mvg, by Merel van Gils

1. Please introduce yourself to our readers. (Who are you, where do you come from and what is your field of specialization?) 

My name is Merel van Gils or mvg,. I am a product designer from Utrecht, The Netherlands. I'm interested in fashion and fascinated by the way people use fashion in their daily life. 

2. Tell us about the idea behind your project – what does “365” mean? 

During one year I’m making a design of something, every day. I take a picture and upload it onto my website. The subjects are diverse but the main theme is fashion. I started '365' because I have so many different ideas and this project creates the perfect opportunity for me to elaborate them all. The idea starts with a person or problem I run into during the day. For example; a man with an obvious toupee, my mom who wasn't able to take her dog into a shop, a friend who bought healthy running shoes, a weekend in Brussels. Resulting in: a series of toupees, a doggy bag, healthy shoes, waffle hair and Flemish gloves.

3. What are you going to do after the project is finished? What’s your next project? 

On June 15th 2012 (My birthday, and with that the birth of my company), I have 365 new ideas. Some of them turned out to be useful in our day to day life. When 365 is done I'll put them all together in a catalogue. 
This way of working turned out to be very inspiring for me, the discipline and pressure help me focus. I'm working on a way to transform this project in an assignment for other people to look further than the normal boundaries. Furthermore I'm working on the mini-museum which is the smallest museum in the world, with the smallest exhibitions, the smallest budget and all the employees smaller then 1.60m. 

4. Did you experience any days on which you got tired of the project or where you ran out of ideas? 

Oh Yes. But those days often turned out being the most successful. 

5. How present is the project in your every-day-life? Are there times when you can refrain yourself from it? 

Because of this project and its daily time pressure I had to look for inspiration everywhere. Every person, object, story or picture can lead to the next idea. I think refraining will start when the daily deadlines stop. But sometimes when I see an overview so far, I think wow it's pretty much. 

6. How do you personally define „fashionclash“ or „ a clash with fashion“ for yourself? 

For me fashion is about time. And therefore fashion is not just the clothes we wear but, for example, also our houses, the objects we use in our daily life and the way we communicate. You can find fashion in every aspect of our visual culture. 

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