Library Research - 'Inspiration Tricia Guild', Notes

Below are a few notes taken from the book "inspiration Tricia Guild" looking into a few of Tricia Guild's sources of inspiration.

One of the first is the artist 'Matisse'. For Tricia Guild, Matisse has been a great source of inspiration, she is particularly interested in his colour usage, painting with pattern, graphics and black and white whilst being able to create a spirit, a lifeness in his work. Guild believes that Matisse's work sums up the the way she tends to work too in the interior design sector, the vibrant colours, the patterns, the mix of stripes as well as florals, fruits and flowers.

Matisse

In this section of the book on Matisse one quotation sticks in my head. When being asked whether Tricia Guild believes there is a great spontaneity in Matisse's work she replies...

"True, but that seeming effortlessness belies the hard work and thought involved in everything he did".

Matisse

I think this sums up the ideas that I need to develop in my own work. My ideas may be quite simple in the final ideas/designs at the end of the project, but it is the journey that gets me there which shows all the effort that went into it. The final designs may be easy to recreate, but it is the journey which has got me there which is equally important. When I work, I try to put as much as I can into one design to create layers and texture to make the design have depth and a degree of complication, but it often looks a mess. I think I need to take a step backward and think carefully about how I develop this project of work. One or two simple, well executed and detailed layers to a design is much better than five or six which are a little messy and make the colours dull and muddy.

Another artist/designer which inspire Tricia Guild is Luis Barragan, described as creating minimalism with soul. Tricia Guild describes how Luis Barragan created soulful minimalism, using wall like sculptures and colour to bring definition to a space.

Luis Barragan

The use of Luis Barragan's colour in his architecture inspires Guild, as it was never exaggerated or coarse, that colour can be joyful and vibrant,but too much of it can have a negative effect. In his work, Barragan used hot colours, complimented by softer shades and lots of white and natural elements such as sand, stone or water. Barragan himself said, "beauty, inspiration, magic, sorcery, enchantment, and also serenity, mystery, silence, privacy, astonishment... All of those have found a loving home in my soul." Tricia Guild believes this is how she tries to work, imagining herself living i the space she is designing. 

Luis Barragan

I think that Luis Barragan's work is amazing, to have the ability and will power to design something simple, stylistic and soulful without adding in too much and going over the top. He knew when he had added enough to his designs, and colour was very important. This is a hard lesson to learn, but I must try to apply it to my own work.

In fact, I find lots of ideas in this book really interesting, which relate to the way Tricia Guild, the extremely successful founder of the designers guild, works, how design should be.

"Flowers do not have to be arranged to be appreciated"

"Sometimes the simplest things are the best."

"People always ask where inspiration comes from, and sometimes you don't always know...."