FINAL GARMENT - PUBLIC ART

FINAL GARMENT - WTP

FINAL GARMENT - DECONSTRUCTED JACKET

FINAL GARMENT - DECONSTRUCTED JACKET

FINAL GARMENT - PUBLIC ART

FINAL GARMENT - WTP

FINAL GARMENT - WTP

FINAL GARMENT - DECONSTRUCTED JACKET

FINAL GARMENT - PUBLIC ART

FINAL GARMENT - WTP

FINAL GARMENT - DECONSTRUCTED JACKET

Evaluation of Pat 1

Part 1 has really taught me about what my passions are what what I want to do for the up coming projects. I know my strengths lie in finding an interesting starting point and working with a colour scheme and a mood for a project. And naturally this will develop into my own work. When I am curious about something it makes me want to explore it further and photography is my favourite way of documenting my findings. I then like to look at imagery, colour, pattern and texture and recreating these in a textile from. Then looking at what I make and developing more and more.. finding a mini obsession in what I'm doing, discovering more and more. For my next project I want to convey this sooo badly. I feel like If I overthink too much about the brief and worry too much about the short time period that I can't get to make anything exciting and even worth while. I want to in future use the brief as a starting point and go running what WHAT INSPIRES ME, and naturally I know that I can produce a successful outcome with my own findings and exploration. I know that I can develop my ideas while I just stop overthinking and just MAKE!

Game Plan:

  • Read the project Brief
  • Explore my interpretation of the theme of the brief
  • Find Big concepts/ideas of the project
  • Find ideas and concepts that genuinely interest me and which will inspire me
  • Research EXTENSIVELY after every project briefing and before class
  • Always check that my research is helping my development process
  • Don't rush my research or reflection
  • Connect my Research with my reflections
  • Don't just wait for inspiration - investigate, interpret and imagine
  • Mind map my thoughts about these concepts - this will help me choose better purposeful research
  • Learn to not be afraid of my observational drawings as they convey more of a mood over just using my photography
  • I need to be more purposeful with my research process as sometimes I find myself lost in too much research that I can't think properly when it comes to exploring ideas and making our final outcomes of samples or garments

Museum Activity

  • We could explore things it could be without knowing what it actually is
  •  We made very good analyses and found that we made very accurate assumptions of what the products is.
  • It was interesting to combine our own knowledge to come to a conclusion of what the objects was. By discussing our own responses to the object we were able to puzzle together our idea of what it was and what purpose it has.
  • I feel like this activity has help me with understanding alternative research and investigation methods. Instead of just researching and finding out exactly what an item is, by looking, feeling, observing and touching the actual product we can gather an alternative and personal perception of what the item is. I will use what I have learned in this activit in researching for future projects.

26.OCT.17

PUBLIC ART PROJECT

Creating my final garment... I decided to incorporate my favourite elements from the paper garment I created this week and my samples inspired by the chains and ruffles from my public art primary research photos.

I was quite uninspired by the lack of colour and pattern with this week's project.. and I found that whilst making my final garment today.
When it comes to photographing my final garment later on I would like to communicate my garment introducing some colour and pattern onto it. I will research some inspiration to help me inform my photography.

EVALUATION

In terms of what I would have done to improve this project is I would have looked at different areas of inspiration to inform my design ideas as this would developed my ideas further.
I would have looked further into design ideas inspired by the free form of dance with public art. This is because at the start of the project I was inspired by Madeleine Vionnets garemnts which were inspired by the modern dances of Isadora Duncan. It would also be interesting if I had incorporated looking into urban street dance movements and how this related to Graffiti public art as the Graffiti in my local area was also a huge factor of starting research for my project.

23.OCT.17

PUBLIC ART PROJECT
Public Art is something prestigious and are usually only found in expensive areas. In the are in which I live if Public Art where to be displayed it would most likely be trashed and certainly graffitied on.
Usually made from strong 'weatherproof' materials  to keep it in tact for displaying outside.

I went out to 'search for' public art's' in the borough of Chelsea and found mostly statues. Looking at the statue what I found most interesting was the rusting of the bronzes and metals rather then the statue itself. From the Albert Memorial I loved the Golds and royal patterns and I feel there is a hierarchy appearance to the whole memorial. The details of this Royal public art piece has give me a good idea for the colour scheme and theme where I want to start my project.

