Statistics show high figures of poverty amongst farm dwellers in South Africa. Poverty is also associated with illiteracy, low life expectancy and high figures of malnutrition. One third of farm workers have no formal education. Very few farm dwellers have access to adequate housing and sanitation. A shortage in food, shelter and clothing leads to constant stress. In spite of extreme poverty, most households possess at least some human- and material resources. Through the effective management of these resources, the quality of life of people can be improved. Poor adults can be guided to better management through education. This study was part of the FLAGH-project where an educational intervention programme was developed, implemented and evaluated. The general goal of this study was to improve the sewing skills of female farm dwellers, in order to use existing resources of time, clothing and other textile articles optimally. Through the optimal use of these resources, less money needs to be spent on items such as clothes. More money can then be available for other basic needs, such as food. The intervention model as described by Fawcett et al. was used for this study. An intervention programme was developed, implemented and evaluated. Women on two farms were taught basic sewing skills to repair and recycle old clothes and other textile goods. Data to determine the success of the programme was gathered by means of practical pre- and post-tests. Paired sample t-tests were used to determine the effect size of the results, in order to determine if there was a practical significant difference in the skills of the women before and after the programme. Independent t-tests were used to determine the average and standard deviation in the evaluations of the two evaluators. Participants completed questionnaires regarding the presenting and compilation of the programme, to determine the success of the programme and to identify problems for possible future implementation of the programme. Results showed an improvement in the sewing skills of participants. Results from the programme evaluation showed that participants experienced the programme positively. The most important advantage of this programme was that participants can continue to apply the skills acquired during the programme, without any extra financial costs. / Thesis (M. Consumer Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

This thesis seeks to explain the development and implementation of a new model, methods and process of practice required for the rejuvenation of hand crafted woolfelted textile making customs and practices of the Anatolian region of Turkey, which mediates tradition in a contemporary context. In progressing the aims of the research project underpinning the thesis it was necessary to undertake both field work, learning the felt makers' practices, and to undertake empirical design-based product trials which provided insights into the culture and creative potential of the felt making activity thus facilitating the development of the new model of practice. Therefore the thesis examines not only the nature and context, both historical and contemporary, of felt makers and felt making practice in Anatolia but also presents ethnographic and theoretical discourse intended to argue and justify the approaches adopted in the development of the new model of practice and a verification process of its effectiveness. The thesis interrelates strands of changing contexts; research record and theory discourse and argues that the new model of practice enables sustainability and displays ethical responsibility appropriate to, and commensurate with, the felt making culture of Anatolia and its traditions. The thesis argues by demonstration that the perception of an object is determined by location and level of consciousness, which can be reflected upon and, through redesign involving aggregation of qualities and values, purposefully represent an object and recreate its lost aura's root from tradition, transposed into a new diversity of perceptual responses. The thesis concludes that mediatory actions implicit in the new model of practice need not adversely impact upon the traditional culture of the makers in terms of lifestyle choices, since reciprocal exchange is a local transaction, which proffers evolving tradition as cultural values to a diversity of external locations and levels of consciousness. This open-ended mediatory action of anonymous hybridisations will continue by the intervention of other designers through evolutionary integration to elevate the status of the culture object and its related craft activity.

This study mainly investigates the roles of product design and advertising in conferring identity related meanings upon products and associating them with certain consumer identities. For this purpose, firstly, the concept of identity and increasing centrality of objects in its construction and expression are explored. Secondly, the nature and dynamics of the relationship between people and objects are discussed with a specific emphasis on the identity related aspects of this relationship. Then, a more detailed discussion is held on the roles played by product design and advertising in the process of identity construction through designed products. Finally, a case study on a selected product group is presented in order to illustrate the theoretical discussions in previous chapters.

This thesis analyses the concept of sustainability as applied and reflected in industrial design practice in a theoretical way. The discourses on sustainability in general are explored in terms of ecology, economics and politics. The underlying motives resulting in unsustainable ways of production and consumption practices are attempted to be located in contemporary society.

A new method for the efficient synthesis of ferrocenylenones was developed. Acryloyl, methacryloyl, crotonyl, cinnamoyl, and &amp / #946 / -methylcrotonyl chlorides reacted with ferrocene in the presence of a Lewis acid (EtAlCl2 or EtAlCl2-Me3Al) to give the corrosponding ferrocenylenones (acryloyl, methacryloyl, crotonyl, cinnamoyl, and &amp / #946 / -methylcrotonylferrocenes) in good isolated yields. Using the Gabriel-Cromwell reaction, acryloyl and crotonoylferrocenes were converted to the novel ferrocenyl substituted aziridines with benzylamine, isopropylamine and furfurylamine. The aziridines were isolated in good to excellent yields.

