OUGD503 - Studio brief 02 - Group meeting and collation of research

After each member of the team went away to individually research certain topics, we came together to present to each other the research we found. The best way to do this was summarising the key points we found, and what we believe will inform the ideas. To start with Ben and his role in research, which was to look into hipster culture in Paris, youth culture, fashion, Parisian culture, values and beliefs, areas of youth culture in Paris and the music scene in Paris.

Firstly for his research on the hipster / youth culture, Ben found numerous sources which show that fashion, art, design, film, music are all helping to grown youth culture in Paris. The younger generations of people in Paris have started to realise that there city is capable of much more than it currently is and they want to push the boundaries and make people understand that it can be just as good as London, Berlin, New York or Amsterdam.

Key points Ben found on Youth culture:

• You have to stay true to your identity living in Paris" - it can be difficult to ignore some of the negativity that comes from the more traditional Parians but the reality is that there is a new wave of young creative people that are taking over and they don't want to live in the past nor the future, they want to live NOW.  
• North East Paris is where a lot of the creatives and younger generations like to visit and live making it become a more creative youthful part of the city. 
• Gender-vague style is popular, people aren't afraid to experiment with style and take to new trends. It may not be happening in the centre of the city but in the suburbs there is hope and people are learning about how to change the way things are now. 
• The suburbs are becoming cool for many reasons.  
• France has been culturally conservative in recent years and its time for change. New kinds of creative energy, it is becoming more and more popular for contemporary art and design movements because the younger people are fed up of what traditional Paris is and they have the power to change that. 

From working alongside Ben during research we often had discussions about what we thought of French and Parisian culture, we maybe had some stereotypical beliefs but what Ben found was some really insightful research into French culture. For example the French take immense great pride in their nation and government and are typically offended by any negative comments about their country. He looked into Areas of youth culture such as Bastille (11ème Arrondissement) and Pigalle, the later is now Paris's 9th arrondissement and is home to a burgeoning scene of the coolest people, shops, eateries, and hotels in the city. Below is an image of the famous Pigalle basketball court.

Ben also informed myself and Joe of the population and ethnic groups of Paris which he looked into, the Parisian population has been steadily decreasing due to migration into the suburbs. The high cost of living in central areas alongside the gentrification of inner-city Paris has led to the formation of deprived neighbourhoods at the outskirts of the city. Paris and its metropolitan area is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe and has a number of ethnic groups, including:

• Africans.
• Germans.
• Jewish.
• Muslims.
• Polish.
• Southeast Asians
• Portuguese

For Joe's research he looked into the underground music scene in Paris, French illustration, current affairs in Paris, and the art and film scene in Paris. During presenting the research Joe mentioned that he struggled on current affairs in Paris as he couldn't really find any relevant information. The majority of things were related to terrorism, riots or politics which wouldn't have meant anything in terms of youth culture. As joe is an illustrator he introduced myself and Ben to some really cool French illustrators which made us enthusiastic about the potential to collaborate with an illustrator. The illustrators included:

Malika Favre

Tom Haugomat

Jean Juliene