I also wanted to search for more 'real forms' of public art, as I realised that from your surroundings there were more interesting forms of what I considered 'public art' - such as the beautiful wall textures and colours… the rusts of the bridge made from weather erosion. I found these 'real' forms while I was on my journey in search for the public art statues in Chelsea.  There is an interesting contrast in the "REAL" public art and the public art that I found. I would like the explore this my project.
       I realised that there is a real respect for Public Art in the Chelsea area as it shouldn't be damaged and should only be appreciated. This contrasts interestingly with my interpretation of 'public art' which is the wall textures that HAVE been damaged and the graffiti, which a large portion of society believe to be a form of vandalism and is disreputable.

The "Public Art" that does exist in my local area is a form of destruction however this form of destruction is creating more PUBLIC ART!

1O.OCT.17

WHAT'S THE POINT?

Video Editing
We use the morning to work on developing our video. Initially we were stuck on where to start, with such a short amount of time and so much to achieve this week. It was my idea to go out and video clip our surroundings in archway. This initially started as a way to gather footage for my side of the video, however as we were out exploring, we found aspects that also related to the words of the other people in our group.
This made me realise that by just getting out with your camera and looking around you you'll be surprised on how much you can connect the ideas in your head to your surroundings.

After collecting enough video footage we discussed different ways of introducing our text into our video, such as the words scrolling through the video on a loop, or flashing onto the screen. In the end we decided to include the text flashing in and out between shots as this would create more of an impact to the viewer. I love how we managed to make the words so huge and cover the entire frame, as this really made the words shout to our viewer. This method of using the large bold lettering came from the fact that we were going to cut off the sound from our discussion while the words came onto our screen. This would allow the viewer a moment of silence so they can read the words in their mind.

Whilst editing we discovered that we could overlap our videos by adding an element of ' green screen'. This overlapping proved successful  as we finally managed to find how to connect our ideas in a visually pleasing way. We took video shots that connected to our words and overlapped them with a contrasting shot.

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Garment Development
Looking at back at the images i had collected the day before, I started to think of ideas to develop my paper garment. I wanted to try making another paper garment completely from scratch to see if I could come up with a better out come then the paper garment I made in the first week.
Unfortunately I spent too much time on this today and I feel like I have wasted most of the day doing this. This is because the outcome wasn't very successful as I found it didn't have near as much of an interesting silhouette as my first paper garment.
        I felt like the process was repetitive and I honestly didn't need to create another outcome. However I have learned that sometimes you need to brand out other ideas and make mistakes to truly inform yourself on which idea is best to take forth.
In the end I decided to go back to using my first paper garment as the basis for creating my final garment.

O8.OCT.17

WHAT'S THE POINT?

This week's project is called 'What's The Point?'. This week will give us the opportunity to look back on our projects to take all the skills we have learned to develop one of our projects in detail.
I looked back in my sketchbook and the work I have done so far and look at what I was most interested in and my stronger points and combine them for this project. Looking back I remembered that during the 'My Surroundings' day I had created an interesting silhouette with my large shapes and was desperate to develop this 'paper garment' into a real garment. What I also remember thinking at the end of that project was that I wanted to add some colour and texture to that plain white garment. I want to develop a final garment or idea of a final garment for this project.

I made the final decision on developing the 'Your Surroundings' paper garment also incorporating aspects I had learnt in 'Your Data' such as the concept of developing a print idea, and research and sample methods from 'The Practitioners Project'. This is because I want to incorporate PRINT, TEXTILE SAMPLE MAKING and garment construction all in one final outcome.

    What I found interesting from the 'Your Surroundings' project was our starting point. The fact that we were using our surroundings as inspiration for our drawings. This is because I personally enjoy finding the interesting aspects of the world around me to inspire me. Personally I have a strong connection and enjoy findings something interesting in something in my surroundings that some else would just disregard, not take much notice or consider unimportant. I find that I very much take pride in finding the beauty in atypical aspects of my surroundings (eg- the photo I took of the chaotic wires inside an open power box down the road from my house). I find that I can explore in depth and I have much curiosity when it comes to observing unusual findings in my surroundings rather then using typically beautiful forms of inspiration.
   I plan to use a lot of primary research methods, such as first hand photographing and observational drawing outside to inform my design process, as I find this will enrich the project I had started in the first week of the course.

