Something about work at the RSA
Curtis spoke at the RSA this week, sharing his Something about work talk with an eager group of people interested in the future of work. Among the many discussions afterwards, including topics like ownership of time and loving what you do, one stuck out. One member of the audience suggested that nobody is given a job, and that everybody has a choice. There were many in the audience that disagreed with this idea.
People Watching - Wolff Olins interview Curtis
"Read on for Curtis’ views on the storytelling power of physical artefacts, the language gaps that divide workers and their bosses, the potential symbiosis between personal and corporate purpose, as well as what “more human” should mean at work and who Curtis is looking to document next…"
Perspective
The Fieldwork office is closed between the 31st of August and the 19th of September. Curtis and Emily (Fieldwork designer) are taking two weeks out to hike between St Bee's and Robin Hoods Bay. It's about 200 miles and will entail 14 days of hiking, thousands of metres climbed and many nights camping out under the stars.
Reconnect with working life
Back in January 2015 we designed a DIY ethnography kit as part of the tools Fieldwork uses with its clients. We’ve now produced hundreds of these kits and they’ve been used in multiple companies to help employees get to know their own work and company in a way they hadn’t done before.
Something About Work
Curtis has been working on this talk for a long time. It really encapsulates why he set up Fieldwork, and the power that gathering and sharing stories about humans at work can have.
Everyday Fieldwork - Preparing for the march
Policemen and women are preparing for a protest march in the grounds of Somerset House in London. There were an estimated 40,000 people expected to march on this freezing cold December day in 2012.
Everyday Fieldwork - Waiting, lost, tired, somewhere else
5 people sit on a bench at Universal Studio's in Florida. The first lady looks into the distance, or maybe she is looking at a friend in the long queue opposite, hoping the wait won't be too long. The second lady stares at the park map, working out where to go next. The man next to her rubs his eyes, maybe in tiredness after days wandering around theme parks full to the brim with Thanksgiving visitors. The second man sits, staring into space, hands together, fingers interwoven, maybe with stress and anxiety. The last lady covers part of her face with her hand and crosses her legs away from the man next to her.
Everyday Fieldwork - Immersed in someones head
A group of people sit on the floor at an exhibition called "Brains: The mind as matter" at the Wellcome Trust. They stare at an unseen television screen showing a surgical procedure on a patients brain.
Everyday Fieldwork - Bank Holiday Special
On a damp, hot bank holiday weekend at the Black Lion Pub in Brighton, DJ Mac McRaw is playing records to the crowd at a Vinyl Veterans all-dayer. A makeshift rain cover has been erected so that the party can continue through the rain.
Everyday Fieldwork - Tanning
Two men are working in a tannery in the heart of Marrakech, Morocco. One of them is removing animal skins from lime baths. The smell of decaying flesh and animal urine is in the air.
Everyday Fieldwork - Straws
A man and women stand in front of an archway made of multicoloured straws. The woman has her arm in a sling, the man carries a bag and they look like they might be lost.