Kozminski Techblog

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Due to the coronavirus situation, most countries decided to close their universities, which forced everyone to move to online studying. 

As a result, “students and tutors alike have been told to embrace the “new normal””^[1] however, is it actually possible to embrace the new normal for everyone?

Well not quite, let’s take art schools as an example. Most art students are complaining that it is impossible for them to get any creative experiences through online classes. We can clearly see that nobody [in the art school environment] was ready for this difficult situation and that it is very hard to make any logical decisions or predict what is going to happen next. “While institutions have many emergency plans in place for immediate disruptions at the campus, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, or tornadoes, the constantly changing directives from local, state, and federal health authorities mean that institutions are having to quickly adjust for the safety and well-being of their campus communities.”^[2

Art is all about seeing, touching, feeling things and our new virtual reality does not really allow students to develop their art skills. Additionally, art students need to be constantly supervised and given feedback, it is not possible to be done online as you cannot even see the details on the screen and art should be looked at in person. It is a pity, that students still pay tuition fees to get the resources to create, unfortunately they do not have most of the materials at home and are unable to fully develop their talents. Let’s not forget that art students usually need space to think and create and most of them don’t have such conditions at home. It is a very controversial topic. Students are writing petition against paying fees, complaining about different time zones that make it impossible to have normal classes and any social interaction. Not to mention the most basic fact that university should be the place where you meet your friends, exchange ideas and interact in person. The list goes on and on.

“It is a dangerous time to think all creative learning can be moved online and that studios, making spaces, print rooms, and furnaces can all be devalued or even ditched. We need to ensure that this digital offer doesn’t become homogenised and institutions retain what makes them unique in terms of ethos, content and delivery.” She adds: “It’s hard to replicate this humanistic practice in a digital-only space.”^[3]

“For students who had secured a placement, only for this option to be removed is devastating; our tutors have stressed to us that industry experience is a necessary precursor to finding gainful employment post-graduation. For many students, this was their opportunity to gain that experience.”^[4]

As we can see online classes for creative education cannot substitute the actual thing. What is interesting some universities and companies around the world are thinking of keeping the online meetings for even after the coronavirus situation calms down. Definitely not a good piece of information for art students to hear. 

So what can we do to overcome this issue? 

Students started the movement “online art school is not art school” . It even has its own hashtag on Instagram and is being reposted by plenty art students. It is supposed to spread around and encourage people to try students fight for their rights. 

Some universities are actually pledging against online studies. In the UK there was a petition that “garnered over 1,500 signatures, the campaign enabled art students across the country to bind together in digital solidarity.”^[5] Will these petitions work and change anything? Hard to say, as of now the universities are not really responding and it is hard to predict what they will decide.

Right now probably all we can do is try to make most of it at home and stay positive with the hope for the better future. 

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^[1] https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/future-of-creative-higher-education-in-the-age-of-covid-19-creative-industry-290920

^[2] https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-schools-coronavirus-1807917

^[3] https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/future-of-creative-higher-education-in-the-age-of-covid-19-creative-industry-290920

^[4] https://www.change.org/p/london-college-of-fashion-london-college-of-fashion-online-art-school-is-not-art-school

^[5] https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/future-of-creative-higher-education-in-the-age-of-covid-19-creative-industry-290920

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For almost a year now we are told to stay home, respect social distancing rules and limit the interactions with other people etc. As a result, we do not see many people in person but does it mean that we stopped communicating with others? 

Over the past year we observe a huge boost in social media. People found many creative ways to actually bond with others in the virtual world. Great examples of that are the growing trends on platforms such as tik tok, Instagram, Facebook where many people recreate one trend or a challenge and post their version of it. Many of those are connected to some charities so people follow the trend and at the same time raise money for a specific case. Sometimes the challenges and trends might seem dumb and pointless and sometimes they do not benefit any charity but I think that it is still a nice way to bring people together. 

The trends could be dancing, cooking, doing specific make up, taking a particular photo or video, almost everything that we can think of can be taken as a new trend. 