O4.OCT.17

THE PRACTITIONER PROJECT

SAMPLE DEVELOPMENT

Today was a self study day. I decided to use the day to finish my A3 sample and produce my 6 developed samples.
   Through the sequence of creating my samples, I found that after completing one this would lead to the creation of another. For example I found myself using the scraps from one sample I had just made, as a basis of material to create another sample. (add photo of diagram - flag and triangle) I found this helpful as, having to work to a deadline, I found myself having to generate ideas quickly and this allowed me to think quickly.
   This particular sample making process was effective because although both samples are visually completely different and serve a different purpose, they both posses the same vibe as they have the same colour and material.
    In addition I enjoyed doing this because I was producing less waste which is a subject which I strongly stand for and always like to incorporate in my work.

      After creating my 6 developed samples and large A3 sample, I photographed them in a collection changing composition which each photo. Whilst photographing I realised using the flash became more effective as this made the photo appear more like a finished print! I then decided to switch off the lights in my work room and continue photographing with the flash which I loved as it enhanced the colours of my samples and made them seem more
more saturated. I found that the hints of red shimmery material I had used in my samples had a beautiful glisten to it with the use of the flash.
   Finally the flash also created a shadow effect which made my photos appear more graphic. This was particularly convenient as my photos appeared more print like and less like a photo.

DEVELOPED SAMPLE

O2.OCT.17

THE PRACTITIONER PROJECT - Chopova Lowena - Traditional Dress & Functional Object

Today was the introduction of our new one week project. We were introduced to the fashion design duo that were to inspire this project; Chopova Lowena. They gave us a talk about what they do, how they got to were they are now, and what we were to do this week using their way of work and research to inspire our own work.

Notes on what they said...

  • Research a LOT before starting a design process
  • Find a strange relationship between two contrasting aspects - that's when the magic happens! - you will surprise yourself when you find the link. (For example, Chopova Lowena's latest collection is inspired by 80's Rock Climbing and Bulgarian Traditional Dress)
  • Find similarities in the things you don't' expect would connect - the contrasts create a balance
  • Find inspiration from unique things and find uncommon research that no body else has
  • You need to create a feeling of what you're doing… not just making random garments or patterns


I found this talk from the designers very useful and an excellent starting point for our project.
Our task for the day started from analysing and choosing 3 shapes from images we had researched over the weekend. We were to repeat and change the shapes due to colour, scale and position using the pages in our sketchbook. Next we created a view finder to enclose and find interesting parts to recreate and develop further in our sketchbook.

I found that I didn't enjoy this task so much as I felt quite lost with how I would compose my overlapping shapes and I was just not liking how my outcomes were turning out.

I did like that with this task I instantaneously found a colour scheme with my traditional dress that naturally I would stick with all throughout this project.

27.OCT.17

THE JACKET PROJECT

DAY THREE - MAKING SAMPLES & FINISHING MY JACKET

I wanted to incorporate all my my best findings from the past two days into my final garment design. I looked back at my observational drawings and photographs of my findings to inform my last design process. Whilst piecing together my best findings I realised the draping on the back wasn't working in coherence with the shapes I had made for the front. This was because the back was very straight and linear whilst the front was abstract and ruffled. I was struggling to find a solution with fixing the front and the back so I decided to put my garment onto a real person and use pins and some quick hand stitching to manipulate the fabric in order to connect the back with the front in a more well executed way. Although I managed to connect the front and back in a successful way I found that I did loose the linear shape of back that I had originally draped on the mannequin in class. 

     This problem I encountered made me realised that the female body didn't allow linear shapes to sit structurally on their body with a thin fabric like the outer layer of my jacket. If I had more time to develop this final design I would have incorporated layer of Neoprene felt to keep the structure in place.

    In future if I was to show linear shapes onto the female body, especially on the back, I will invest in researching and investigating at a fabric shop to find a more stronger, structured fabric that would have more of a hold onto the curves of the female back.

