SDC competition

 

Subversive Pinwheels

Inspiration:

Design process:

My first ideas for this project came from a trend forecast called Subversive 21^st century avant-garde. Every word of the tiny paragraph from Textile View made me think of new possibilities. First I started to play around with the original colours of the forecast then I looked at photos of urban environment, colourful graffiti in particular. As I mixed up my colours I painted a sheet of paper with each. I ended up with a nice collection of shades to experiment with at the end. 

I wanted to create something playful so when I found a photo in my archive of a hortesia with its beautiful colours and another photo of red fish swimming around in a lake my brain put them together and I set up my first composition. It also provided me new colour combinations. 

I also found pictures of pinwheels in my archive. They made me think if I could put together a hortesia out of pinwheels. It would make my piece more 3D and they also refer to renewable energy. The exit table on the door in one of the photos gave me the idea to make the fish trying to escape from globalisation and found their way back to the nature where they belong to. The pinwheel photographs provided me a beautiful range of new colours so I was ready to set up my final colour chart.

Following the directions of the original trend forecast I used pictures from different art movements as an inspiration. I made a couple of pinwheels then I started to draw them in different styles using the same range of colour but in different proportion. 

At the end I combined all the different bits together and designed a flower built up of pinwheels with fish circulating between them. I scanned in the original image and started to play around with the background colour in Photoshop. It turned out that my final design goes with almost every single colour, which provides endless possibilities for final samples. I was happy to figure it out because it suits perfectly with my idea for the sustainable aspect.  

In terms of context I’d like to see my design as a reversible skirt with a special wax like coating. Recently water consumption amongst many other factors turned out to be a very important aspect when it comes to make a decision about sustainable fabrics. Water consumed during laundry is significant so if we have to wash our clothes less we can save a lot of water. The Swiss Schoeller Company developed a high-tech finish called ecorepel that can be applied on many different types of fabric. It makes clothing water, dust, and dirt proof but keeps it soft and breathable at the same time. I would print my design on silk because I’d like to give it a bit shininess to make it even more fun.

My research on sustainability:

 

Sketchbook work:

Final designs:

Context:

 

Bradford Competiton

For this project we were asked to choose a couple of designs from our previous sketchbooks as a starting point. I selected two designs from last year. I used the flower bit of the first one but my main inspiration was the second one.

During this trend forecasting project in last year I was looking at aged by time surfaces and rough textures. I've tried to combine the colours of the two pieces to set up my colour charts for the new project.

I had a look at the current trends and worn, blurred, and stressed fabrics still in fashion. In fact they forecasted to be best sellers in the future so I decided to start experimenting with texture. The photo below shows my wall above my desk where I taped all the inspiration I found.

My first experiments with texture...in terms of colour they are a disaster but they provided me a starting point to move on. I quite liked the creased pattern that I achieved by printing with crushed up tracing paper.

I kept experimenting with colour, drawings, and composition until I got an idea where to move on.

I painted a couple of textured pages in my sketchbook where I used masking fluid to make them more interesting. I repainted the flowers from my first inspirational piece and I also further developed the design with the holes (above) which I quite liked. Then I scanned everything in and started to play around in Photoshop.

I created more textured surfaces to get a good variety. I used mono-printing with/on different papers. I scanned these in as well and started to layer them up, colour them in on the computer.

I had several  trials because I found it very difficult to sort out the right colours in Photoshop. They were all very bold, and strong. They also turned out to be totally different once I printed them out. So I just kept experimenting...

Finally I decided to steal the colours from my favourite design and use them in my supporting samples. I ended up with a nice collection of digitally printed samples.

I thought my main sample would look nice in old interiors so i went to the library to find the perfect book:
The Well-Worn Interior by Robin Foster and Tim Whittaker.