via www.ifixit.com

My phone is dying. The requiem has begun and I don’t know what to do.

In this modern age of technology we become terribly attached to our gadgets, my phone has seen me through almost 4 years of my life that’s longer than most relationships i’ve been in). Most people would say it’s done a good innings, but when did we take this stance? When did anything over three years become a really good lifespan for a product? It seems sad to think that my HTC that has kept me in touch with family and friends around the world when I moved to NZ and has helped me explore the creation of my own business, and begin a new career will soon become another piece of landfill. Now you may be saying – “What a drama queen, it’s just a phone” , but I know that one phone when added to all the landfill that ends up around the place adds to a major problem of modern society, so what do we do?

Enter iFixit, this brilliant website offers you guides on how to pull apart your gadgets and fix them so that they can have a second life, you can save some dosh and we can all keep products out of landfill for that little bit long

This great organization has recently held an event called permission to play where children were encouraged to ‘tinker’, to play and open gadgets up and give fixing them a go. Once upon a time we did not fear opening our machines, garage workshops were the norm and children pulling old things apart was not unusual, at some point society seems to have developed a fear of technology and a prevailing belief that it is ‘beyond’ our understanding. Bring on the tinkering I say and let us re-establish an atmosphere of curiosity and help keep landfill from clogging up our beautiful planet.

explore and go slowly,

Mich xxx

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Dear Readers I would like to offer you an exclusive invite you to a workshop I will personally be running while I am in Sydney this month.

The workshop is titled: “Your Toolkit for Sustainable Consumption“. I am conducting this workshop as a part of the research for my Masters thesis project which I am doing at a Bauhaus based University in Germany. This research will help me to determine how your local councils can work together with you, the residents to make more sustainable future communities.

There will be food and drinks provided so I hope you will join me in being a part of the change for a better and more sustainable future.

If you are interested please contact me on sab@abitslow.com, there is a limit of 10 people so be fast!

-Sab

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Hey guys! If you’re in or around Berlin this Friday the 22nd of February be sure to stop by the PECHA KUCHA event in Dessau (1hr30 from Berlin-Hbf). It will be held at the Vor Ort Haus. Time for waffles, wine and standing ovations: in other words – it’s Pecha Kucha Time!

INFO:
Doors open: 19:00 – Start: 20:20
Entrance free!

The first official Pecha Kucha Night #1 in the Bauhaus city of Dessau will take place on Friday 22nd of February at VorOrt-Laden.

I will be speaking about the A Bit SLow Story along with many other awesome people, with great stories, ideas and lots of inspiration – all in one format: 20 slides X 20 seconds!
Our breaks will be filled with waffles, drinks, music and inspirational conversations.
Pass by and please spread the word!

20×20 shared by:

Kompetenzzentrum Kultur- & Kreativwirtschaft _ Katja Großer – Leipzig (Germany) ////// Collagelab _ Joanne Pouzenc, Philine Schneider – Berlin (France/Germany) ////// A Bit Slow _ Sabina Popin – Sydney (Australia/Germany) ////// KulturAnker e.V. _ Dr. Karsten Steinmetz and Alexander Biess – Magdeburg (Germany) ////// JulicaDesign _ Julia Kaupitwa, Carolin Malur – Halle (Saale) (Germany) ////// Galerie Module _ Verena Andreas, Torsten Rommel – Dresden (Germany) ////// Exchange Semester Adventures in the USA _ Linda Merkel, Kevin Bergt – Dessau (Germany) ////// Franfrantou _ Aurélie Moigno – Berlin (France/Germany) ////// Postkult e.V. _ Doreen Müller – Halle (Saale) (Germany) ////// Pecha Kucha Night Dessau _ Christian Treffler, Edgar Khandzratyan – Dessau/Leipzig/Berlin (Germany/Armenia)

hope to see you there!

- sab

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Since moving to Berlin in mid October I’ve been keeping myself busy discovering the city. One of the great opportunities I’ve had since I’ve been here is the chance to work with French artist Aurélie Moigno, the incredibly talented founder of fashion and home accessories brand Franfrantou. I will keep you up to date with some of our projects and work in progress but for now let me introduce FRANFRANTOU!