When it came to sample making at first I was quite lost. I use elements of my jacket to inspire my samples, and actual parts of the scraps of my jacket to create the samples. I like how using actual parts of my jacket, such as the buttons, inside pocket details and lining fabric I was able to gather a coherent colour scheme throughout my samples. This makes them appear strong as a collection.

I struggled with coming up with extraordinary sample methods and processes as I hadn't done much research to back up my idea's thinking. Looking back I would have researched more on deconstructive elements of textiles samples and possibly look at some artists that use deconstruction and re-imagination as inspiration. By doing this at the start of my day instead of going straight to sample making I feel like I would have had a more successful collection of samples.

25.SEP.17

THE JACKET PROJECT

DAY ONE - EXPLORATION

Group discussion notes Six words - Describe the Jacket

  1. Old
  2. Moth Infested (Holes)
  3. Thin - Cheap
  4.  Unwanted
  5.  Rough
  6.  Brand is Italian - ETRO 

After this discussion with my classmates I was able to enrich my knowledge on aspects of my jacket I didn't even know myself. During the discussion my classmate, Shaun, had mentioned about Etro (the brand which my jacket was originally from) being a well known Italian Brand that specialises in paisley pattern design is considerably expensive. I found this interesting as it completely contrasts the story of my jacket - the fact that I found it at the back of the rack in a charity shop for £2.99! I hope to research this further my project to expand my knowledge.

We then discussed as many features as we could that make up a blazer jacket, this helped me understand exactly what makes up the jacket  and allowed me to understand completely the jacket before we were to take it apart and re-make it. Whilst taken the jacket apart I was able to think about and consider the contrasts of the jacket. By unpicking only a few areas at a time and documenting my findings through photography and observational drawings I could get to grips with understanding the inside/outside of my jacket.

It was useful to know about these as we could included some of these features in our design process. I wanted to include elements of the original jacket, such as the buttons on the sleeve and the collar. I wanted to include these elements as I want there to be balance with my abstract deconstructed elements of the jacket with the original design of the jacket. This is because I don't want to completely take away from the idea that it used to be a jacket.

2O.SEP.17

YOUR INTERPRETATION

Today we spent the day doing observational drawings in the form of 'fashion illustrations of our peers in interesting garments. We tested out lots of different way of drawing from blind drawing, to only drawing the negative space. I found that these techniques have helped me think of differenet ways of mark-making and illustrative techniques for future projects.

END OF WEEK EVALUATION

What new techniques, processes, or ways of thinking did you encounter this week?

  • observational drawing techniques
  • informative mark-making
  • instinctive and purposeful thinking of ideas and concepts
  • developing an idea

How do you plan to use these to inform future work?

I will use these techniques in my further one week projects to express my ideas

What were the benefits of the structure of this week (3 projects in 3 days)?

The benefits of this quick passed structure is that we are able to generate ideas quickly and produce final outcomes instinctively. By have a project per day I found that I have explored more with quicker ways of thinking and learned skills of thinking about garment contruction and textile sample making in conceptual and in a broader sense.

My best Fashion Illustration

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18.SEP.17

YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Today was a one day project. We started our day at the Kings Cross site for inspiration as 'our surroundings' as the starting point for the project. We were asked to go around the site in search for SHAPES found in the built environment. I sat down in a space where I could have a clear view of the inside of the building as well as the outside, by observing through the large windows at Kings Cross. This was a good ideas as i was able to gather research and inspiration from a variety of areas on the site, which would in theory give me more interesting and unique shapes to work with later on.
With there drawings we were asked to choose 10 shapes that we would use as our 'pattern pieces' for creating a three dimensional 'mini sculpture'. By making this sculpture I have thought about and practiced on how to create a 3D form from flat 2D shapes. This process was so successful for me as it relates to the ideas I had gathered in my research looking at Yssey Miyake.
Taking this 3D form-making further, we selected 3 shapes from our 10 and drew them on a larger scale. I found it challenging when drawing the shapes as we had to recreate the shapes EXACTLY like they were from our observational drawings. Although challenging I understand why we did this. This is because if we were to only look at our shapes and redraw them roughly in the same but not paying too much attention to it then our brains would automatically want to draw the shapes we already know (eg - square, circle, triangle) and this would therefore alter our final garment idea. By drawing my shapes exactly as they are in our observational drawings they have a more abstract appearance and there create a more compelling outcome.

