Climate Change: Designing for a New Reality Pop-up Studio

On Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th October 2015, students from MA in Sustainable Design at Kingston University hosted a pop-up open studio featuring design responses to issues of climate change and sustainability.

Taking the theme ‘Climate Customs’, the students established a mock airport departure lounge complete with goods declaration cards, seized contraband and passports, helping them to discuss the global impacts of climate.

Part of The Culture Capital Exchange’s Inside Out Festival, the students involved responded to a brief set by Helen Storey Foundation (HSF) and Kingston University London (KU), which asked them to encourage the wider public to think about sustainable solutions to the climate challenges we face.

The pop-up studio is one result of the close collaboration between HSF and KU over the past year. Funded via a Creativeworks London Researcher in Residence grant, Dr Robert Knifton established digital design archives related to HSF’s practice and an exhibition and symposium were held at Dorich House Museum in February 2015.

At Dorich House, an early prototype of HSF’s ‘A Dress for our Time’ project on climate change was first displayed. Now, the public engagement methods trialled by KU students at the pop-up studio will be deployed at a major new public installation forthcoming from London College of Fashion, debuting on 26th November 2015, to coincide with the Paris Climate Summit.

Visit www.dress4ourtime.org for more information.
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Picture caption: Kingston students part of Climate Change pop-up open studio at ‘Inside Out Festival 2015’