Founded in Belrin, Franfrantou is a home and fashion accessories brand entirely dedicated to creating and or sourcing beautifully handcrafted pieces or ethical luxury. The brand is a reflection of Aurélie’s passion for slow and sustainable fashion which is evident in the incredibly intricate detail of her work. Each of the unique pieces is made with carefully selected and up-cycled materials, everything is used with minimal waste. The beautifully finished pieces are testament to the dedication, love and care which goes into making them and gives you a tangible connection to their maker.

Franfrantou follows the sustainable motto ” Re-cycle, Re-use, Re-invent”and the name means “for real” in Mauritian creole.

Not only is Franfrantou dedicated to creating unique objects, it also supports the work of emerging artists and local designers, as well as tracking down superb unique pieces to accent an outfit or home in the most meaningful way. Each section of the shop is thus curated to guarantee their goods are either hand-made and/or upcycled.

It is people like Aurélie Moigno and brands like FRANFRANTOU which really give me hope that is is possible to live slowly and beautifully and still engage in an ethical Lifestyle.

So if you’re looking for some last minute Christmas gift ideas, see below and be sure to check out the online shop: franfrantou.com

FranFrantou was officially launched last week and to celebrate the launch they have a competition you can enter to win some great prizes. Check it out here: FRANFRANTOU Launch.

Live slow and Happy Holidays! I’ll be home for Christmas this year, see you there!

- Sab

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You can make whatever you like from the clay but since it’s Christmas time I decided to use mine ot make little holiday figurines for gifts and decoration, or even for a smurf nativity set .To make my smurf snowman, you will need:your homemade clay in blue
some eyelets,
string or wool
dacron
something to use as a base (i’m using a bar coaster)
some white card paper
wire
a nailMake 2 balls one smaller one larger, then place the smaller ball on top of the large one. Stick the eyelets in for the eyes and bake in the oven on a medium heat until the cooked. Take the snowman out of the oven then tie 3 pieces of string or wool together (I braided mine) around his neck. Make a small cone from the card and stick into the head of the snowman with a bit of wire. Put the nail in for the nose. The snowman is ready to be displayed. Place the snowman with dacron on top of the base.

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The tree itself is pretty straight forward, you can mark the shape and arrange the lights to resemble a pine tree. For the top of the tree you can be as creative as you wish, I bought the star at a thrift store.

The branches below, again pretty straight forward. Collect some branches from your yard or a park, as many as you like. Make sure they are dry then spray paint them in silver or white, you can also customise them with glitter. You can tie the branches together at the base and hang decorations on them.

In total the tree cost me around 7euro, which is 8.70AUD, and took me 30 mins to complete.

Below are some of my inspirations. Source: apartmenttherapy.com

So if you’re on a budget, get creative, go slowly and do some DIY this christmas!!

Holiday Greetings,

- Sab (in Berlin)

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I’m not usually one to promote specific businesses on here, mainly because I like to think that we’re quite independent  just a group of slow guys and gals that pick up hints and facts along the way and share them with you all. However I’v recently been on the hunt for some responsibly manufactured fabrics for some Christmas pressies I’m working on and found two things of great interest.

Interesting company No. 1

Kate Sylvester

Fashion designer extraordinaire in NZ is a company that not only boasts 95% NZ made products (trust me this is super rare in fashion’s chinese produced mass market) but has taken further steps to become environmentally conscious. You can read the whole story for yourself here I recommend reading it, not as a promotion for this label (which i quite like) but as an idea of all the things to consider when thinking about reducing the impact of any business, from the cleaning products, to how you treat your e-waste and used cartridges, to the suppliers you use, and the importance of asking the hard questions of the brands you work with.

More coming on interesting company no.2 soon

Go slowly, Live well

Mich.

