Degree Show 2015 Review

Tamzin Riches

I have chosen to review the work of Tamzin Riches because this was my absolute favourite of all of the work I saw throughout the degree show. I was immediately drawn to her work because of the amazing detailed illustrative element. What also really draws me in is the monochrome colour palate that she uses. Throughout my own work I feel that using a monochrome colour palate has worked very well for me in the past and it is definitely something that I will be using throughout my work in my final year. I am also fascinated by the way she is able to put her own thoughts and visions down on paper in such a detailed and intriguing way. The theme of mythology in her work is something that I believe links closely to my own practice, as this is something I am very interested in. I myself have started to look into the theme of mythology and mysticism for my own project.

Krista Murtagh

I really love the colours and the textures that Krista uses. I am really inspired by the mark making that feature in her work, as I feel that it is quite similar to my own mark making techniques. The vibrancy of the colours she uses was what caught my initial attention and captivated my interest to try using more colour myself. I have been told on a few occasions that I need to bring more colour into my own practice and be more experimental with it. I feel after seeing her work that I am inspired to try exploring colour more, especially bright bold colours. Through viewing the work of both of these artists it has given me an idea to use a monochrome colour pallet, complimented by very bright possibly neon colours.

Connor Peploe

The thing that I really like about Connor’s work is how diverse it is. What I initially loved was the brand he created called Steeplejack. This really appeals to me, as this is the direction that I want to take my own work in. I would love to be able to create a successful alternative lifestyle brand. Not only did I like the initial look of this but also I loved the concept behind it. The brand being based in Bolton and being named Steeplejack after Fred Dibnah is a real selling point to me. I think the ‘Made in Britain’ quality about his work is what I find really appealing. I am hoping to keep a Made in Britain quality throughout the work that I produce, as I am aware that it is a very on trend concept due to ethical and economical factors, which matter to both the manufacturer and client. Not only did I love his branding work but I also like his illustrative style and the importance of the local Manchester areas within his work.

Unit X- Reflections

In the final stages of this project I have been working hard to finalise all of my work so that it would be ready for the exhibition. This meant finishing and backing all of my samples to a high standard and choosing my final collection to be displayed along side my cushions. I am glad that I made the decision to have my fabric printed onto cotton canvas. I chose this as I thought that this was the most durable yet professional looking fabric for my prototypes. If something is designed to be used in the home then it must be durable and not easily broken. Also the cushion covers can be removed and washed in a washing machine easily without any risk of warping or shrinking. Although I could have experimented with more fabric testing I still feel that I have made an appropriate choice. Although I would have liked the opportunity to experiment with more printing methods, I felt due to the time scale this would be unrealistic to produce work to the best of my ability.

I was initially quite nervous at the thought of displaying my work in the exhibition as I sometimes find it difficult to pick the strengths and weaknesses within my own work, as I am not very confident. But I am pleased with this project and although I am out of my comfort zone displaying my work, I am confident that I have tried my hardest to push myself and ensure that the work that I have produced is to the best of my ability. I feel that I have chosen my final collection well and I am pleased with my selections. Here are some of the fabric samples from my final collection

After my last tutorial I focused on trying to create a brand for myself. I created some tag designs that I had printed on fabric and made into tags to add to my cushions. As well as this I have been creating mock ups on Photoshop of some promotional style products using my logo and designs for this project. This was something very unfamiliar to me but after doing lots of contextual research I thought I would try it. Although this is something I have never done before I found it very rewarding to be able to visualize the possibility of having my own brand. Here are some of the branding images I have created

I feel like throughout this project I have engaged well with what has been asked of me. I particularly enjoyed the very beginning of the project where my imagination could explore the Whitworth and all of the possibilities that I could design and make. Also attending workshops gave me a much broader sense of what other people do on their courses and how different their way of working is in comparison to my own discipline. I have gained a much greater appreciation for other contexts and way of working, especially 3D design, as this is the subject that the girls from my collaborative group study. Although I was unable to attend all of my tutorials due to illness, I felt that I learned a lot about my own work and the work of others by attending these. I have been really inspired by some of the ideas and creative ways of working that some other students have had. Meeting up with my collaborative group has been the part of this project that I feel I have engaged with the most. It has helped me see the strengths and weaknesses within my work but also has helped me see this amongst the work of others; this can sometimes be difficult when looking at work from another discipline. Because of meeting up with my group I was able to see a clear development within my work based on the feedback that they were giving me. This has helped me improve and develop my designs and push myself further and out of my comfort zone. I can also identify development within my work, not only through my print designs but also within my passion for designing, creating and making. Throughout this project I felt myself enjoying the project more as I progressed through it. I think this was because I was receiving regular feedback on my work from a range of different sources, tutorial groups, course friends, my collaborative group and interdisciplinary points of view all played a major roll in the success of this project for me. Receiving regular feedback and, more often than not, receiving positive feedback really gave me the confidence boost that I needed to push my work further and get me to the end of the project without hitting a major creative block. I think the main aspect of this project that I could improve on would be my initial research and initial drawings. I always find myself getting one idea and sticking to it from a very early point. In future I am going to try and push myself further at this stage to create more opportunities and ideas for myself to develop.

