The Gleaning Studio: A space for redirection and reflection

Abstract

There is a difficult challenge for design practitioners when establishing ways of applying Fry’s (2009) strategy of redirection.  Redirection is complex and multifaceted and requires an expansive view of the requirements for future sustainment alongside ways of interpreting these understandings within design process.  When redirection demands so much of practitioners, the task can seem insurmountable and a starting point difficult to find.

Within this article, I suggest that reflective practice can aid in this pursuit, and through my own practice-based research, offer insights when applying reflective techniques to assist my own redirection.

This relational thinking generated the development of an experimental studio structure, situated within my existing fashion design practice.  This expanded situation serves to cultivate my bases of knowledge and knowing, and is influential in achieving the objectives of redirection.

The research findings suggest the emergence of a potential template for executing redirective practice.  Could fashion design in the future be practiced in this way?