30th November - project research... 'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

30th November - Project Research... 'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

Scarves, Textiles Designers

'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

It is unusual to find scarves created by textile designers, many of their designs have been used anonymously by major scarf manufacturers.

Raoul Dufy is a pioneer of early scarf design, a French artist inspired by the art nouveau movement. In 1912, Dufy worked exclusively for Bianchini-Ferier, a silk weaving firm. His scarves are virtually impossible to fined, except through private auction houses.

Tammis Keefe was an American designer whose scarves are easily obtainable. Trained in the 1930, most of her designs are based in the 1940s which usually depict animals or American landmarks. Many of her mass-produced patterns are still available.

Sandra Rhodes is an extremely successful British fashion and textile designer whose designs are inspired by the 1930s. Much of her work is based on sketchbooks kept whilst on her travels where a variety of motifs are collected together. Her scarves are hand screen-printed on chiffon, tulle and silk.

Althea McNish provided designs in the 1950/60s for a number of well established scarf companies such as Libertys and Jacqmar. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, McNish was one of the first black British textile designers who brought large, colourful Caribbean florals to post-war Britain. McNish was never credited by name on her scarves.

29th November - project research... 'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

29th November - Project Research... 'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

Scarves, Artist Scarves

'Scarves' Nicky Albrechtsen and Fola Solanke

From the start of the 20th century, artists have used scarves as a soft canvas for their work. After the Second World War when the art market was trying to recover after the conflict, many artists were brought in to create designs for the commercial textile market, including scarves.

Ascher Ltd was the first company to work with established artists in creating scarf designs. The majority of these designs were created between 1943 and 1951 with more than 50 artists contributing. However, it is not Ascher that is most well known for the commission of these scarves, many designs were commissioned by Jacqmar. Each of the scarves were treated as fine art and although we're not commercially successful, inspired trends key to the 1940s and 50s.

29th November - Scarf Sketchbook, Colour Scheme Choices

29th November - Scarf Sketchbook, Colour Scheme Choices

A quick and easy way to narrow down my movement towards creating a final design quickly is to start off with a focused colour scheme. If I try to keep to this colour scheme throughout all of the stages of research, drawing and development, then I can experiment further with design and composition, adding my colour scheme later on. This is not a way of working that is approved by my tutor, but I feel that after my tutorial of 27th November, my focus should be more of the design rather than the use of colour scheme.

Focus of the colour scheme, a scarf from the LIBERTYS collection

Larger scale colour scheme displaying all the visible colours from the scarf image

Smaller, chosen colour scheme for this project.

28th November - Starting Pointing, Scarf Sketchbook, High-Street Research

28th November - Starting Pointing, Scarf Sketchbook, High-Street Research

To start the re-think of the scarf sketchbook section of this project I have decided to complete some visual research based on what is already out their for my target audience, Women aged 18-45. Looking at what is on offer for my target audience on the high street, both lower end and higher end. this has given me a valuable insight into the creation of the scarf and the colour scheme I decide to use.

A rail of scarves from MATALAN

Detail of scarf from collection at MATALAN

Autumn/winter collection, from the NEXT catalogue

Collection of scarves, autumn/winter from LIBERTYS

Following my research into the high-street market I think I need to redefine the focus of this project, after all I am looking into architecture of Norwich. I think that all my previous designs have been to focused around a must to look 'pretty', they all have a floral feel to them. I am looking at architecture, so I think my repeat structures need to be more structured. 

28th November - Explanation of Change of Direction for Project.

28th November - Explanation of Change of Direction for Project.

Following my individual tutorial on the 27th November, I have decided to re-think the way I am working in both sketchbooks of this project. Whilst in the tutorial, there were two main points which kept coming up in both sketchbooks;

1. I need more primary images and first hand drawing for more motifs, so I will have more to work with.
2. More research is definitely needed. this will created a more informed project and my designs will have more of a purpose.

I now hope that because I have a focus to the sketchbooks again that I shall get more work done, that I will be more infused to create more work.

As posted yesterday, the notice about my change in the course of my work will be placed in each of my sketchbooks to give a clear indication of my step backwards and re-visiting of research. I aim to post on here more regularly to keep a record of my progress for me and others, to keep up the momentum.

My first starting point will be the second sketchbook, based on the creation of a repeat scarf as a final product, after this I will go back to the first sketchbook.
I will start both projects with further research and more sources of primary visual research

27th November - Individual Tutorial, A Change To Plan

 27th November - Individual Tutorial, A Change To Plan

Following a tutorial on the 27th November, I have decided to re-think the progress of this project BA4.
I shall be taking a step backwards thinking carefully about colour and context especially.

27th November - Individual Tutorial

27th November  - Individual Tutorial

Contextual Studies - digital design focus

Contextual Studies - digital design focus

Digital print textile designers

Becky Earley - beckyearley.com, photographic approach. Recycling

Kate Goldsworthy

Cyril Walter Crentsil - menswear pattern designer based on quilting

Liberty Digital Print Collection

Melanie Bowles - makeitdigital@blogspot.com, discusses globalisation and individual communities. 'consumer curated design'

Claudia Catzeflis -subtle digital design

Mary Katrantzou - everyday object digital prints

TED - Textile Environment Design

Alexander McQueen

Prada

These are just few of many designers who are following the digital trend and have adapted their way of working, moving into areas of digital print,beach from a very different angle. 

