Sun 18th March: CSM Jewellery - Neutopia

Since going to the new Central St Martins campus for the opening in November, I made a second trip back on Friday night for the 1st Jewellery Runway Show at the Granary Building. The 2nd year BA students worked on a project named "Neutopia" using sustainable materials to create large scale accessories rather than their usual smaller fine jewellery pieces. With Naomi Filmer and Hannah Martin as guest tutors, the course couldn't be in better hands for inspiration and mentorship. Each of the 39 students had designed a unique piece with no visible cross pollination or two visions appearing the same which made for a fascinating run of looks. Being an accessories designer who shows in this way myself, I know its not an easy task - the battle of dressing the body as a neutral backdrop to the focal sculptural adornment.

I went backstage after the show to get some more detailed shots which you can see here -

1) Go Un Lee's architectural threaded spiral, partially covering the face like African tribal masks.

2) Toto Dian Luo's densely looped backpack based on a bundle of fire wood

3) Xue Dong's collage collar of rolled paper tubes layered like a honeycomb

4) Rachel Trattle's wire structure formed like crystals on a rock, referencing the growth of new life

It's brilliant to see jewellery being approached from this angle with an assignment dedicated to addressing proportion and mixed media materials (in particular ethically sourced). Perhaps being at a new campus sharing workshops with other disciplines will be beneficial and bring about trading skills and collaborations. If you are an undergraduate investigating degrees, this one looks like an absolute corker - the facilities are incredible!

In addition to compiling the show, the group have also made a website for the programme which you can read furthur background here to see all the designers........ including Beatrice Bongiasca, Sarah Narici, Percy Lau, Go Un Lee, Toto Dian Luo, Xue Dong, Rachel Trattles seen above.

SAT17th March: Over It & Co. Book Launch

One of TheWProject's contributors Suzanne Pettigrew has just opened a show with her partner Chalotte Hanlon, for the launch of their first book, Over It & Co. Vol One. The work exhibited and printed in the annual is an overview of the artists they have represented and worked with over the last three years. Keen to buck the trend of online media, Over It & Co. have gone to the trouble of publishing a physical keepsake and hand-printing beautiful foiled invitations to the

Orange Dot Gallery to view it. Above is a rainbow screenprint by graffiti guru Mark Batlow, fruit machine illustration by Charlotte and "Waiting For You" sketch book work from SuzyP. The exhibition is open till Friday 30th March, so drop in to view the show and pick up your own copy of the anthology at: Orange Dot Gallery, 54 Tavistock Place

Sat17th March: Fenando Casasempere at Somerset House

Exactly a month since London Fashion Week, the courtyard of Somerset House has cleared out the tent and made way for an installation by Fernando Casasempere. The London based, Chliean artist is celebrating a feeling we all experiencing at the moment in the switching seasons. The vast green meadow of turf with 10,000 ceramic flowers marks the relief of Winter's end and the excitement of Spring's blooms appearing. Its clear to see Casasempere's interest in ecology and geology in this latest work "Out of Sync" , created from clay sourced as a by-product from industrial process. The piece commissioned by Somerset House is free entry so you can enjoy the spectacle as easily as the daffodils in London's parks.................

Thanks to Craig Lawrence who invited me to the private view where we enjoyed a glass of bubbly with a pansy bloom in!

16 March – 27 April 2012, The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, Free Admission

Friday 16th March: Comittee Inc. for Coca Cola

Followng on from yesterday's sport-centric entry, to the subject of the ultimate athletic event - The Olympics. As you may well know Mark Ronson was commissioned by Coca Cola to compose their official anthem to mark the event, collaborating with vocalist Katy B. Mark travelled the world recording and sampling sound vibrations from various Olympic athletes, making beats and breaks by compiling their individual training noises. The track "Anywhere In The World" has been turned into an advertisment with some of the sports stars displaying thier skills to the soundtrack of a live concert, all styled using the Cola red colour by Comittee inc. Creative consultancy Committee Inc comprises of Nova Dando and Tom Ryling who were responsible for the costume design of the "Move To The Beat" campaign. Working for Cola was a dream come true for Nova who has been collecting the international edition iconic bottles since she was 11. Here are some of those samples which Ive snapped at Nova's studio space in Shoreditch alongside her great gallery of inspirational imagery. Its an update from when I first visited Nova's creative space in Hackney, from the archives of 2009.

