In Spring 2019, I was invited by Tamar Many, Senior Lecturer in the Visual Communication Department and Director of International Collaboration at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, to consult on her course called Good Intentions.
Good Intentions is engaged in a single mission: to spread positive change through collaborations focused on critical design thinking. The course served as a platform for partnership between undergraduate students and the Israel Paralympics Committee, as twenty-four fashion design and textile students devised unique, adaptive designs for twelve Paralympic athletes.
The twelve-week course required students to develop an intimacy with the athletes through conversations about their day-to-day while learning specific challenges and desires. For students and professors alike, this project sheds light and introduced new perspectives on designing with intention in a world where countless individuals living with disabilities feel overlooked.
As a consultant for Good Intentions, I approached the role on two levels: First, I presented the students with advertising images I styled for Tommy Hilfiger’s Adaptive line since the company launched the initiative in 2017. This content helped spark an understanding in the scalable possibilities for their assignment. Secondly, I held interviews with each pair of design and textile students to discuss the branding and marketing approach to their project. The ability to maintain a dialogue about the work and the creative process is crucial in building a practice in an industry that seeks to personify the designer.