With these shapes we created a 3D form however this time focusing on the body. I found this to be far more challenging then creating a mini form because with working on the body I had to consider my model's arms, legs and body form. Especially because my model was female,  I feel like it was challenging to connect the edges together with the natural curves of my model's body. To solve this problem I found myself making abstract shapes that are completely unassociated with the natural silhouette of the female body.
Lastly I loved the fact that we were constrained to only using the large shapes to form our garment. This is because it pushed me to create abstract   elements for the garment such as the exaggerated left sleeve.

Overall today I have enjoyed the idea of developing a final almost wearable garment from using the simples steps of observing our surroundings, making observational drawing and using our research literally by accumulating shapes from our research.
Looking back if I could could change anything I'd have liked to experiment further with my large cut shapes and continue draping on my model, creating more possible outcome for a garment idea. This would have allowed me to develop my thinking with composition on the body and allowing me to wider my thinking in using the same shapes in different ways to create a completely different outcome.

My Final Paper Garment

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14.SEP.17

IDEAS FACTORY

PROJECT OUTCOME

As this was a short project we did not need to actually make a physical piece of work therefore instead we wanted to focus more on our communication and transferring our final idea in a compelling way. On the last day of our project we took time in the morning to generate ideas and think about possible final outcomes to express our ideas as the proposal was in the afternoon.

The night before two more students had joined our group last minuet and as we realised that we were now the largest group in the class we decided we would do a performance piece which would have to be both enticing and entertaining. This decision was made based on the fact that we had a large group and it would be the most effective way to include everyone and all our ideas especially as we only had up to 5 minuets for the proposal.
   Problem solving included making sure everyone had a significant role and that our performance was engaging and expressed our idea in a reasonable time slot. We discussed on how we were to express (the list of happiness) in the performance. We decided on recording the list on bright pink post-it notes onto a naked person (this would be a drawn representation). We wanted our model to be this way as this is how we come into the world, completely naked. Then we were to (clothe) our model with materialist aspects that make a hedonistic person happy, along (covering) them with a mesh material which is in fact transparent. Alongside throwing real dollar bills at our model. We wanted to use real money as this was our strongest motif in the project. The neon post-its was a great idea as it allowed the mesh to seem even more transparent as they were bright and in your face.

12.SEP.17

IDEAS FACTORY

BRITISH MUSEUM

 We decided to take out project further by visiting the British Museum, as there is a room (room 68) dedicated entirely to the history of Money. By researching this we are able to understand a bit more about the hedonistic theory and how important money are for hedonists. At the British museum we split up our group of four into each corner of the room in search for any interesting objects or information that could inspire us or relate to our project -photographing along the way. We found this method of researching to be very useful as we managed to save time and eventually come back together later on at a café to discuss our findings.
   What most impacted me at the British museum was Andy Warhol's piece "Dollar Sign" which included the quote "Cash. I am just not happy when I don't have it. The minute I have it I spend it. And I just buy stupid things." directly underneath. And my peers agreed with me. This quote just screamed Hedonism and everything we wanted to portray in our proposal for Thursday. As a group we decided that this "cash" had to become the most important motif in our project.
Another aspect of the museum that struck me were the various samples of ancient knitted mail. This is because of the strong structure of the material and how the soldiers would use this material as an undercoat and form of protection during battle. On the contrary I also found it interesting to see samples of mesh and knitted style materials this time damaged with holes and faults in the structure. I photographed these samples and made a link between they're structure and the possession of money.
   We believe that when we have money in our pocket we're covered, we feel strong, happy and protected like how the knitted mail were to protect your body. However just like the damaged mesh structure, this sense of reassurance lasts no longer then a "minute" as Warhol has made clear. 

This link provided our group with the stepping stone for our proposal for Thursday.
   Although the British Museum provided us with a ton of inspiration from photographs, looking back I believe my group and I should have used our time at the museum to create some more work for our sketchbook. We could have done some observation drawings of the structures which could have provided us with further ideas for our proposal.

24.OCT.17

PUBLIC ART PROJECT

In the morning we had a Group discussion on our 'Public Art' research.
We were encouraged to detected 2D shapes from the photos and observational drawings from our 'public art' and redraw these as accurately as possible on some card. Then we created forms with these shapes. This helpful as it informed me on creating abstract shapes and was a good practice for creating the paper garment later on the body.

