and Summer Festival Crowns and Headbands (Weekend) short courses; we caught up with Joanne to discuss her work, interests and what makes her want to share that passion.

Joanne Edwards

What inspired and lead to your work as a milliner?

I worked in the Fashion industry for over a decade as a womenswear designer for a variety of high street brands. I’ve always loved traditional crafts and had long felt a desire to create something unique with my hands. I wanted to become skilled in an area of handcraft and seek out authenticity in my career and work. I explored many areas and eventually found the world of Millinery! After studies, I worked for and learned from others including fashion milliner Piers Atkinson and couture milliner Edwina Ibbotson, before stepping out on my own.

Tell us about your work.

I design and make hats for weddings and race events such as Royal Ascot. The craft of Millinery is both laborious and beautiful, requiring lots of patience, an eye for detail and a love of hand sewing. From stretching hat materials over wooden blocks to form the shape, stiffening and wiring the hat to ensure its shape remains and dyeing components such as feathers used to trim the hat. Every step during the ‘make’ process is carefully considered and requires many hours.

I adore trimmings and love to create silk handmade flowers which decorate many of my hats and bridal headpieces. It’s an incredibly therapeutic practice, cutting each petal from various silk fabrics and pressing them shape with traditional iron tools, to stitching each petal together one by one to form your desired flower. Seeing your work come together in any discipline is incredibly satisfying and the end result can be a work of art.

I also create headwear for other brands. Collaborations have included Vidal Sassoon, Appetiser and recently Venyx World where I hand made the Space Chameleon Swarovski Crystal mask. These were created for guests who wore them during the annual Animal Charity Ball and displayed at the V&A, in London.

© Joanne Edwards

What inspired you to teach the courses you tutor upon?

I’ve always loved the idea of being able to share my knowledge during a creative workshop and introduce others to the skills of handmade Millinery headpieces and couture flower-making. I really enjoy seeing students’ ideas come to life.

What are you most passionate about?

I’m passionate about design and creativity. I strive to create a product that both looks and feels elegant when worn within my work, something which has balance in its design, use of colour and trimming.

I’m also incredibly passionate about traditional handmade crafts. I’m pleased I can introduce others to skills like silk flower-making. I’ve always been drawn to arts and crafts where time, skill, effort and energy has been lovingly poured into producing something unique. I am not a fan of throwaway Fashion.

Which piece of creative work, in any discipline, do you most love and why?

Coming from a Fashion Background, I’ve always admired the great couture Fashion houses such as Dior and their teams of skilled workers who dedicate hundreds of hours into creating intricate couture gowns. These are works of art in their own right.

What/where is your favourite London discovery?

I’m originally from Ireland and grew up in the beautiful countryside of Donegal by the beach. For me, being either by the river or open green spaces is where I’m most at ease. I recently stumbled upon York House Gardens in Twickenham. A footbridge leads from the House leads you from pretty gardens areas of wildflowers and a great pond graced with nymphs and Gods, all tucked away beside the river. That was a perfect little discovery on a summer’s evening.

What is your guilty pleasure?

I adored musicals growing up, all that singing and dancing, Hollywood glamour, glitz, charm and huge hats had me intoxicated! My guilty pleasure would be a day spent reliving classics from the 50’s & 60’s, starting with Barbara Streisand’s Funny Girl.

Name a favourite book, film and song.

Book: I set myself a challenge recently to read more, so I currently have a list of well known figures throughout history to get though. I’m currently reading The Diary Of Anne Frank.

Film: I love big productions full of glamour and elaborate costumes, but nothing’s better than reliving a cheesy 80’s flick like the ones I grew up on; Big, The Breakfast Club, E.T. or The Goonies, to name a few.

Song: I saw Will Joseph Cook at Dingwalls in Camden lock last year. He’s got a chilled indie sound and got me thinking about this year’s festivals and the headpieces we will be creating on Summer Festival Crowns and Headbands’ and Accessories for Beginners courses!

What advice would you give to aspiring creatives?

It’s often hard to know exactly what you want to do or which path to take, so just keep exploring and enjoying the areas you have an interest in and eventually you’ll stumble across something that has meaning to you.

Creativity is lifelong learning. Working as a Fashion Designer in a busy office, juggling many roles taught me so much about the retail industry, gave me many skills and the confidence to eventually try something new, choose a different path and emerge as something else.

What’s the best bit of advice you have ever been given?

Keep your options open, don’t rule anything out, and just keep opening doors.

For further information on the upcoming Accessories For Beginners , Couture Handmade Floral Crowns and Headbands and Summer Festival Crowns and Headbands (Weekend) short courses please visit the Central Saint Martins Short Course website.

Letterpress tutor Helen Ingham was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to chat about the Craft Prize 2017. In association with the Craft Council and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Craft Prize was created as part of the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of Woman’s Hour.

If you missed it, you can still listen to it on the BBC iPlayer here!

The next Letterpress short course takes place in August. Please visit the Central Saint Martins Short Courses website for further details.