One example of the recent challenges present on the Internet is called the Tetris Challenge. This trend started in September 2020 and was popular within the range of public services providers such as police, firemen etc. The trend is basically basing on taking a picture from the above of all the equipment that a given job needs and posting it on Instagram. Some of the captions said “This is what we need to save lives”. Soon after it started we could read:” public services units from around the world have joined in, artistically photographing their work equipment (and even themselves) laid out in tidy rows.”  or “Today’s Tetris Challenge is a fun way to visualize the often chaotic nature of working in the emergency services in a visually satisfying, organized way.” Some of their posts got almost a thousand likes and also a few hundred reposts. I think that it is quite fun and interesting to look at.

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Another example of a trend, which was recently quite popular on Instagram is that everyone can add “post a picture of …” and followers just say what pictures they want you to show, for example the picture form your best holidays etc. I actually saw many people participating, including well known  celebrities. This particular trend was very popular during the last week as many people thought of it as some kind of summary from 2020 that was coming to the end. 

I think that in some way the above examples show that even though we live in the times of the pandemic, many lockdowns and not seeing many people in person we still seek interaction with other people and realise that we are not the only ones in this difficult situation. We still can learn about each other, bond and get inspired and motivated to do something. Even if it is just a “stupid” challenge on the Internet it is still better than nothing and gives us hope for the better. 

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Nowadays, it is becoming more “trendy” to invest in circular economy, which is basically the approach, which benefits the society and the environment by reducing the waste and in this case reusing the already produced materials or products. 

Vinted is an IT platform or simply a computer application, where everyone is able to trade the clothes they do not wear or use anymore. This app has existed since 2012, however it is now at its peak since its owners started advertising it on the TV and introduced many new functions that make it easier to buy and sell. 

Vinted is now present in 11 countries including Poland, the US and the UK. To use Vinted you do not need to pay any fee whether you are a buyer or a seller, you only pay for the item itself and the delivery cost, which definitely makes the platform very attractive and more popular than the competitors. As the “Burda Principal Investments” website quotes “Vinted has created a dominant European consumer platform for a circular economy, helping empower millions of consumers across the continent to give their clothes a second life.^[1]

“Vinted’s mission is to make second-hand fashion the first choice worldwide. It offers over 180 million second-hand fashion items and provides great chances to sell and buy quickly, safely, and easily across 11 European markets. In financial terms Vined already has been a success. In 2019 alone, €1.3 billion of gross merchandise volume is expected to be transacted on Vinted – going back into the pockets of its members.^[2]” Another thing is that due to having more users the brand itself is making a lot of money on it. People can promote their items by paying, Vinted also has many advertisements on their page. Additionally, Vinted is expanding very quickly by hiring new employees and opening up to new markets. “This investment underlines the growing consumer appeal of second-hand fashion worldwide, with a market opportunity estimated at €13 billion across Europe.”

Looking at the environmental values, many people decided to somehow contribute to help our planet, one of the easy steps to do this is to give up fast fashion. It is therefore becoming very popular to shop at second hand shops or purchase from Vinted. It allows buyers find very unique pieces at affordable prices, but also the sellers to get rid of the clothes they do not need any more without throwing them away, which making them reusable, zero waste and eco-friendly at the same time and ticking the boxes of circular economy. 

I believe that one factor that also really helped Vinted get more popular is the coronavirus situation. Some people, who wanted to invest in already used clothes were scared of going to second hand shops or just felt like it is more “clean” to purchase online and many of them actually made a Vinted account. Additionally, it is much easier and effortless to buy something online rather than go and buy it in person. Vinted offers post office or InPost delivery, which means that in some cases you do not even need to see anyone to send or pick up your pieces. 

I personally use the app and see how fast and easy it is to sell something. At first, I did not really take it seriously but with time I realized that I actually have a few customers and I decided to develop my account a bit further and also resell some items from other brands or second-hand shops. I feel like I am doing something good for the environment, someone else is enjoying my old clothes, I have more space at home and I even get some money from it. Additionally, I really like playing with fashion and Vinted is a perfect place to do it. Many of my friends also use and know Vinted and sometimes we even sell our clothes to each other. I really like this app and everyone that I talked to about it also has rather positive opinions about it. 

I think that Vinted has the potential to be an example for other brands on being eco-friendly but also it can help develop the circular economy sector. 

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^[1] https://www.burdaprincipalinvestments.com/2019/11/28/vinted-raises-e128-million-accelerate-growth/

^[2] https://www.burdaprincipalinvestments.com/2019/11/28/vinted-raises-e128-million-accelerate-growth/