Emma Friedlander-Collins applies design process and creative thinking to help solve wicked problems such as sustainability issues around what we wear. Her tools include crochet hacking, remaking and sharing tutorials via Instagram which she juggles alongside lecturing, writing books, teaching two small children and nurturing a tiny backyard ecosystem during lockdown.
Based at Brighton in the United Kingdom, Emma used a design process to adapt their family living space, moving two boys into one room and converting other room into a tiny office and studio by painting the walls white. Emma’s used to working around the children, always adapting her work to the needs of the family.
“I did a Masters’ degree in sustainable design and learned how we can use design as a problem-solving tool. To apply creative thinking process to wicked problems, such as sustainability and what’s going on with our planet. Using this visual process, I teach a fashion communication course and talk a lot about changing how we think about fashion. I use my Instagram feed consciously to make sustainability look gorgeous – rather than how we expect it to look which is green, grainy, earthy and wholesome. That’s the traditional visual narrative but I want to make it cool, using an authentic voice.”
Emma says it has been really transformative to see how we have connected with each other all of a sudden during the lockdown. “We’ve gone from disparate busy lives to slow-paced connected lives and I would love for that to stay here. I hope we keep the beautiful change allowing for nature to come back into the world as we have stopped driving and flying, and found other ways of communicating by phone instead of gallivanting so much. I hope we remember the real positives coming out of this and hold on to them – including the ability to change our clothes as we grow and evolve.”
Listen to Jane Milburn’s conversation with Emma in the video below, read notes below the video, or find out more about Emma on her blog or on Instagram @steelandstitch
What Emma Friedlander-Collins said:
We are quite lucky really, having a house and a small garden, and the beautiful spring weather arrived when lockdown began. We live on the outskirts near woodlands, where we can go every day. It has been a genuinely lovely experience defined by the change of seasons, watching bluebells, azalea and rhododendrons. A gift really, although some are struggling. Our children, aged 12 and 9, have shown an incredible attitude to learning, working independently, while home schooling and lots of kids craft. It is a gift to see them be those people, as usually they’re at school.
I’m still lecturing, working and teaching, which can be a bit of an exhausting juggling act. Went freelance about five years ago in crochet design. I write books. I had done the photography (for next book) before lockdown and am doing editing remotely and can write patterns here. The creative opportunity of this time is in incubating new ideas. I lecture a few days a week, do academic thing in my head, and other days I play and explore.
I used to be an urban planner in transport – encouraging cycling and walking – it was challenging. So I did a Masters’ degree in sustainable design and learned how we can use design as a problem-solving tool. To apply creative thinking process to wicked problems, such as sustainability and what’s going on with our planet. Using this visual process, I teach a fashion communication course and talk a lot about changing how we think about fashion. I use my designer’s brain, to think and communicate about things that are important. I use my Instagram feed consciously to make sustainability look gorgeous – rather than how we expect it to look which is green, grainy, earthy and wholesome. That’s the traditional visual narrative but I want to make it cool, using an authentic voice.
I love making and like to show how I’m learning, and engage people in that process through little photos because that platform (Instagram) enables me to do that. It’s all part of my work. What I teach is how to use platforms like that and share a narrative about sustainability. I chose upcycling and clothes to focus on – it is important thing to address because of the global impact. I’m not going to buy anything new – and the opportunity is to use what I have around me to create something new. That is the design process and using our designer’s brain to consider all the amazing ways in the middle before we can come to this bit at the end (waste to landfill).
We had to adapt and redesign our living space under lock down. The first week was frustrating until we reorganized – moved two boys into one room and converted this room into a tiny office and studio by painting the walls white. We used a design process to solve a problem, it doesn’t have to last it’s just for now. I am used to working around the children – that’s why I took the crochet design route – always adapting my work to the needs of the family.
I used to go to charity shops to pick up bits and pieces for craft, but haven’t been able to do that under lockdown. So I put a post on facebook to friends and family, asking if anyone had clothes they were clearing out then bring them to me while they can’t take somewhere else and I will upcycle/play with them. I am very grateful for them, but every person has brought around at least three bin bags, and always there have been things that have tags on them. That have never been worn. It has shocked me, how much stuff each one of us buys and hoards and doesn’t even use, before we are ready to dump it somewhere else. Even for me, I am conscious of consumption and still have a lot of stuff and we’re living with it now in a confined space. We need to think more about how and why we buy.
On the plus side, I’ve chatted with one of these lovely people about how we can change the clothes and give them, do a little tutorial so they can do it again if they want. My neighbour had jeans with ‘’designer-holes’’ down both legs which had been ripped and she was going to toss them – I sashiko patched them up and gave them back. So there’s a nourishing, neighbourly thing that has happened as well.
The only rule we have is that everyone is up and dressed by nine. I work before then. We stop by 11 am and go for a walk and lunch. They run feral for a little bit – that is when screens happen which were forbidden before. In evenings we watch a film together.
I make something for me every day, so I have been making ‘’slower makes’’. I have started a blanket and am enjoying the process of making something that takes a long time. I’ve started knitting. We have a tiny garden, with a pear and an almond tree and a teeny pond. A hedgehog (endangered species) has moved in as we’ve nurtured this tiny space into an ecosystem over three years – the hedgehog is now eating the slugs, so we are at point where we can be growing food again.
Tips: Let yourself have a bad day. Some days are amazing and some days we miss everyone. Find opportunities in the slow pace. Find joy in tiny things to enrich what you do. Be mindful, create colour palettes. And binge on Netflix.
Changes: The optimist in me wants to think we are all going to change our attitudes and stick with this lovely local thing that is emerging. Local and domestic is an important part of the sustainability conversation, and I would love to see that carry on. It has been really transformative to see how we have connected with each other all of a sudden. Gone from disparate busy lives to slow-paced connected lives and I would love for that to stay here. I hope we keep the beautiful change allowing for nature to come back into the world as we have stopped driving and flying, and found other ways of communicating by phone instead of gallivanting so much. I hope we remember the real positives coming out of this and hold on to them – including the ability to change our clothes as we grow and evolve.