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“The economics of nature is all about extravagance and giving. If anything or anyplace is cut off from this flow, it will cease to grow and thrive. At the same time, everything and everyplace must have enough distinction from the world around it to have it’s own soul, life-force energy, and distinctive gifts to give. In nature, as well as in the built environment, health and wholeness can be achieved when there is a balance of enclosure (distinction) and permeability (exchange)”.
—Tom Bender, architect & author

There has been a monumental shift in how people are thinking about and re-imagining how they live, and how they want  their homes and neighbourhoods should be. Pocket Neighbourhoods is relatively a new term introduced by the American architect Ross Chapin describing unique housing settings within existing neighbourhoods, a neighbourhood within neighbourhood.

“The fundamental unit of organisation within the neighbourhood is the cluster of a dozen houses”. —Christopher Alexander

Inspired by Christopher Alexander’s  pattern language and the Cohousing  design concept, Ross and his Cottage Company are  developing a well designed Pocket Neighbourhoods  which are arranged as clusters of about twelve dwellings around a car free common courtyard or green space and other design features which encourage moderate social interactions as an attempt to put people together while also providing  a safe place for children to play, and residents to share. In short a neighbourhood within a neighbourhood.

Unlike Cohousing where social interaction and residents involvement in the pre and post establishment is of essential, or the traditional suburban anti social detached house, the pocket neighbourhood’s concept provides more mainstream alternative  for sustainable neighbourhoods. Similar to Cohousing, the small scale neighbourhood allows all neighbours to know each other and provide support  when needed. Beyond owning their own houses the residents also have a share in the common area, and in a more dense urban site Pocket Neighbourhood can occur in a building where a common room/ apartment may be used for the community to share.

A great example for an Australian pocket neighbourhood is Christie walk in Adelaide designed by Paul Downton of Ecopolis.

“The project consists of 27 dwellings which include linked four three-storey townhouses with full solar orientation, a three storey block of six apartments with east-west orientation, four individual cottages, and a 5 storey apartment block facing onto Sturt Street, with a community room/ kitchen/dining/meeting room/ library, and toilets on the ground floor. Around 40 people live at Christie Walk, ranging in age from very young to over 80 with a strong ethos of  ’community’ which has developed over the past ten years”.

“There is a tremendous sense of ownership and understanding about the designs that both reflects and reinforces the community basis of the development approach. People have been able to purchase much more than just a house in the city”. Paul Downton

Cheers

Gilo

Links

http://pocket-neighborhoods.net/

http://www.urbanecology.org.au/

Book-  Pocket Neighbourhoods: creating small scale community in a large scale world.  by  Ross Chapin, 

KAID BENFIELD,  JAN 03, 2012, ‘Pocket Neighborhoods’ For Sustainable Suburbs;  http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/01/pocket-neighborhoods-suburbs-sustainable/864/

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Spring is finally here and if you haven’t started planting yet, well it’s not too late.

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of working in the garden, too much weeds, dirt and crawling things among others.  In recent years with my growing interest in the important role of urban farming and my explorations of  integration of architecture and agriculture, and I got acquaintance with the no dig garden concept.

If you are like me, want to grow some veggies but don’t want to work too hard or don’t have the garden space, container garden is just the thing  for you.You can use; planters, recycled Styrofoam container [ you can find it in every veggie shop], shopping bags, basically anything that has the capacity to grow plants is fine.

So where to start? All you need is a container about 30cm deep, “veggie mix” soil ( or any other organic soil ), sugar cane mulch (some mulch leach some matter that can poison you veg, so make sure to research the type of mulch you’re using), seed / seedlings ( organic ), herbs, spices, peas, beans, tomatoes, beetroot, leek, kale and lettuce will grow great in a the box, seaweed fertilizers, water and some newspaper.

Steps:

Lay out the newspaper at the bottom to block the holes in the container.

Fill in with soil up to about 3 cm’ from the top.

Put in seeds about 2-3 cm deep, If you have plants make deeper holes spaced about 10cm or more depends on the type of growth, then water the soil.

Fertilise, usually 1:10 in portion, hence 10ml’ of fertilizer for a litre of water, spray generously on the plants to ease the shock of a new place:)

Mulch.

