Erasmus - Day 1

Today was the first time we met all the Italian and Finnish students.

We walked over to the Italian school in the morning and after a talk by the artist Ramin Razani, we were given a tour around the school. The building is huge! There is a whole department for each discipline and they have so much equipment and machinery. There is a lot of dedication to each area and it was fascinating to see a combination of famous sculptural works and that of the students. There is a very culture rich feel to the whole school and I was amazed at the amount of sculptures and other artwork on show throughout!

In the afternoon we were split into groups (one English, one Finnish and three Italian students) to work on a brief set by the artist Ramin Razani. The project is based around paper and creating 3D shapes just using folding and cutting of plain white paper.

We first thought up a team name and then discussed an audience for our project (mainly aimed at adults in the high end market). We also began discussing materials such as canvas, paper, leather and plastic. At this point we decided to research a lot of the artists that inspire Ramin Razani. From here we all drew out own ideas out onto paper and shared them with the group, where we developed and combined our ideas together. So far we have decided on a backpack inspired by the shapes of an armadillo and an accordion! Our first idea was create something that can be folded away and stored in another bag whilst out, like a “bag for life” but this developed further into a possibly compactable backpack that expands or can be made smaller depending how much you need to carry.

In the evening, we walked out to one of the highest points in Florence to get an amazing view of the whole city! This was y favourite thing so far as it was just so incredibly beautiful in every direction, especially in the evening as all the lights of the city were being turned on!