When setting up my exhibition I had to think creatively as to how I would display my work creatively and professionally for other art students and the public to see. This made me very nervous although I tried many different ways until I was 100% sure that my work was displayed clearly and effectively to show it at its best. Setting up the exhibition also pushed my collaborative and team working skills as it was a very congested area where we all needed to work together to make the whole operation run as smooth and as successfully as it could. I feel like I really pushed myself in this aspect, as it was a very long and tiring day setting everything up. It was also very clear to see other students not putting much or any effort in with helping at all. I was at the session from morning until night making sure everything was ready for the exhibition opening, and through doing this as it gave me such a sense of achievement to see how successful it all looked on the opening night.

Throughout this project I feel that I have made good and informed choices as apposed to just doing something because I wanted to. I have thought carefully at the type of product I wanted to design for after visiting the Whitworth’s retail outlet I decided I would like to design for cushions on the basis that it would be a reasonably priced souvenir product with a purpose and a function which people can take how and still have the concept of bringing the outdoors indoors. I chose my colour pallet carefully and chose the designs I would use on my final outcomes because they fit in with the ‘Playful’ theme that the Whitworth uses to describe itself. Throughout this project I have witnessed my own work and my confidence grow and develop. I think that creating and designing cushions could definitely be something that I want to develop and pursue in the future as part of my career. Also it has taught me to think about the context of my work and how I portray myself, and my image as a designer. Overall I feel like I have gained a lot of experience by doing this project that I will take with me into the future whilst perusing my career goals of becoming a professional textile designer.

Unit-X- Investigations

As I discussed with my group the theme of using reclaimed wood was a one we all thought would work well for my project, and the idea of bringing the outside inside. However I realised from their views that using this as the main focus for my project was not going to translate well for an interior setting. Therefor we decided together that a good starting point for this would be to use the reclaimed wood as drawing utensils. I have used sticks in previous projects to create drawn work and I feel that they have worked well for me as I think that rough and sketchy drawings are the style that I work in. However I was very surprised at some of the interesting and personal marks I was able to create with these. As I started to create my initial drawings I was trying to focus on the playful aspect that the Whitworth use. I was doing this by aiming my designs at a younger audience. Here are some examples of my initial drawings.

I started to create designs using my initial drawings. At first I wasn’t sure where I saw my designs going so I looked at lots of different interior outcomes such as; cushions, blinds, lampshades, wallpaper and feature posters. I thought that my initial designs were successful and I was very pleased with the colour scheme I had chosen to use, based on colours I had chosen from existing products within the gallery’s retail outlet. Here is my colour board

Although I found my initial designs successful I was uncertain that I was hitting my target audience. I felt that my designs although playful, where for a more mature audience. I met up with my group to discuss this and receive some feedback on my initial designs. My group also agreed that my designs were more suited to adults. I decided to take on a new approach with my project and instead of changing my designs; I would carry on working in this way and aim my designs at adults as apposed to children. My group and I thought that this was the best decision to make, as they all really liked my initial designs and colour scheme. Having meetings with my group has really helped me to see the strengths and weaknesses within my work as they are looking at it from a 3D disciplinary angle, whereas usually the only other people would view my work would be textiles students also. I feel that this has been a key aspect for my work developing because I do not know what kind of discipline the client or consumer of my product will have. Therefor having interdisciplinary views on my work has vastly improved the quality and strengthened my own initial ideas. Here are a few examples of my initial designs.

These are some more developed designs I have created after receiving feedback from my tutorials and my group.

After looking at lots of contextual research of interior settings and home furnishings I decided that I would carry on developing the print designs I had already created, but also I would start designing specifically for a cushion outcome. As I thought that this would be an achievable outcome to actually produce within the time frame that I have. I will be aiming to design and make 3 complete cushions that sit well together as part of a larger collection of print designs. As well as this, from feedback I have received from my group and tutorials I will also apply my designs to other outcomes as visualisations. This way the client will be able to see all of the possibilities that my designs could be applied to without me having to make the outcome itself. Here are some of my developed designs that could be applied to cushions.

Although I have designed prints for cushions before I have never actually tried making them as an outcome. Therefor I was very pleased with the way that they turned out although, I had to have a few attempts. Because I have actually made them this time I have gained a greater appreciation for the context of my design work. Here are my final cushions.

Although I would love to be able to actually make more outcomes for my project, due to time and uncertainty of the making process I will not be able to create any more project outcomes. However I have created these digital visualisations to show my print designs in different contexts.

I met up with my group today before I had my sign up tutorial and I was very interested to see how much progress we had all made in the past week. I am very appreciative of their discipline and how 3 people all doing 3D design could come up with 3 amazing concepts that are all so different but are all working very successfully in their own way.