Keep updated with news and follow up-coming projects from Committe Inc. here. .......... and read more about Ronson's work on the scheme here.

Thurs 15th March: Nike+ Fuelband

You may remember that I travelled to NYC in January for the launch of the NIKE+ Fuelband as a secret mission with a few other creatives chosen from London. The product launches in the UK later this Summer but we have been able to get our mitts on our own band ahead of general release. Over this time we will be trying it out and putting the technology to the test ............ earning NIKE+ fuel points as we exercise and burn energy. Previous products to measure activity such as a pedometer planted in the sole of your sneaker were designed with runners in mind. However, this new piece of equipment is totally democratic to anyone and everyone, sports person or not. Its all about keeping track of your movements and making sure that you keep fit instead of sitting seditionary at your desk. Sharmadean Reid fitted me with my very own model, engraved with my initials "FB" which of course also stands for Fuel Band - neat! As Sharmadean explained, dashing around town on her daily routine of bringing up her 1yr old son whilst running WAH! Nails and working for NIKE, naturally makes up her energy expenditure. I'm not sure if Im ever going to take mine off as its the perfect little motivational reminder to keep moving and slightly altering my habits to notch up the points to keep a healthy ticker! Tick Tock, Tick Tock......... time to stop typing and start running.........

Revisit my blog from the NY trip here.

Weds 14th March: The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt

Leading on from yesterday's post with Mary Katrantzou's Fabergé Egg inspired AW11 collection to an actual giant egg she has decorated with blossom entitled "Teflon". If you are in London at the moment, you may well have come across it and any number of the 200 other artist customized giant colourful shells. So what eggsactly is going on? Its the world's largest egg hunt organised in aid of two charities - Elephant Family (protecting Asian Elephants and their habitat) and Action For Children. You can pick up a map from Selfridges to guide you round the 12 zones across town to locate each designer's work ahead of the final auction next Tuesday 20th March. Whatever field of creativity you are interested in, all disciplines have donated their eggspertise to the project from Peter Blake to the Chapman Brothers in art ....... from Michael Van Der Ham to DVF in fashion.......... from Kate Moross to Moshi Monsters in graphic design ............ from Rob Ryan to Danny Sangra in illustration..................... from Ridley Scott to Quentin Jones in direction .............. from Bompass & Parr to Rhea Thierstein in props .............. from Andrew Logan to Hannah Martin in jewellery ............with Marc Quinn and Zaha Hadid currently on the highest bids. Find out more here on how to plan your eggspedition and visit Selfridges en route to see seven hidden in store with a pop up shop of eggsiting souvenirs (proceeds going towards the charities).

(top to bottom Gary Card, Josh Stika, Daisuke Sakaguchi, Nasser Azam)

Tue 13th March: Three International Greek Fashion Designers at The Hellenic Centre

The International success of three Greek fashion designers is being celebrated at London's Hellenic Centre this month. Sophia Kokosalaki, Marios Schwab and Mary Katrantzou's work has been brought together at the centre founded to promote and nurture Hellenic culture with the UK. The charity organises a programme of lectures, exhibitions, concerts, social events and language courses with the latest show concentrating on its burgeoning fashion talent. Despite the three designers having their own identifiable, disparate and different styles, there is a common thread of Intricate, delicate fabric manipulation and embellishment. Therefore, its a really nice opportunity to have a close look at iconic garments you might only have seen on the runway or pages of editorial............ I recommend any eager fashion students with a penchant for tactile textiles and attention to detail, to take a trip to Marylebone High Street to check it out.

Both Mary and Marios are literally being "International" this week over in LA taking part in the BFC's London Showrooms initiative with a group of Britain's best designers presenting the capital's AW12 collections. Find out the other names involved and more info here.

12- 22 March - Great Hall, Hellenic Centre. 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Monday to Friday, 11am-7pm; Saturday and Sunday, 12am-4pm.

(Images top to bottom: 1-2 Sophia Kokosalaki, 3-6 Mary Katrantzou, 7-12 Marios Schwab)