Show One showcases the incredible talent students have honed during their time studying at Central Saint Martins.   Come to Central Saint Martins between the 25 May and 28 May to see the future voices of fine art.

Courses featured in Show One: BA Fine Art, MA Fine Art, MA Photography, MA Art & Science, MRes: Art – Exhibition Studies, MRes Art – Moving Image, MRes Art – Theory and Philosophy.

Read more about this year’s theme: The Rest is History over on CSM News http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/csm/2017/05/24/show-one-theme-the-rest-is-history/

BA Fine Art student Rebecca Courtis in front of her 16MM film installation – In a Landscape [Photo by Reenie Wilkins]

Times: Weds to Fri: 12 – 8pm, Sat to Sun: 12 – 5pm. Last entry: 30 mins before closing.
Location: 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, N1C 4AA not the Granary Square, N1 in Islington.
Transport + map: Find Us.
Access and mobility: please contact +44 (0)20 7514 7444.
Little ones: Some shows will be unsuitable for young children.
Prams are not allowed in the shows but you can bring babies in a papouse.
Cloakroom: There are no storage or cloakroom facilities for suitcases, prams and bags.

The show is free and open to the public, no need to book. 

#CSMcome

So what exactly is Design Thinking? Design Thinking is not only for designers and more than just another management fad.  It is the discipline of applying a designers’ way of thinking to business or social enterprise innovation. Students who enrol on the Design Thinking for Business Innovation short course at Central Saint Martins, come from a variety of working backgrounds be it creative, technical, or business.

But what happens afterwards, what do students go on to do?

We spoke to João Lopes de Almeida about his experience on the Design Thinking for Business and Innovation short course. Exploring how it has supported a career change as well as providing and informing a new international network.

Where do you live?

I live in the south of Brazil, in Porto Alegre.

What is your occupation?

After more than 20 years working in executive positions for different companies, I decided to become an entrepreneur and co-founded a new business called Preis & Lopes de Almeida, a commercial real estate development company in Brazil. In less than a year the company had acquired clients such as McDonalds, Lojas Renner (JC Peney) and other very important Brazilian retail chains.

Why did you chose to study Design Thinking for Business Innovation?

Firstly, I wanted to know how Design Thinking could be used to increase my entrepreneurial spirit and secondly, I wanted a challenge that had a human element to it. Design Thinking helps you to understand people’s needs, it allows for more experimentation, more creativity and it’s empirical, as assumptions are iteratively tested.

You live and work in Brazil. Why did you chose to study Design Thinking at Central Saint Martins?

After quitting my job to become an entrepreneur I decided that I wanted to study a Design Thinking course in one of the “big five” Art and Design institutions in the world.

An advertising professional friend in Brazil recommended Central Saint Martins, so I did my research and enrolled on Paul’s course (Paul Sturrock, tutor). It was such a great experience!

What was your first impression of Central Saint Martins?

In my opinion CSM is more a co-working and collaborative space than a college! And it makes all the difference! It’s modern, very well located, has a great atmosphere, amazing library and very interactive classrooms.

What did you enjoy most about your short course?      

Definitely the global interaction and the “make it happen” spirit that Paul Sturrock instills. Paul is such a great tutor and it was a privilege to be taught by him. He had the ability to teach a cohort made up of a variety of cultures, backgrounds and experiences in business, ensuring we all felt like we were on the “same page”.

João Lopes de Almeida presenting to the class

How has this course benefitted your career or personal development?

Firstly, it changed my view about problems. I remember the first slide of the course. It was an Einstein sentence that changed my life: “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions”.

Secondly, the network.  Good interaction with others on the course was key.  We started as classmates, then we became a team and, for some of us, good friends and advisors for life.

Finally, the book references, articles and most importantly, the sharing of information between the group and the professor! It hasn’t stopped, it just keeps going!

What would you say to someone who is thinking about taking this course?

Go for it!  And most importantly: make it happen!

What is the best thing about studying in London?

The best thing IS London. The city, the people, the pubs, the parties, the arts, the gastronomy, the parks, and the incredible diversity.

Design Thinking for Business Innovation is taught by Paul Sturrock, Associate Lecturer on the MA Innovation, MBA, and MA Arts & Cultural Enterprise courses at Central Saint Martins.   The next course runs from 3rd July to 14th July 2017. Please visit the Central Saint Martins Short Courses website for further details.

For each individual’s personal path a course can offer more than inspiration, allowing for practicing professionals to enhance their skills and indulge in their passions. We spoke to Fashion Designer Cecilia Lourdes González about her journey to, and experience upon, the Fashion and Textile Forecasting short course at Central Saint Martins.

What is your name and where do you come from?

Cecilia Lourdes González. I live in Montevideo, Uruguay.

What is your occupation?

I’m a Fashion Designer, currently working in the international trading business, specifically on undergarments.

Why did you choose the course you studied?