This research project investigates factors contributing to what I consider to be an erosion within the contemporary culture of the imagination- crucial to the very concept of what it is to be human. It has been said that the 'civilising' of art within contemporary culture may have flogged the human imagination into retreat. If so what might be the best way for art to help us visualise more creative ways of living and being? This is the key question I have pursued in this research project, the main outcomes of which are a body of creative art works (presented for examination in the form of a site-specific installation, together with documentary archive of photographs and other interventions) and an exegesis which explores the critical context for these. In proposing site-specific installation art as a vital alternative to the over-commodification evident within much contemporary art, I also see repetition and play as being strategies with particular potential for encouraging active artist-participant dialogue on the subject of the poetico-ethical imagination- along lines suggested by thinkers such as Robert Kearney and Ken Wilbur. The artefacts and installations presented for examination are mostly devoid of textual explanation and commentary, with the aim of emphasising direct sensory experience. However, throughout the written component (exegesis) I have taken the creative liberty of including textual fragments and other visual elements as a means of suggesting that a form of disassociation, meandering or breakdown has occurred. The reader will also notice an absence of capitalisation in the titles of chapters (and certain works). In this I have sought to explore possibilities for undermining academic form through imaginative play.

This research project will explore Book Arts through the book of Genesis, focusing on the first seven days of creation. Particular attention will be paid to the interactive multi-sensual aspects of the book as object and to adding life and meaning to the reading experience. This exploration of Book Arts through Genesis will result in the development of a form of book that encourages engagement in both physical and psychological interactions to find new ways of reading – particularly scriptural texts – influencing spiritual growth and personal relationships. Particularly within, but not limited to, a Christian context. This project seeks to turn the book into a viable organism in our lives. The book itself will engage viewers through layers of sensory experience and nuanced psychological interaction.

This study arises out of the researcher’s experience in the fields of costume and fashion. It develops, through design practice and reflection, a design process for fashion wear made from post-consumer recycled materials. Theoretical analysis provides global, historical, philosophical and design contexts within which to develop an ethos for this variant form of fashion wear designated ReFashion. Differences in design process between conventional fashion and ReFashion are detailed to highlight the significance of provenance of materials in the light of a perceived need to slow down clothing production and consumption. This perception is informed by scientific predictions that failure to engage with urgently needed changes to the prevalent economic paradigm will result in planet earth reaching a tipping point with potentially disastrous results for its inhabitants. Fundamental to the ReFashion ethos is preparedness for a speculative post-apocalyptic future that might render the fashion system unable to operate as it currently does, necessitating a more self-sufficient approach to clothing needs, with an accompanying shift in perceptions of what is deemed fashionable. The theme Survivalist Fantasy provides a lens to bring conceptual and material aspects of the work into focus. Informed by sustainability, Survivalist Fantasy recontextualises a failure of sustainable initiatives on a global scale and their adaptation on a local scale specifically in the arena of clothing.

This study arises out of the researcher’s experience in the fields of costume and fashion. It develops, through design practice and reflection, a design process for fashion wear made from post-consumer recycled materials. Theoretical analysis provides global, historical, philosophical and design contexts within which to develop an ethos for this variant form of fashion wear designated ReFashion. Differences in design process between conventional fashion and ReFashion are detailed to highlight the significance of provenance of materials in the light of a perceived need to slow down clothing production and consumption. This perception is informed by scientific predictions that failure to engage with urgently needed changes to the prevalent economic paradigm will result in planet earth reaching a tipping point with potentially disastrous results for its inhabitants. Fundamental to the ReFashion ethos is preparedness for a speculative post-apocalyptic future that might render the fashion system unable to operate as it currently does, necessitating a more self-sufficient approach to clothing needs, with an accompanying shift in perceptions of what is deemed fashionable. The theme Survivalist Fantasy provides a lens to bring conceptual and material aspects of the work into focus. Informed by sustainability, Survivalist Fantasy recontextualises a failure of sustainable initiatives on a global scale and their adaptation on a local scale specifically in the arena of clothing.

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