For presentation, research three examples of a great presentation layout - magazines etc.

                             Look at the balance of images and text.

25th November, email presentation to Les. Bring to contextual studies to talk through layout.

Lecture - Lisa Stickley/Levis

Lecture - Lisa Stickley/Levis 
http://www.bettyandwalter.com/pages/about

THE BETTY & WALTER STORY

Creative founder of Betty & Walter, Lisa Levis (nee Stickley) is a British designer known for her unique & illustrative Prints. Inspired by mid 20th century design and influenced by people & places significant to her, Lisa’s designs begin life as drawings & paintings of her own hand.

Aunty and Uncle to Lisa, Betty & Walter lived in The Bungalow on 5 Elms Road. Being cattle dealers for the local farm, most working days were spent at cattle markets and the rest of their time was filled with cooking steak and kidney pie, tending to honeysuckle and harvesting raspberries, going to parties to play matchbottle and newmarket and drinking Camp Coffee!

Uncle Walter often wore chestnut coloured trousers and enjoyed watching the horse racing on a Saturday in his armchair. Aunty Betty had a fondness for marble cake which she would eat whilst wearing her flowery apron.

Betty & Walter is a brand with product of good value & quality. With its twist of vintage retro B&W accessories are feminine, practical and easy to use, complete with well thought out functionality and attention to detail.

Bags and purses with quirkily hidden printed pockets, brilliantly bold blocky handles and considered features the Betty and Walter bag does its job whilst being wittily stylish at the same time. With mugs, tea towels, aprons and frilly pinnies, B&W is a cheery addition to your kitchen too!

A little Lisa Levis!

Placement Lecture

Placement Lecture

The lecture today was based on our placements in a design area. these can take place at any time during this year, but aren't assessed until the end of BA6. During Ba6 we will have to complete a 2000 word essay describing, summarizing and evaluating our time spent in our placement. as well as this we will have to give a 10 minute presentation about how our placement has effected our sketchbook work. This will take place in May 2014.

From now on we will continue to talk about our placements, choosing our placements, writing our CVs and covering letters. everything needs to be PLANNED in advance. Can you afford it? Can you get there? Do you need accommodation? You need to be flexible!

1. Produce a creative CV (with images)
2. Write a covering letter

*ORGANISE PLACEMENT AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE*

Be persistent and don't be afraid of being a nuisance.

MAKE SURE YOU LET KAREN KNOW WHEN YOU WILL BE AWAY!!

Keep a detailed PDP journal based on your time at the placement.

MUST BE COMPLETED BY 16TH MAY 2014!!

Group Task, Printing Our Length

Group Task, Printing Our Length

Today we had out session in the print room, printing our group length. This was a very technical task, involving a lot of measuring and lining up, so our layered print would print as smoothly as possible, and would hopefully create a perfect layered print. This involved lining up the print pegs and masking the edges of the screens, so there would be no marks on the fabric.

After doing this we had to mix our colours. Because we were creating a large scale length, one of the tutors suggested that we use acid dyes on our silk instead of reactive dyes. This is because the acid dyes give a more vibrant colour on the silk. However, when experimenting with dyes and choosing our colour schemes we used reactive dyes,so when we came to mix our colours for our length we had to experiment a little to obtain the colours we had before...
15g of acid red : 500g of print paste.
12g of acid Navy : 500g of print paste.

Then we were ready to print. we put our first screen down on our fabric and printed, but  some of the design smudged leaving blotches. We were told there could be a number of reasons because of this so we checked the screen to make sure it was ok and were careful when we next printed it not to put so much dye down. When we printed it the second time the print came out fine, which even confused the tutor. Perhaps the fabric was a little damp?

From here, we repeated the print until we had finished both layers of the desgn, images displayed below. I think the design looked absolutely amazing, the blue and red worked very well together. 

EXHIBITION - The March Hare Collective and Green Initiative @ The Apex

EXHIBITION - The March Hare Collective and Green Initiative @ The Apex

Today I went to the 'March Hare Collective and Green Initiative at the Apex, Bury St Edmunds. This was an exhibition of local artists with a green or Eco-friendly message to their work as well as local Eco-friendly business initiatives.

There was a wide array of hand crafted goods and pieces from, natural lip balms (the bees wax co.) to small sculptures carved from polished wood. Whilst looking around at the huge exhibition I was particularly interested in these amazing stained glass pieces created from reclaimed glass and natural dyes.

Another art, card attached, created textile landscapes using felted sheeps wool to create landscapes based on the Yorkshire moors. These pieces were bold and vibrant, ans whilst a tricky material was used, no compromise was made in term of quality. The animals in each of the pieces were clear, and there was a defined landscape. 

The exhibition was a little chaos and there was things to look at, at every angle. This is probably because of the nature of the exhibition, more of a trade show, with artists selling there work. Each stall/area was different, but it was all focused around the idea of being Eco and using what we have around us to create pieces of art. I enjoyed this as it made me think about all the possibilities of one subject area. This is evident in our own work focusing on Norwich. Although we all have the same project title, we have taken very different routes and technique choices, but will end up with similar outcomes, not in style but in object, a scarf.