I discovered the course (Fashion and Textile Forecasting) on this blog, through an interview. I was looking for courses filtering by month so I hadn’t seen this one, but when I saw the student’s description it immediately got me.

I got to CSM through winning a fashion competition prize held in my country, called Lumina 8. We had to develop a 10 piece collection and finalise it by showcasing the collection on the runway. It was a great experience where you get to express your personal view on fashion and also because the winners have a chance to earn a place on courses they otherwise wouldn’t probably take, mainly for money and distance issues.

Cecilia Lourdes González winning Lumina 8 competition

What’s integral to the work of an artist?

I actually have an education in fashion and design, not as an art form but as a service, a way of solving problems. But that’s also what I liked about my experience at CSM, getting a fresh view.

There’s a creative flair that you can breathe through the halls. You see it in the students, you can see it on the student’s ad wall, and you even see it in the materials shop or the cafeteria.

What 3 words describe your short course experience at Central Saint Martins?

Diversity. Mind-widening. Surprise.

What did you enjoy most about your course?

So many things!

Certainly that all my classmates had such different backgrounds really enriched our experience. You can see how fashion is perceived through the different continents and at different ages.

How has this course benefitted your career or personal development?

Personally, it gave me a new drive to keep studying. Having graduated a while ago, taking this short course at CSM made me actually want to go back to study, particularly the subject of Trends which the course was about.

Being only a week long, there is so much more to investigate and read about, so I take it as a kick-starter for more to come!

Cecilia Lourdes González -Fashion and Trend Forecasting CSM Short Courses

What would you say to someone who is thinking about taking this course or another short course at CSM?

I would tell them not to think it twice.  I don’t think it actually matters if you’re still a student or if maybe, you’re not really working in fashion, there’s something of value you can take out of a course like this for sure.

The next Fashion and Textile Forecasting course will be running in both July and August. Visit the Central Saint Martins Short Courses website for more information on all of our courses.

Masako Hayashi, 75, from Tokyo, has chosen to study our fine art short courses for two consecutive years running. We chat to Masako about her experience of studying Fine Art Drawing here at Central Saint Martins and why studying here as an international short course student has boosted her confidence and broadened her horizons.

What courses have you studied at Central Saint Martins Short course?

The first year I attended, I studied a weekend course, Life Drawing Master Class – Head, Hands And Feet taught by David Price and the following year I came back for 5 weeks to study Total Drawing with Ilga Leimanis.

Tell us about your experience on Life Drawing Master Class – Head, Hands And Feet.

The course focused on the human body and used skeletons as an aid to drawing. The Tutor, David Price, showed us the anatomy and how it worked and taught us through a series of exercises that included focus on the anatomy and life drawing.

Masako Hayashi – Fine Art Drawing Short Course

Why did you choose Total Drawing as your follow up course?

Because I have enjoyed painting for over 10 years, on and off, however my painting style is close to realism and I am getting tired of this style. I wanted to study drawing to gain a new perspective.  The last short course I took, Life Drawing Master Class, was informative and I really enjoyed it, however it was one style only (anatomical drawing), so I wanted to expand with total drawing to try out many different styles and learn new techniques.

The different ways of drawing and exploring different technique, some of which were new for me was fascinating. The teacher, Ilga Leimanis, asked us to “feel like the object”, which at first was really hard because the first object was a cardboard box! And we were all thinking “how can we feel like a cardboard box?” But in time we came to understand what it meant and now I can draw with feeling. When I go back to Tokyo I cannot wait to paint in abstract now, which is totally different from my usual style (realism).

Total Drawing

Have these courses benefited your personal development?

Yes, I think so, in the sense that my style is already changing and expanding. Every time I post new work on Facebook, friends comment that my style is changing in a positive way – they look forward to seeing more.  Before, I used to only look at shape, but now I look at shape and content and what’s inside the shape.  I’ve also made many friends from all over the world whilst studying on these courses and it’s great to stay in touch via Instagram and share images of our work.

What is the best thing about studying in London?

Most of the museums and exhibitions are free and it’s fantastic that they allow you to sit and draw what is exhibited.

Do you have an artist or designer that inspires you?

I like Gustave Moreau, a French Symbolist painter, and the Japanese artist Gyoshū Hayami who is famed for his portraits of women from 150 years ago. I often draw women’s portraits too.  I like old fashioned Japanese style in watercolours. I usually enjoy painting with watercolour but recently I have started using pastels.

How would you summarise your short course experience at Central Saint Martins?

An eye-opening experience!

The next Total Drawing and Life Drawing Master Class: Heads, Hands And Feet, courses take place in June.  Please visit the Central Saint Martins Short Course website for further details.

Central Saint Martins Short Course Interior Design tutor Pascal Anson is currently on our screens as a mentor on The Big Painting Challenge!

Pascal will be teaching our Interior Design Portfolio course this coming July.  For more information please visit the CSM Short Courses website.

Catch Pascal on your TV screens at 6pm on Sunday’s on BBC1!

The Big Painting Challenge