James

Howdy all
Thought I'd take a minute to briefly introduce myself here, as I was so impressed with Kristin's entry a few days back. It really reinforced for me how this project is all about telling the stories behind the products, and not just being a 'loppis'. The more we know about each other, on a personal level, the more we grow as a group. And the more we grow as a group...well that's how we start a revolution! :)

I'm turning 35 next month. I keep telling everyone that I look more like George Clooney every year, but the common vote seems to be a slightly-greying Fred Flintstone. Oh well.

I'm from Vancouver, Canada originally, and have been in Sweden for almost 9 years now. So yes I understand Swedish just fine ;) My spelling is hideous, so I really just keep it as a party trick for friends. Ha ha. But naturally respond to my posts in Swedish!!

I just graduated MFA from HDK this past spring, from their industrial design masters program, and for 6 years I have been running Black Badger Advanced Composites. A company I started because of my experience with carbon fiber stuff, but I have since shifted focus towards contemporary jewelry design. Quite a shift!

I wanted to write this introduction partially so Kristin would see that it wasn't just her who felt sooooo burned out and rejected by her experience. Been there as well myself. I came to Sweden in 2002 after being accepted at Ingvar Kamprad DesignCentrum at Lund University. All was great and dandy, and after a full year and a half of studying there, I was told that the program wasn't set up to allow foreign students to actually graduate, and would I kindly leave without making trouble. Awesome. Moved to Europe totally on my own, and after making a nice little life for myself, I was being discarded. Discarded because keeping me around would have been...i don't know - extra paperwork for someone?

This happened just a month or so before a large portion of my class was going to the Johnson Space Center in Texas -we're talking NASA here people- for a 4 week intership and project. I was told that I would not be joining, and was literally removed from the program mid-term and dropped into SFI classes at Komvux. I was already learning Swedish just fine, as I had met my wife-to-be about 6 months after moving here. Keep in mind that the entire design program in Lund was in english, in fact the head professor was german, and didnt know a single word of swedish, so we didnt even have the option to present or write in swedish.

I think what really smoked my bacon (canadian expression) was that Lund had removed my purpose. Without the design education that I had uprooted my entire life and come here specifically for, I had no purpose. Even a dog wants a ball to chase or a stick to chew on, and watch how quickly they sink when you deny them of that. It's just who we are.

That same mentality is what I see happening around here, to many of my dearest friends. The industry here can't support us, and to be honest doesnt seem to want us or need us. So if you will excuse the language here, I say #&%* them, and let's kickstart our own industry. We have all the skills that we need here, among this fantastic new community. We all feel dissapointed and rejected, and this group is what we have collectively desired. It gives us a common voice, and allows us to recreate our own sense of purpose.

I moved to Göteborg in 2008 for the masters program at HDK, and I instantly felt there was something special with this city.

From my own experience at HDK design, it seems that the only ones who actually get hired, are those that work in car design. Not even car design, but car styling. Amazing sketches of cars that we don't even really need. Shame that car design is such a staple industry here in GBG, but I think what we need to do with this Designkollgorna is to show these heavyweights that we have what they need.


They just might not know it yet.

That's where we come into the picture.

//J