For our group name, we wanted something to represent our work process along with something humorous. We went with "Chaotic practices" as we often find ourselves in chaotic predicaments even though we have an organized plan. Through this chaos we find inspiration and develop most of our interesting ideas. 

When designing our poster, we wanted to convey the idea of contrast, new surroundings and the sense of direct approach we have towards our work. Originally stumped on the design of our poster, we thought about our design process, and how we research, document and create our work. From this we noticed we all have a habit of recording interesting finds through the form of photography, we therefore went through interesting photos we have archived on our photos. (Below are a few photos we found)

Throughout the creative process of our poster we tried balancing a sense of "handmade-ness" along with keeping the information easily read and keeping the layout still somewhat clean. We put a post it throughout our trials of elements we wanted to edit and things we liked/ disliked as a form of feedback. From this my partner Chanelle voiced that she actually really liked the slight hint of green from the post it. We both agreed that the addition of the green post it was a bit too messy to include in the poster. 

From the new idea of including a pop of color into our poster design, we thought about what element we could add. When I was back in my room, I was inspired by the baggage tag on my suitcase, and thought about ways to integrate that into our poster.

As an ode to our group name, "Chaotic Practices", we missed our flight to Milan at 6:30am. We therefore had to wait at Gatwick airport until the next flight, which would stop at Budapest for a transfer, and the flight wasn't until 8pm, meaning we had to start our first day at Gatwick airport and Budapest. Initially feeling pretty defeated, we decided to leave the airport doing our 12 hour wait until our flight and stay at McDonalds, where we made drawings off interesting observations. To our surprise, we actually noted down interesting observations.

      Personal Project notes:

Along with drawing in my sketchbook, I also write in my diary on a daily basis, and as I was writing my entry on our mishaps, I noticed my nail was broken, this sent me down an interesting mind map of exploring how trivial minute issues play a factor in fast fashion, such as how consumers opt to throw away their garments instead of thinking of up cycling or reworking it. Furthermore, I also noticed many couples and families bunched up showing intimacy and a sense of trust between them, I drew this multiple times as this could be a potential pose for future shoots.

We rushed to the market in a rush because I found out that the market is only open from 8:30am to 2pm on Tuesdays. We landed in Milan Malpensa airport at around 9, and we opted for public transport via train because an uber to our airbnb was expected to be in the 100 euro mark, and we wanted to save as much money as possible. The three of us navigated the still pretty empty airport to find ourselves the ticketing counter, and were faced with a pretty bitchy ticketing agent who was condescending and rushed us. We tried to communicate to her the station we had to go to by showing her a photo of google maps, and she cut us off many time, stating we needed to interchange stations as there isn't a direct train. All of the information she told us we knew already, all she had to do was continue swiping down our google maps journey to see that, which she did eventually after many back and forth conversations consisting of, "You need to change trains", "We know, we're just looking to get train tickets", "Yes but there isn't a direct train", "Yes we know, but we need to first get the tickets". Finally we got our tickets and rushed to an incoming train. Even though we were exhausted after having started our journey 24 hours ago, the view as the train exited the grey airport interiors was beautiful. I think its effect was emphasized as we haven't seen proper sunlight in London in a while. After switching trains, we were introduced to a more industrialized view, featuring random patches of graffiti and colorful buildings. Just when we thought we could finally catch a breather from our chaotic adventure, the train ticket inspector asked to check our tickets, and she replies with, "I'm going to have to penalize you as you haven't validated your ticket." We all exchanged looks of confusion as we didn't even know what that meant. Turns out we needed to validate our ticket before boarding the train, which we weren't notified of whatsoever, and from this we were fined £44 each. Sigh. Nevertheless, the journey continues.

Continuing on, we got to our station, Porto Di Mare at around 10:30, and made our way to our airbnb by foot. Once we arrived, we were welcomed by a sweet cleaner who didn't speak English, but guided us to our room. Still locked and with no key, we waited outside after pressing the bell every few minutes. After contacting the airbnb host, it turns out we needed to go to a separate address to pick up the keys which was a 10 minute walk away. Not too bad of a walk, but for sleep-deprived, hungry and thirsty us, it was a trek. 

