I really enjoyed the overall experience as an exchange student in London, because I could learn different aspect of design approach for textile design.
Living in a different city and meeting people from England, and people from all over Europe was other great part of this program. I’m studying in Fashion institute of technology in New York City, but I’m originally from Japan, and I’m Japanese. So, how I compare the cultural context refers to Japan and also America.
I felt like London has great traditional old city feeling to it. Whenever I walk around the city, old architectures and buildings amazed me. New York is old city too, but in London there was less familiar atmosphere. This atmosphere makes me more conscious that I'm from Far East and I have different background. New York is very diverse and mixed culture city, where I don’t usually feel my nationality so strongly like I did in London.
I was amazed by how exchange program is popular and done well all over Europe. It is getting more popular to study abroad in Japan but there are still difficulties of joining study abroad program for many reasons (such as exchange credits, financial reason, distance, English speaking ability.) Students from Europe are already good at English so that it was easy to carry on conversation and be friends with them and I could learn about their culture and countries. I feel like if more Japanese students have more opportunity like this, it would be great for them. Especially, our generation is facing the world globalization phase now.
My major is textile and surface design, so we study how to design textile and surfaces and different technical method for it in FIT. In Chelsea, textile students choose their disciplines in 2nd year. I chose the weaving discipline for this exchange program. The reason why I chose weaving is because weaving is something hard to learn by myself without looms and technical help, and Chelsea has more looms than FIT has. I learned deep understanding of double cloths and extra warp and how to draft out designs. I also learnt how to used dobby looms. Dyeing yarns were also great addition to this learning experience.
There are huge differences in teaching method in Chelsea and FIT. In FIT, we do not have specializations or disciplines, so that we do study variety of way to create textiles, and the learning technical part is heavily weighted. In Chelsea, I felt like the design process or what we think is more important. For example, the professor told me that the sketchbook is sometimes more important then actual final out comes. It would show student’s idea and thought. This was one of the challenges I faced through this exchange program. I might be wrong, but I felt like commercial kind of works are expected in school in NYC and more artistic kind of works are expected in London. This was interesting but difficult part of adjusting myself to Chelsea. I needed to research continually and be aware of how my idea or design is growing through the process of weaving. Since, weaving involves a lot of technical aspect, I tend to make design decisions in the early stage of my process, and that is not the way students work in Chelsea. However, this is something I think I can bring back to NYC and keep working on. I learnt different approach of textile design and design development that I need to constantly think and experiment and try to think out side of box to create and execute my originality.
Living in London was fun experience for me. I lived big cities like Tokyo and NYC, but I always think inspirations for the design or creativity actually come from everyday life. That’s why I like living in different countries and traveling as much as I can. This exchange program gave me a chance to see something new and gives me a sense of European and British taste. I also liked interacting with local people, friends from classes and people I lived with ( I was sharing an apartment with local people). I learnt different sense of humors and different mindset and cultures which is something I can bring back to NYC.
Living in a different city and meeting people from England, and people from all over Europe was other great part of this program. I’m studying in Fashion institute of technology in New York City, but I’m originally from Japan, and I’m Japanese. So, how I compare the cultural context refers to Japan and also America.
I felt like London has great traditional old city feeling to it. Whenever I walk around the city, old architectures and buildings amazed me. New York is old city too, but in London there was less familiar atmosphere. This atmosphere makes me more conscious that I'm from Far East and I have different background. New York is very diverse and mixed culture city, where I don’t usually feel my nationality so strongly like I did in London.
I was amazed by how exchange program is popular and done well all over Europe. It is getting more popular to study abroad in Japan but there are still difficulties of joining study abroad program for many reasons (such as exchange credits, financial reason, distance, English speaking ability.) Students from Europe are already good at English so that it was easy to carry on conversation and be friends with them and I could learn about their culture and countries. I feel like if more Japanese students have more opportunity like this, it would be great for them. Especially, our generation is facing the world globalization phase now.
My major is textile and surface design, so we study how to design textile and surfaces and different technical method for it in FIT. In Chelsea, textile students choose their disciplines in 2nd year. I chose the weaving discipline for this exchange program. The reason why I chose weaving is because weaving is something hard to learn by myself without looms and technical help, and Chelsea has more looms than FIT has. I learned deep understanding of double cloths and extra warp and how to draft out designs. I also learnt how to used dobby looms. Dyeing yarns were also great addition to this learning experience.
There are huge differences in teaching method in Chelsea and FIT. In FIT, we do not have specializations or disciplines, so that we do study variety of way to create textiles, and the learning technical part is heavily weighted. In Chelsea, I felt like the design process or what we think is more important. For example, the professor told me that the sketchbook is sometimes more important then actual final out comes. It would show student’s idea and thought. This was one of the challenges I faced through this exchange program. I might be wrong, but I felt like commercial kind of works are expected in school in NYC and more artistic kind of works are expected in London. This was interesting but difficult part of adjusting myself to Chelsea. I needed to research continually and be aware of how my idea or design is growing through the process of weaving. Since, weaving involves a lot of technical aspect, I tend to make design decisions in the early stage of my process, and that is not the way students work in Chelsea. However, this is something I think I can bring back to NYC and keep working on. I learnt different approach of textile design and design development that I need to constantly think and experiment and try to think out side of box to create and execute my originality.
Living in London was fun experience for me. I lived big cities like Tokyo and NYC, but I always think inspirations for the design or creativity actually come from everyday life. That’s why I like living in different countries and traveling as much as I can. This exchange program gave me a chance to see something new and gives me a sense of European and British taste. I also liked interacting with local people, friends from classes and people I lived with ( I was sharing an apartment with local people). I learnt different sense of humors and different mindset and cultures which is something I can bring back to NYC.
