Inspiring slow practices in many disciplines, the Slow Food Movement was born out of the infiltration of fast food in Italy in the late ’80′s.  With Carlo Petrini at the head, the planned opening of a McDonalds “restaurant” in Rome was met in protest, famously, by a group throwing pasta from the Spanish Steps.  And cheers to that! Can you imagine a world full of fast food, globalized chains?  That is the way the world was headed (and still is to an extent), but there is great light at the end of the fast tunnel.

Slow Food believes that ‘everyone has a fundamental right to the pleasure of good food and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible’. In this time of modernization and globalization we are losing touch with food production; what is being produced, where, how and by whom.  Slow Food is reacting to this, encouraging and motivation producers and consumers to come closer together, with food.

With the mission of 
Slow Food being an ‘international grassroots membership organization promoting good, clean and fair food for all’, it has now grown to 100,000 members in 153 countries.

It is about tradition, heritage, local, craftsmanship, artisan, community, culture, diversity, co-producers, quality, appreciation, support, knowledge, education, value, taste, pleasure…all of which are being threatened by our fast production and consumption of food.

I encourage you to find out more about Slow Food and get connected by going to the website here, and find out what is happening near you here.  Food is one of our most important basic human needs and on the website this fact is explored and honoured.

In this section we will be exploring slow food, be it sharing recipes, restaurants that are flying the slow flag or farmers markets stocking the best in season.  Please share your insights and experiences too as we rediscover the joys of food, produce, and eating, tasting our way towards slow.

Bon Appetite!

There are many great knowledgeable and informative books about sustainability, design and such, but there are  not many books which captures the stories, the life and practice of sustainable living / design.  Most of those that I had happened to come across were written for children, Milli Jack and the dancing cat is one of them. This is a lovely Australian children book  that was written and illustrated by Stephen Michael King.

This is a story about being different, friendship, sharing skills to gain others, creativity and from our point of view about design . Milli the main character “could take a thing that was a nothing and turn it into a something. She could find any old forgotten this or that, give it a bit of a wiggle, and transform it into something amazing”.

Enjoy

Gilo

Images: Stephen Michael Kink, Milli Jack and the Dancing Cat, (Allen & Unwin AU,2003). ISBN 1-86508-748-3

We started the trip with a flight down to Melbourne, I know not very sustainable, but I did offset and then to the Elephant Backpackers right in front of Flinders St Station. I recommend making this a starting point, it’s so easy to get around from here. Over the next two days we didn’t stop! We walked through a multitude of laneways, sat at cafe’s, stood in awe at the architecture and listned to local bands, and all the slow way. It’s amazing what you can discover about a city when you truly take the time to slow down and walk her streets and lanes, instead of flying past in a car.

The tram system which is in my opinion one of the jewels of Melbourne’s infrastructure and very useful, but in truth we only used it to get to locations that were to far to walk, such as the Queen Victoria Markets on Saturday morning (we walked back through the lanes and arcades) and the St Kilda on Sunday (waaaay too far to walk). Along these street as lanes we discovered hidden treasures from the past, local art which truly transcends the common definition of graffiti, and wonderful cafe’s and food stalls.

Melbournites truly know how to stop and take in the moment, on our walking trip back from the markets we passed through many streets and lanes, throughout the city we saw local musicians playing on the streets with large audiences in rapt attention. One such experience was upon leaving the GPO, were the local band Bonjah shown below was filling the city streets with their sweet sounds.

The rest of the day was spent exploring  The Block Arcade, The Royal Arcade and Centre Place. We entered into boutiques, The Spellbox with it’s Harry Potter style interior, Cacao chocolate boutique and Mag Nation with its floor to ceiling magazines and cheap coffee.All this brought us up to 5pm and our early dinner.

The Tram Restaurant was a beutiful experience, a trip to the past with it’s glamourous interior, wonderful food and service. It took us all the way to St Kilda and down the esplanade and back to the city over a three hour, three course dinner with some of the best local wines. The Tram starts and ends across the street from the Crown casino, which was our logical end to the day with a walk through the casino, and a viewing of the famouse fire display along the yarra, where the casino towers spout a timed fire display on the hour every hour.

We walked along the Yarra with what seemed like half the city, admiringthe city lights, the gondola on the river, the buskers on the paths and bridges and the general sense of being in a city that knows how to live.

Welcome to the Live section of abitslow. This section is all about how slow design affects or can affect our built environment, essentially the places in which we live, be they during work, recreation or where we call home.

There are two branches which we will be exploring in this section pertaining to the exterior and interior of these Spaces. Architecture and Interior design come together in every space we enter and move through, it is a balance which (when done well) guides you seamlessly from the outside world to the inside and connects the spaces in a way that expresses something about the location, the surrounding environment and the person or people the space was designed for.

Slow design is about “designing for people first”; it is local, responsible, sustainable and mindful. Imagine what could be possible if we applied these principles to the places we live. Homes that complement their families instead of the commercial “one size fits all”, offices that cater to employees’ needs and comforts creating employee loyalty. These and other topics are what we will try to tackle in this section, we hope you enjoy it, add to it, comment and let your voices be heard.

Architecture.

There are few principles which underline the meaning and practice of slow architecture. I’m Gilo and I will be bringing examples from the wider architecture discipline which express the principals of slow architecture through their design premise and their impact on the environment it is situated in and the people who inhabit these spaces, together with my own exploration and projects.