Notes on creating paper garment

  • When you overlap you change the shape and our objective was to allow our shapes to naturally create a form.
  • You are trusting the form.
  • Making a form that fully connects
  • Force the edges to attach
  • If they started to overlap then they wouldn't fit the body like a 3D shape!


When we were doing our observational drawings of our mini 3D form, we were encouraged to use different medium and techniques so when we go to draw in our future projects we can consider our mediums and way of drawing that compliments what we are focusing on.
We collected what we had learnt in the morning and started relating it to the body, documenting through photography.

We repeated the edge to edge of closing our shapes but this time on the body. I found this more tricky then just creating the shape as we had to consider the arms, legs and head of our model whilst taping the edges together, alongside trying to make our form on the body visually pleasing and compositionally balanced.

Doing our Design Developments

I keep my design illustrations abstract, but manipulating and adding subtle changes, thinking about changing scale, and orating in different areas, but keeping the same forms. This was helpful as I was able to create interesting design developments by just changing a small aspect of my design.
We were encouraged to draw from a real person to use as our model, instead I chose to use the body shapes from my research 'public art' statues as the model for my fashion design developments. This is because the statues themselves are very realistic and I wanted to incorporate more of my primary research into my development work. I love the contrasts of the noble statues with the abstract shapes of our garments that were more heavily inspired by the graffiti I found in my local area.

DEVELOPMENT SHEETS

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EVAULATION OF FINAL PIECE AND FINAL ILLUSTRATION

I Found my final design ugly and unpurposeful. I think the the items I researched were out of touch and didn't speech to my soul. I wasn't inspired at all with my final outcome.. I only liked making the chains. Although some of my peers said they found it interesting, if Im being honest with myself I feel like it was bland, boring and completely unoriginal lacking all sense of AMANDA! This became evident when it came to my final design illustration.
I couldn't think of a very new or interesting way of creating my illustration as I found what was in front of me wasn't telling me any information. I found myself using a typical black marker and just drawing what was in front of me, completely drained and uninspired.

12.OCT.17

WHAT'S THE POINT?

Video Crit
The large words seemed to be a success as people pointed our that it reminded them of Barbara Kruger's work, and I'm a big fan of hers.
Olly said it wasn't too abstract, which made it more interactive with the audience, but still had a sense of wonder and unnormality with it because of the green screen action. Overall what had most impact was the fact that our video depicted a abnormal reality, showing everyday life but in a twisted way.
I love how this video mirrored the direction I wanted to take my work with the WTP project. By taking the 'normal' MY SURROUNDINGS, and aspect of everyday life and seeing my surroundings as a form of creating art. We managed to find  different way of creating something abnormal with the normal surroundings of everyday. This in itself is what artists and designers do.

11.OCT.17

WHAT'S THE POINT?

Today I made my final garment.
In the morning I went out to Shepard's bush market in search for fabric to make my garment. I bought two meters of white canvas I found that this material has the perfect amount of sturdiness and flexibility to create the exact shapes in my paper garment.


Did you fabric choice support/work for your design?
Yes I found that my material was perfect for my design idea because I wanted to recreate the paper garment shape in addition to painting prints and included textile sample making. I found that the white canvas provided me with the perfect flexibility that created the curved shapes in my design but also had enough rigid form to create strong creases and structure like my original paper garment. The white canvas was also a perfect bases for me painting my print designs on with acrylic paint.

O9.OCT.17

WHAT'S THE POINT?

In the morning we were put into small groups of six and we discussed our images and what we intended to do to take our project further in the coming week. We listened to each others ideas and gave relevant feedback to help each other develop our ideas further. We planned on making a video to express our ideas of taking our projects further, to make a 'Reflective Group Video'. We decided we would each choose a word that would best describe the direction of our WTP project. This would be the starting point for our video idea.

My Peers Comments:

"I like the contrast of your photos that you have gathered with the paper garment you made. I feel like the photos have a messy quality to them which contradictions with the structured like the paper garment."

