Soft Skills

2023

A collection of 22 fan-scarves that I made together with young people during a one-month residency with F.A.T. Studio’s OKR Arts Club on Old Kent Road. Each scarf is unique, with slogans, words, symbols or drawings of the young person’s dreams and aspirations. I hope that they act as wearable talisman that point them towards a hopeful future.

I worked with students from Phoenix Primary School, Treasurehouse Trust and young people who live local to the Old Kent Road. My aim with the workshops and scarves was to generate conversations around new ideas of ‘skills’, ‘work’, ‘dream jobs’ and to ultimately help address concerns about professional futures. I hope that through the project, the participating children and their families learned tools and avenues to talk about their futures, possibilities and professional hopes and worries.

All scarves were made as paper mockups during a workshop, I then digitized and interpreted the designs, manufacturing the final scarfs in Germany. At the end of the residency, we held a launch event where we celebrated the scarves and handed out the scarves to their creators.

This project is an extension of the Work Scarves that I made in 2020 inspired from the language that career professionals use.