On our very last day, we visited a highly motivational space: Fabrica. Fabrica is a program/place founded in 1994 that offers a one-year scholarship for talented individuals (under 25) to enhance their design, visual communication, photography, interaction, video, music and journalism skills. It is a place that is midway between school and work.
We began the tour by standing in the grounds with a reflection pool adorned with columns. Our guide talked of the reunion they just had which they were very proud of. 378 past students returned to Fabrica from all corners of the earth. Here she (the guide) got to meet their families and/or hear of their accomplishments and new standings in the world/business field.
Moving forward, we got to view the works of these talented students. We saw giant portraits of women who had once been disfigured by acid, not painted on acid on giant slabs of rusted metal. (Here is a link to the video showing the collaboration between Erik Ravel and Pakistani activist Iram Saaed: http://www.fabrica.it/facing/). We saw the sadly room where COLORS was once produced. Sadly it is not in print right now, yet their online presence is maintained. I am looking forward to finding/buying past copies of it.
One of my favorite parts included the visit into the library. It was a giant swirling white staircase of design, art, history, and anything the students found interesting and wanted to order. Here I found my two favorite books, Miracle Village (about life during and after being convicted of molestation) and Where Children Sleep (an account of different childhoods over the world).
Most importantly, we got to speak to the director of design department, Sam Baron. He spoke of his path to Fabrica, namely an education in Paris and a later on interest in porcelain projects that were well received. He divulged his opinions of design and where it is headed. He stressed his disappointment that being a designer is becoming a ‘trendy thing’ i.e. posting a sketch on instagram and calling one’s self a designer. Being a designer, a good one, takes much more than instant gratification. “Stop the dreamy image” he says. He also explains that things are just tools, and one can’t just barf out images. One will always need the simple necessities of a pen, paper, and hand to create ideas. And this idea, this grandeur of thoughts, should be ablde to be explained within one sentence. “No bullshit, just practice”.
For me, Fabrica reminds me of this story in the bible: the Tower of Babel. This story was meant to explain the origins of different languages. In short, every man was trying to reach heaven without dying. They created a huge tower that spanned towards the heavens. God was angered by their efforts and zapped them, giving them different tongues/spoken languages. The men all fumbled around unable to create the tower because of the barrier. I see Fabrica as the conquerer of this challenge. They not only overcome distance barriers, but encourage them. The more collaboration and confusion the better. Different students merge not only their cultures, but also their past design educations, taking the good from each side and creating a new language of designs.