"You should manipulate your research images and create collages to further your ideas"

"I like the idea of putting a print and textiles onto your paper garment because it is boring only white"

Moving Image Group Discussion:

  • Michael -sequence
  • Nat - knot
  • Aru - madman
  • Sathrine - fragmentation
  • Tern - connection
  •  Amanda - gambiarra

I chose the word 'Gambiarra' because I feel it has a personal connect to me and highlights where I will be taking my inspiration from. I want to photograph surrounds that relate to the idea of gambiarra and my research from the weekend includes aspects of Traditional Brazilian gambiarra (such as my grandmothers rag rouging). Afternoon I decided to go out and photograph and draw my surroundings. I went out into the outside are of archway and did timed observational drawings. I decided to time my process as this would allow me to gather enough research to start my project process but not take too long which would result in me over doing the research and have too much inspiration, which could make me struck with starting the actual creating process. I liked using my observational drawings as my basis for redrawing my shapes in a larger scale because I feel like my drawings have more of a feel of my surroundings rather then finding the shapes straight from my photos.

MY DEVELOPED SAMPLE

O3.OCT.17

THE PRACTITIONER PROJECT

Thinking about print!

3 colours, 3 shapes

Today we analysed our work from the day before in order to further develop our samples. We took only 3 shapes and 3 colours to develop our samples. I think this diluted way of working helped us to harness our ideas. Whist taking into consideration that this is a print based project we took these shapes cut them from the three colours and created samples in our sketchbooks by repeating them, looking at changing scale and layering.
By limiting our colour scheme to only the 3 colours (blue, yellow and red), I was able to focus on creating interesting and different compositions with my shapes rather then focusing too much on colour.
 In addition I personally found that these 3 colours worked well with my traditional dress, as they intertwined with the party ambience of the Festa Junina which is the traditional dress I have researched into.
     When it came to thinking about developing my samples further, I decided I had to come to a conclusion about a final colour scheme. I decided I definitely wanted to incorporate these three primary colours I had used prior, however referring back to my research I realised I needed to add a few more. This is because the Festa Junina dress and Brazilian culture in general is far more rich then just three primary colours.

My Final Colour Scheme:
- Bright orange
- Red (predominantly a shimmery metallic red)
- Hints of Baby Pink
- Bright blue,
- Baby turquoise
- Citrus yellow.
Finally, I chose to use black as a corresponding feature as this would balance out the mass of bright colour in my samples.
  By deciding on a final colour scheme I have enrich my overall colour pallet and inspired myself for further sample making.

WALL OF COLOUR

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THE PRACTITIONER PROJECT

In class we were asked to create our interpretation of the three primary colours RED, YELLOW and BLUE onto A5 pieces of paper. Whilst making these, we were asked to consider the tone, texture and feel of these three colours. I started by opening a magazine and tearing out any pieces of the page that my brain would associate with RED, YELLOW or BLUE. I found this to be a helpful starting point for my A5 samples as I could look at the different tones of the three colours I found and this inspired me to introduce more elements of collage, painting and event glitter to my A5 pieces. These would later be used as material for cutting and collaging to make print samples inspired by the shapes found in our traditional dress and/or functional object.

28.OCT.17

THE JACKET PROJECT

DAY FOUR - CONCLUSION

Overall I should have done more research in terms of artists and concepts as I feel this would strength my design aesthetic and taken my jacket to a much wider direction then what I had for my final piece.

     What I've found most successful in my final garment is the fact that you can still tell my garment was originally a mens tailored blazer with the sleeve details and buttons on show in the front. I like how these an almost functioning pocket at the front, which I have reversed so that the outside of the pock is now on show in the front of the agreement. This shows my re-imagination of the jacket, which is what I have been discovering and developing during the course of the week.

Another aspect of improvement I would have included would be to have explored with the idea of the brand of the jacket, Etro, and have allowed myself to dive deeper in the idea of the paisley patterns, and included these in my textile sample making.

26.SEP.17

THE JACKET PROJECT

DAY TWO - DRAPING

Today we took the elements of the deconstruction of our jacket further, but this time using our findings of the inside and outside of the jacket to inform drapery on the body. Each time I unpicked a new are of my jacket I photographed my findings and draped it on my partner. I use observational drawing and photography to record my findings as this would help my design develop process later on.