After slavishly walking to the given address, we were instructed to search for the keys in postbox no.33. Nothing. A lot of back and forth later, the host told us to wait for her to meet us at the original airbnb location where she handed us the keys personally and offered a refund for the first night in return for the troubles of having us walk and wait around for maybe an hour for the keys.

Once we got inside, we all quickly got cleaned up and got ready to head back out. Since we lost a day in Milan, we had to merge our plans into two days. The flea market I wanted to visit at Viale Papiniano only opens bi-weekly on Saturdays and Tuesdays from 8:30-2pm. Given the tight time schedule, it was around 12:30 by the time we all got ready. We decided to take an uber to the market to document as much as we can before it closes and take the tube to Duomo after. 

Viale Papiniano's flea market is one of the largest ones in all of Milan, hosting vintage clothing, shoes, accessories, food stalls and everyday household and beauty items. While walking there, I was so surprised by the size of the market, and how many people were there. The market reminded me of similar flea markets we have back home, but most of them have been transformed into tourist destinations, Randall sold the same jade bracelets, "I love Hong Kong" tees, you get the idea. But I could tell 5 minutes in that this wasn't really a tourist destination, the vendors and customers all spoke in Italian, there were ethnic minorities with their children, teenagers, and us looking around as if we'd never seen cloth draped before. 

I loved the atmosphere of the market, it was the crowded but everyone was so nice, and there was something interesting everywhere we looked. Prior to visiting, I was under the impression that it was only going to be a few stalls, but the market kept us happily occupied for around an hour. 

After visiting Duomo, we were all exhausted so we decided to go back to our airbnb and take a nap before heading out for dinner.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant in the Navigli canal district called "officiel 12" where I had veal with a creamy risotto, Kyla got a pasta dish and Chanelle got the calamari. The food was overall pretty good, and we were stuffed so we had a nice stroll along the canal. During the dinner we talked about where we wanted to visit in the future, and a bit of small talk. There were a few awkward silences as I think we were all tired, and I felt I was the person in between Chanelle and Kyla connecting them together in conversations most of the time, and since we instilled a rule of only speaking one language so that we don't exclude Chanelle in any conversations, I noticed Kyla was a bit more quiet when she had to speak English.

There was an interesting duality to Milan at day and when the sun went down, it was peaceful, with groups of friends and heading out for a drink with faint music playing in the background. It was a refreshing break from the fast pace of London, and even Milan during the day. We were exhausted by the time we finished dinner and had a little stroll, and we passed out as soon as we got back to our airbnb. It's my day tomorrow so I'll need to make sure we don't get up too late and that we stay on schedule.

After visiting Fondazione Prada, we took a tube to Brera district. The district known for their antique markets and also called the "artistic heart" of the city was on both Chanelle and my to go list, so I was glad we made time to check it out regardless of our lost day. 

Picturesque like the rest of Milan we've seen, there were many small alleyways leading to flats, schools, and private offices that could easily be mistaken for photo sets. There was a different color scheme between every other building and terrace. We decided to just walk through the streets and see if we find anything interesting. 

After spending at this point 2 continuous days with my partners I can see where our strengths lie and I do think we all managed to work together well. I often found myself initiating the time to set off and how long we should spend at each location to keep on top on our schedule whereas Kyla and Chanelle were in charge of navigation. Additionally, I felt we all chose interesting locations that managed to benefit everyone.

In Brera, I managed to do quite a few observational drawings and take photographs on my phone before it sadly died. We also went to an interesting thrift store and vintage store that turned out to be one of the favorite places we'd go in Milan. The vintage art store championed the phrase, "Everything old is new again" and featured pop art inspired home decor, clothing, art pieces (of an embroidered Mona Lisa with stitch), embroidered underwear, records, and jewelry. If I could I would have bought the whole store.