Myvillages.org - Our villages

Kathrin is a founding member and partner of the London based artist/architect collective public works, and she's also a founding member of myvillages.org. She grew up in Höfen, a village of 200 residents in Upper Frankonia, Southern Germany. In 2004 she started, together with the "Höfer Frauen" (an informal group of around 30 women from the village), "Höfer Goods". "Höfer Goods" derive from stories, skills, materials and ambitions amongst the group, and are launched annually during the village fete on the first weekend in October. A product designer from outside the village collaborates with the group on shaping ideas and developing new produce. Angelika Seeschaaf from eeaa Design has been involved in 2006 and 2008. "Höfer Waren" is ongoing.	Village Fete and Höfer Goods / Kirchweihwochenende und Höfer Waren 2006 05 October 2006 Kathrin and Angelika on the day of the launch, in front of the community house. The development process of the two porcelain products was on display - from prototype to cast. Walter Böhm has been making "Höfer Froschwasser" for years - schnaps distilled from local pear and plums and apples. For the village fete we expanded the range to juices and other liqueur. Made from porcelain, edition 100. A spoon to skim cream off the milk, a knife to spread butter and a stamp to print a frog's footprint onto the butter. Developed as a product after the fable of the frog that falls in a pot with cream. Made from porcelain, edition 100. A frog tries to escape the bottle - but gets stuck. Wapke came along to make the event truly "international" and to spread the word. THANKS AGAIN! The voluntary fire service team during erecting the village fete tree, accompanied by some brass band music. Rosa and Hildegard decided to extend the opening hours of the photo exhibition, and to have it open on the Monday as well. For two days we presented and sold the Höfer Goods alongside other produce from the women in the village. We also had a photo exhibitions with more than 200 pictures collected from all the households, that showed the village and village life from the recent and further past. The scepticism running up to the event was surprisingly high, but was deflated by an overwhelming success during the two days. Everybody from the village with the whole families came along - often more than one time - plus lots of visitors from elsewhere. We were sold out, had large order numbers for the spoons and korks, and it was clear that we would do it all again the following year. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Workshops and produce development 2006 05 May 2006 Manfred Frey made all the casting molds to produce the porcelain kork and spoon. "Volpertingers" appear on 1st April, and are "collaged" animals with features from a number of creatures. It s a regional myth, and was useful as a metaphor to start brainstorming new produce: we started with literally putting differen For the first workshop Resi brought all the frogs from her house and garden. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Introduction Höfen / Höfen stellt sich vor 02 October 2004 Höfer Frauen is a self initiated and informal group of around 25 women from the village. The group is also the main collaborator for the Höfer Waren project. Höfen is a typical 'road village" of roughly 200 residents, that has developed along one road. Only recently have houses been built in a new residential area that has its own road. The village is part of the wider[urlblank=http://www.markt-rattelsd The photo was taken by a travelling photograph at around 1920 and shows the main road with the original chapel at the far end. The original village fete stall was run by Niklas and Hilde Böhm and their family, who also owned the local grocery shop. It stopped in 1974 and was replaced by two commercial stalls coming in from outside. They disappeared around 1995, due to poor sales. It was the second time I've been asked to do the stage painting for a village celebration. This time it was the 125 anniversary of the voluntary fire services and the painted cars somehow proof that I "can paint". Which made it very easy to be r When we started to think about myvillages.org, we visited each other's village, and Wapke described this moment as "walking into a new art space". I left Höfen after my A levels, and mainly came back to visit my family. I also did a number of stage paintings for local festivals, a commission for the local sports hall, and the occasional invitation card design. So everybody knows that I am an artits, but don't really know what I do as such. "Höfer Waren" allowed for a different relationship. It is a mutual agreement between the Höfer Frauen and me, to become collectively productive and to set up a stall and exhibition during the village fete - as an opportunity for the village to come together, to invite guests and to get more exchange going again. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Schürzen Show / Apron Show 01 October 2004 Paulina Nellie Rosa Elsa Waltraud Waltraute Ingrid Angelika Gertrud Hildegard Claudia This series of photographs happened alongside one of the brainstorm workshops for new products - and kind of suggests the production of great Apron Calendar. But we decided to keep this idea for another time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++	Entries 36-39 / 39 << newer
		Entries 36-39 / 39 << newer