In general the term Slow Architecture can be regarded as building a building slowly and gradually as opposed to building it all at once. It is about looking at non-traditional models to construct a building which can also be cost effective. Similar to regional architecture Slow Architecture also places emphasis on the relationship between the built form and the context of its surrounding environment and society as means to value cultural and historical characteristics as well. Le terme di Vals’, a spa resort facility designed by Peter Zumthor, Antonio Gaudi’s ‘Sagrada Familia’ and Fumihiko Maki’s ‘Hillside Terrace’ meticulously planned over three decades are only a few examples of the manifestation of slow architecture. In the current climate and with future concerns of creating a more sustainable future Slow Architecture and more specific the slow home movements put much concern in creating spaces which are efficiently used, energy-efficient, attractive, that harmonize with the surrounding area, and create a smaller carbon footprint hence a movement away from size, and a movement toward quality and durability.

Interiors.

Hi! I’m Michelle, and as Gilo mentions above, the slow home movement is one leading branch of Slow Architecture/Design. I will be exploring not only the slow home movement which brings a more customized and considered approach to residential design, but also commercial, corporate and public spatial design. While not entirely sustainable focused, the Google office design is an example of a slow response to interiors, it is about the workers, about stimulating interest, creativity and it is user focused creating loyalty. By creating comfortable, tailored spaces we have a chance to increase staff comfort, job satisfaction and productivity as by-products of considered design. Other design firms such as Project H Design in America are trying to think outside the box and create flexible spaces which engage with the now “linked” generation. Children now grow up in a world of instant response mechanisms that react and interact with them instantaneously, how are they to respond to stagnant, non-responsive learning environments and curriculum? Design must adapt, and Slow Designs’ culture of user centred solutions is the key to unlocking spaces that add to the human experience in a more personal and effective manner. I believe the future is an amalgamation of people-driven design, environmentally responsible practice and socially/economically sustainable initiatives, to create truly “slow” quality environments for future generations to enjoy.

In summary, the architects and designers creating slow spaces are unlike their contemporaries, with artificial catalogue style houses with no sense of place or sense of belonging. They use unique and natural materials if possible both for structures and interiors.  John Brown, the founder of Slow Home Studio explains that: “The difference between a fast house and a Slow Home is not defined by style, size, age, type or cost but by the quality of the underlying design. It’s about the fundamental organisational decisions that define how well the house responds to its context, how efficiently the rooms are organised together, and how effectively each individual space functions. In a fast house, this underlying design is flawed. In a Slow Home the underlying design is logical, effective and helps to make our lives easier while reducing our environmental impact.”

What more could we ask of a human habitat.

- Mich & Gilo

images – http://johnthrasher.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/google-office-are-neat/ | http://www.oneworkplace.com/ourclients/portfolio/google/portfolio google 7.html |

Below are some examples of ways to Buy a bit slow:

Handmade and hand-crafted objects

Made for re-use and have an intended afterlife

Repairable products/products with replaceable parts (eg. electrical products which can be repaired instead of thrown out)

Use good quality materials/Indented to be long lasting

Made of  re-used or re-invented materials (eg. recycled paper or truck tarp used to make bags, see Freitag bags below)

Made using sustainable or slow production methods. (eg. woodworking, metal craft)

Local products (products made from locally sourced materials or using local production methods)

One-off unique products, made in low batch numbers

Made-to-order products

DIY products (flat packed items which can be home assembled, customised, mended, user friendly part replacement    etc.)

freitag truck tarp bags

I too shall be sharing with you my

endeavours to slow down production methods

in my own work as a Product designer.

Would love to answer any of your questions,

try your suggestions or read about your own

slow/sustainable projects.

Best

Sab

Whilst the industry and us as consumers have limited “slow” choices, there are many options and opportunities emerging.  In this space we will be discovering what is already out there in terms of producers and designers.  As consumers we should aspire to be as informed as possible, think about a purchase, and consider it’s life span.

Here are just a few examples of slow fashion – which you might already be engaging in without knowing! –

garments made with sustainable processes and materials (eg organic cotton and hemp) and ethically produced (eg fair-trade)

designed with a longer shelf life (eg investment pieces from quality makers and fabrics)

traditional artisan and craftsmanship – particularly in textiles and tailoring

diy – such as mending, darning, altering, customising, knitting, adding a personal touch to your wears

buying second-hand, vintage or receiving “hand-me-downs” – giving a article of clothing an extending life

designers using local products, manufacturers and producers, small scale productions, reducing carbon foot print and supporting local industry

diversity as opposed to “McFashion”; slow fashion allows for consumers to have a real choice, rather than purchasing generic chain store “fashion”

above all slow fashion is a practice to reinvoke a greater relationship of value of fashion

On a personal note, I will be documenting my progress as a slow fashion and textile designer, entering in to a changing face of fashion.

We look forward to hear about your Slow Fashion adventures, discoveries and suggestions.

Warm (slow) Regards,

Jess

(image left – Dutch designers Viktor and Rolfs’ bold protest to the speed of the current fashion industry) Image courtesy of style.com

(featured image http://www.canadatop.com/uploads/knitting_649.jpg)

The magazine titled “Slow” has a beautiful tag line “For those who think life’s too fast”

“Slow is a quarterly, low-gear lifestyle and culture magazine. It covers the arts, style, slow food, wine, slow travel and anything else under the sun, as long as it’s interesting and traveling at a leisurely pace.”

Check it out!

via slow magazine.

Welcome to a bit slow! We are a bunch of interdisciplinary designers located in the land of oz (down under) deciding to stimulate debate around the concept of ‘slow design’.

What is slow design? Well its a movement that started in the kitchen- have you heard of slow food? well now thats basically taking over other areas, such as design- thats where we come in.

Slow design is all about pulling back on the reins and taking time to do things well, do them responsibly and do them in a way that allows the designer, the artisan and the end user to derive pleasure from it.