For the next part of my project I will be focusing on finalizing all of my sample work and creating boards that accurately explain my projects key items to an outside audience. I will do this with the intent of displaying these boards alongside my fabric samples and my final cushions at the exhibition. Although I do not think that all of my designs have been successful I will still display all of the sample work that I have created. After attending my sign up tutorial this week I received very positive feedback from both tutors and I was very pleased. The only advice they were able to give me was to start creating a brand for myself, as I hadn’t really thought about this. So the next task I will be undertaking is creating things like business cards and tags for my cushions. Hopefully through researching branding I will be able to further my contextual research and knowledge. Here are my initial designs for these

 Here are my final tags

Unit X- Research

This week was the launch of Unit X. For my Unit X project this year I have chosen to do a project called Whitworth Limited Editions. For this project we have been invited to develop proposals, samples and prototypes for products to be sold in the Whitworth’s retail outlet. Within the timeframe of the project I will not necessarily be able to produce a finished product; therefore it is important to consider throughout how my ideas are communicated to an audience. After the project launch presentation we were asked to bring a wide range of creative materials and sets of multiples. From these multiples and materials we created new design ideas to create innovative products. Here are some images from the making session.

Also we had to do a task called 'speed dating' for this we were asked to prepare a small 2-minute speech and bring an example of our work. Then we worked our way round the room talking to as many people as we could to describe our work in 2 minuets. I found this task very useful to see other peoples work and find people who I would be interested in collaborating with. I also found the task quite enjoyable and fast pace. I was lucky enough to be asked by 3 girls if I would like to collaborate with them on this project, not creating 1 outcome but just to meet up and share our ideas, as we all have similar thoughts about this project. The girls I am working with are all from 3D design, which is a subject I am very interested in. I am especially keen to learn about the way they work and how they interpret this project from another discipline's point of view.

Today we went on an organized visit to the Whitworth art gallery. Although I have already visited the gallery independently a few times in the past, it was much more helpful and interesting getting a tour. I started the day by being shown textile examples from the Whitworth archive here are some photographs of the ones I found most interesting as they relate to my own practice as i am very inspired by all of the colours and the detailing that these items have on them. I feel older textiles from the archives are more interesting than modern textiles because i feel they have some sort of story behind them and thats why they are still so interesting and engaging to look at. 

I found all the parts of the Whitworth interesting but I found the gift shop talk from the commercial team was the most engaging and informative to me. Looking at the products and being given information about the products it was very clear to see the key concepts of the Whitworth being; Playful, Personal and intelligent within the products that they already sell. I was able to get a clear feeling and understanding of the audiences that i could design for. This understanding was vital in helping me think of my own ideas to be sold in the shop as i realise how important it is that my product would fit within the shop. Here are some of the image I took which I found most inspirational. I found them inspirational because of the wide variety of objects the shop sold. I was inspired that i could let my imagination go of and think about all the possibilities i could think of whilst designing. The colours of the images in the gift shop were particularly inspirational as they were all quite different but at the same time they all sat very well together to create a very consistent look and feel throughout the store. 

After the tour of the park I am thinking about using the idea of reclaimed wood from Whitworth Park itself as a key concept in my design ideas. I think that this would fit in well with the words that characterise the Whitworth’s approach; Playful, Intelligent and Personal. I am thinking that my proposal could use any one of these words at this point to describe itself. Also by using reclaimed wood that has already fallen from the trees in the park, that this will be made with an ethical consideration. If I do not use the idea of reclaimed wood in some way or another, then I think the best thing to do would be to design for interiors as this is what i am most interested in. I intend to explore working with reclaimed wood as this is something i have never done before, however as it is not my area of practice working with these materials i am unsure as to how successful it will be. Therefor the idea i will choose to take forward will probably explore an area more close to my own practice and focus on interiors aimed at children. 

I attended the Alex Russell workshop because I am interested in trend forecasting and I thought this would be the most relevant to my work. I have always been interested in trend forecasting and I think it is a vital part when trying to design products, as no one is going to want to buy a product that is outdated, especially as the production time for some products can take years. I really enjoyed the lecture and I felt that I learned quite a lot about the subject, although I wasn’t expecting to learn as much as I did by completing the tasks in the workshop. In the workshop session I collaborated with Rachel Convery, and together we chose to look at environmental issues as our topic. We used post it notes to list a plethora of environmental issues and then chose 2 issues to focus on.

After gathering images to illustrate our 2 issues we then created 2 boards from these. We then presented these boards to the rest of the class.

This week i met up with my group and discuss my 3 ideas. This helped me a lot to see other people’s opinions. I found it very helpful as we are all looking at the same theme of nature and bringing the outside inside. We have all been very interested in the park and the idea of reusing wood. I initially wanted to use reclaimed wood as the main focus of my project but i have changed my idea after discussing with my group. I am going to use reclaimed wood and sticks as drawing tools to create the drawings and images for my designs. Here are my 3 ideas. The idea that i will be taking forward will be idea number 2. I have chosen to design for an interior setting and i feel that this project will work particularly well for children's interiors.