Group report on Abandoned materials market

12/ 9/16

Abandoned materials market - Wasted

“…products are no longer bundles of functional characteristics but rather means to provide and enhance customer experiences” (Page 54 Bernd Schmitt reading)

Abandoned materials produced a market called ‘Wasted’. We really enjoyed how it repurposed things that we would throw away and take for granted into things that we would put to use. For example, we will use the bottles we got from the SecondLife Glass stall and do the ideas in our jars from The Jar Made Me Do It. It was really interactive and stalls had communicated between each other so there was a really nice connection between ideas, for example we made wallets at the Crease stall and painted them at the Printsie stall. The Abandoned Materials and Gifting themes worked really well together and all stalls were successful in this. The market had a really exciting energy to it, yet it was also had a very relaxed and easy-going flow to it. In contrast to the Impossible Things market, there was no pressure to see stalls in any specific order and there was no time pressure. This market felt like we had control over where we went and how long we spent at each stall, but still felt very organised and did not lose its structure. The atmosphere was also more lively and upbeat than our own market. 

Immaterial Labours Market

Here a two small snippets from the day:

Immaterial Labours Market

Wednesday 5th October

Immaterial Labours Market Day

As a whole, we felt our stall was a super success for our market day! Everyone got amongst and participated which was awesome to see, and we got tonnes of positive feedback including a few people telling us they liked our stall the best and that our concept was the only one that actually addressed Immaterial Labours!

Lots of people said they enjoyed actually sitting down and getting hands on, someone even said it reminded them of their childhood and arts and crafts sessions from when they were little. It was really awesome to see people get behind the cause and actually participate in our stall, but most of all it was cool to see people actually enjoying themselves while doing it! And everyone loved the idea that the patches were going to the Children's Hospital instead of just being thrown out or chucked in the bottom of someone's bag.

Our beverage station was a huge success, everyone loved that they could grab a hot (or cold) drink and sit and relax, and it was great for drawing people to our stall and giving us the chance to talk to them about it and get them to participate.

As a whole our market had a very different atmosphere to the impossible things market, as it was more relaxed with no set route or defined time at each stall, and many people complimented the 'chilled out vibe' they got from strolling through the market and participating at their leisure. There was a lot of empty space however and we felt perhaps it could have been a little more compact but our audience seemed to enjoy having lots of room to move and it never being too crowded.

Below are a few photos from the day, and a few of our favourite patches:

Notes on Abandoned materials market

- The theme of the abandoned materials market was gifting
- The overall theme was used well and they has re used material very well and it showed in each and every one of all of there stalls
- Loved the idea of the zines and answering what you pulled out of the bowl - they also used old thrown out assignment paper
- The overall market was very upbeat
- They have reused old materials and out them to use well like re purposing old bottles and making them look like a beautiful piece of art from the a second life for bottles stall.
- The stalls combining like making the wallets and painting them at another stall but you could also have just a plain wallet and you could also paint on a piece of paper from the painting stall and take it away.
- We liked how you got given something useful at every stall and got to take something away
- The overall market was educational and taught you something new about something repurposed.

Final Touches

Leading up to the market we have been thinking about all the little details that are going to make our stall an engaging and relaxing experience for people. We have each been gathering and creating things to contribute. 

I have collected iced tea bottles and used them as vases to hold fake flower arrangements. I think this will act as a nice centre piece for our craft table and just add that little something extra which will help to create a nice aesthetic and vibe. I have also decorated paper cups with our stall title 'Quilt for a Cause', each in a different font, to help create the sense that our stall is about hand-made construction, creativity and uniqueness. I have been helping to collect things to contribute to our hot drink table such as raspberry and strawberry tea, lemon ginger tea, hot chocolate and chai latte sachets, and also a tea pot. We want people to be able to select from a range of hot drinks in order to attract and welcome people to our stall, as well as make their experience enjoyable. Hot drinks are also something that we are able to enjoy during our market as well. 

collecting things for our market

after talking about how we were going to make our stall more of an environment we decided that we would like to give the people the option to have tea or coffee or cold drinks if wanted, i proceeded to go and discuss this with local company KPMG and told them about our assignment and the idea that we had for our stall and creating a quilt for wellington hospital children's ward, they thought that we were supporting a great cause and wanted to get behind and help us out as much as they could , they then proceeded to contribute to our market stall a selection of tea and coffee, paper cups, plastic cups, hot water jugs, a glass jug, stirrers,milk,  juice and also lids for cups as well. 

Impossible Things - Market

“It compels us to look and invites us to see, to notice, to wonder and to think.”

Impossible Things Market - Time Warp

28/9/16

Impossible Things produced a ‘Time Warp’ market which challenged the senses in a transition through childhood to future. The concept of the impossible was demonstrated through use of ‘time travel’ rather than individual stalls producing an impossible experience. Some however did and we found this somewhat inconsistent. 

The stalls who we believe achieved the ‘impossible things’ goal were Dr Fix, Sense and The Who as each offered an impossible experience but followed the theme of time warp. We found it exciting that most stalls offered a prize or gift after completion and that the market had given a lot of effort into decorations, dress ups and even had their own snapchat. However, as the market worked in a linear structure, for the duration it was super congested and the flow wasn't practical for the volume of people expected. 

Although it followed a timeline, for it to be successful and to prevent excessive waiting times and lines for entry, this needed to be reconsidered. We found the least successful stalls for the brief were the children’s artwork gallery, play dough centre and detention, as while all these stalls were fun and interactive, they weren’t so impossible.

Sarah Tansey