In the first two days keep it a shaded area, then put it in your sunniest spot North facing side would be ideally , just make sure that the planters are not too exposed to the harsh afternoon western sun [ unless you grow sun/ warmth loving plants like capsicum citrus tree or tomatoes). Water every 2-3 days, you can check if the soil under the mulch is moist and not too dry, crumbly or dripping wet. If the mulch starts to disappear, be digested by the soil just replace it. Compost your food waste through compost bin, worm farm or Bokashi will provide extra soil and fertiliser to your planter.

And If you can, try to share the making and the produce with your neighbours and friends.

Take it slow and enjoy the process.

Cheers

Gilo Holtzman

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The 18^th Biennale of Sydney opened this Wednesday 27^thJune with the theme of All Our Relations directed by Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster, featuring some works that ask for your time, and it’s well worth giving it.  I have had the opportunity to see works at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia (MCA) and half of Cockatoo Island so far and there were 3 works that stood out as slow art, asking for participation and moreover, your time.

First up is Lee Mingwei’s The Mending Project at the MCA in Circular Quay.  I was fortunate enough to hear Mingwei talk about his practice at an informal talk and was blown away by his engagement with community and Zen practice of the everyday being brought in to artwork.  His works are so beautifully executed, using simple ideas creating such emotionally charged works.

The Mending Project is simply asks visitors to bring an article of clothing that needs mending.  You sit with either the artist or trained volunteers while they mend your piece.  Spools of thread are dotted on the gallery walls, one is selected, then sewn together with other bright threads to restore the garment.  This thread from the wall stays attached to your garment until the final week of the Biennale in September (see image above of artist with wall of threads).  What is key to the work is the time and interaction during the mending.  The artist spoke of his interest in working with people, which prevails throughout his practice, and features in this work.

What I find fascinating is the idea of getting visitors to take the time to sit with the work.  Skills such as darning, mending and sewing at large are being lost, sidelined due to the lack of time in our “busy” lives and the cheap plethora of new garments (and basically all products).  This project shows us that the engagement with the garment and other people has meaningful benefits we should make time for in our lives.

The artist will be at the MCA for another week and I highly recommend you set aside time to come meet him for this unique, yet simple, experience.

Erin Manning’s piece, Slow Clothes – Stitching Time, on Cockatoo Island overlaps with Mingwei in her interest of time and participation.  Set high up on the island her work spreads across a huge space, creating environments and purposely orientates one on a non-linear pathway.  Central to her work (both spatially and conceptually) is the table where she invites people to sit and sew.  She has cut individual unique shapes of exquisite fabric to be hand sewn with magnets and buttons.  To lure people in to lending their time to the work she offers tea, a simple tender that immediately invokes the idea of relaxation and “time-out”.  Encircling the table are basket-like hangings filled with fabric pieces previously sewn by the artist and previous participants.  On average each piece has had 4 hours of work put in to it, with Manning’s interest in bringing haute couture to the masses.  Visitors are invited to drape and modulate the pieces to form their own garment.

Manning has no prescription or expectation, having greater interest in seeing how people will respond to the work, sewing, playing with the pieces and interacting in the space.  The artist is in the space with a team of helpers welcoming and guiding you through, all very open for dialogue, I encourage you to visit.

Lastly is The Scar Project by Nadia Myre, who again invites visitors to participate and contribute their time and work.  She provides canvases and sewing equipment for people to “sew their wounds”, a selection mounted on the wall accompanied by quite raw and emotional explanations of what they have produced.

Two other highlights from what I saw on Cockatoo Island were Philip Beesley’s Hylozoic Series (detail below left), a fanciful interactive world that is just mind-blowing, and Ricardo Lanzarini’s incredible illustrated installation piece ¿Y qué ves en tu pared? (excerpt from the novel “Fin de partie”, Samuel Beckett, 1957) (detail below right) – I did not want to leave without seeing every little character.

The Biennale is on until the September 16, but make the most of the time the artists are here – see calendar of talks and events here, and remember the emphasis is on time…

In slowness,

Jess

Image Credits -

Biennale Banner - http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2012/06/27/artspublish/2348914283.html

Photo of Mingwei - http://www.mca.com.au/media/uploads/images/Mingwei_MCA_700x700.jpg photography Anita Ken

All other images by me

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