Local Wisdom
An International Research Project Exploring the ‘Craft of Use’
Local Wisdom is a project originated by Dr Kate Fletcher, Reader in Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion. Started in 2009, Local Wisdom is now generously funded by The Leverhulme Trust.
The project, which links together a network of partners and design activity in seven centres of high fashion consumption spread across three continents, explores satisfying and resourceful practices associated with using clothes. This ‘craft of use’ aims to challenge the dependency of the fashion industry on increasing material throughput and propose solutions through sustained attention to tending and using garments and not just creating them.
Local Wisdom combines ethnographic research methods with design process. It gathers stories and images from the public of how people use their clothes at community photo shoots. These use practices are then the basis and inspiration for design projects in the UK, USA, Canada, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand which aim to amplify these practices and explore their integration into larger programmes or original business models. A selection of photos from community shoots are below. Read the stories behind them at Local Wisdom and visit Kate Fletcher’s website.
You can also follow the project on facebook and twitter.
