Re:location
These two handbags were inspired form the newest architectural development in the Toronto/East York District the Pam McConnell Aquatic Centre. The aesthetic of the Aquatic Centre is characterized by its versatility and modernity bringing an air of redevelopment and renewal into the Regent Park community, a neighborhood that faces one of the highest poverty indices in downtown Toronto. Similarly, the handbags aim at reflecting this sense of versatility and modernity, being able to be adapted to multiple uses while maintaining a stylish look.
Problem:
In 2013, the Centre for Community Learning & Development (CCL&D) launched a small social enterprise incubation program (Sewing Studio and Catering Collective) as a strategy to emphasize microenterprise and business development as a path for newcomers to make a living. The CCL&D and the social enterprise contribute to build a healthier Regent Park community by:
• Helping women and single parents have access to sustainable income with flexible schedules, while still meeting family responsibilities.
• Providing supplementary income for individuals and families, who are engaged in precarious work, and/or low paid jobs, therefore continue to live below the poverty line. In 2021, with the support of Daniels’ Community Commercial Program, the CCL&D will open on the second floor of the DuEast Condominiums. This partnership will take social enterprise programming to the next level, by supporting newcomer startups and offering goods and services to the public.
Process:
I wanted to explore what really identified regent park, as it was a group of women from different regions of the I wanted to show the diversity of the community as regent park is the most diverse neighborhood in the world I saw that all regions had different types of embroidery and I wanted to explore a hybrid of all by using different elements into one. Since regent park has such a vast different cultures and there are many different types of embroidery in just on region and decided it wasn’t inclusive and could be seen as cultural appropriation and different cultures wouldn’t approve having their same region embroidery beside another, and it was time consuming since it had to elaborate and done by hand.
Solution:
I question myself while walking in regent park what would represent all the people who live in here, noticing the community pool where people from different places and races share was the way to go for my project. By inspiring me and the simplicity and the universal aspect of the building I was able to obtain a beautiful hidden design that represented regent park as a whole.
I decided to do this since it was simpler and it was modern easy to make for the woman and they can create a revenue of their products to support them.