Instead of just using scissors and a seam ripper to take each part apart with no thought process, I took each process of the deconstruction in steps.

I found it incredibly interesting and informing my design process because I was discovering elements of my jacket I didn't know existed and this was giving me ideas on compositions on the body, that I wouldn't have other thought of doing if it wasn't for this step by step process.

    I found the by draping an interesting shape and quality of the jacket on my partner and drawing my findings, I was able to record that interesting aspect for my final design. 

We were encouraged to introduce a meter of fabric to contrast or compliment our jacket. I attempted to add some extra fabric however the fabric I brought to class was a bright green silk material as I thought his would contrast well with my design. However after draping with it on my deconstructed jacket I feel like the tow were not meshing well together. Looking back now I wish I had took the time to research and think about more the fabric I  could have included in my final design along with my jacket. I feel like If i had brought a stiff leather, this would have complimented the jacket well and added an element new to my already made design.

Overall I didn't like using my fabric and I felt like it wasn't working with the jacket… there was already so much going on with the inside/outside element of the deconstructed jacket itself that I came to the conclusion that it didn't need to excess material I had brought.

19.SEP.17

YOUR DATA

 For the start of this project we were asked to bring items that related to our 'identity'. I brought a vintage film camera, a dead butterfly (that I had gre myself), my painter's jacket, my favourite leather jacket and my mums old silk gloves.
First thing in the morning we got into groups and discussed out objects and why we chose them. It was interesting to hear what and why everyone in my group brought what they did because to each of us the item meant something special. After the talk I realised that our objects come from all different parts of the world as my group were all international students who have just moved here to study. This concept interested me in expanding the idea of personal items from around the world, and I would like to explore further this idea of items that are special from different cultures, and why.

Feedback from Peers:
They liked my dead butterfly and leather jacket the most because they thought these two items showed the most detail and these items would be a good starting point for observational drawing because this is a textile based project.

OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING

With our items we made a "collective installation". At first it was challenging to see how our items would all come together as they were all so different and had such different meaning. As a few people in our group had garments as one of their items (including myself) we decided to create our installation on a mannequin and work our items with the mannequin. This turned out to have an interesting look and was a successful for our observational drawing. This is because I found that I had made very interesting silhouettes in my drawings of the installation. Although this was a textile based project, it was interesting to me to create interesting silhouettes drawings as they made me think about possibly fashion outcomes.
Whilst drawing I found that I really liked doing the blind drawings because I actually surprised myself with the final outcome. I managed to get a sense of what was in front of me without having to look at the sketchbook and this is a technique that I have enjoyed and will use further in this project.

 

VIEW FINDER
 Next we were to make a view finder and with photography, capture interesting areas within our drawings. This was great as with my finings I started to branch ideas for print deeding and textile samples. I liked that I found a motif within my drawings, which was the sketches I did of the bunny face. I would like to explore and take further this motif and create possibly print samples and textile samples inspired by this motif!


FINAL OUTCOME/PROJECTIONS
Finally we made some acetate samples using our view finder photos and drawing as inspiration. I played around with layout and scale of my mark-making but I found that my samples were not as successful as my observational drawings or textile samples I had made earlier. My rejections deemed unsuccessful because I found that my projections were lacking the colour and spirit that were found in my observational drawings and samples. I realised that this was because I didn't use the coloured acetates and the mark making came out quite harsh on the projection. I decided to go buy some coloured acetate and create my last projection test. When creating my mark-making on the acetate, I was using a paint marker and accidentally impressed my finger print over my design. This became a 'happy accident' as I believe this gave the print design more of my 'identity' which is was this project is all about!
Overall I feel like I didn't like the final outcome of the projections in comparison to my mini patterns and samples I had made earlier.This is because I feel they lacked in colour, energy and mystery.

Project Questions:
How does observational drawing/mark making inform the design process?

  • It allows us to express our ideas in a personal expressive way
  • observation drawings allows us to put down on paper our perception of what we see in front of us. This usually results in captivating a more interesting mood then just a photograph.



Timed exercises are important to the creative/design process. why?

  • so we work more instinctively
  • so we can achieve a lot in a short spec of time
  • so we can generate more ideas then we usually would - when we take our time we allow ourselves to overthink it

 

Drawing - Projection samples - Final Projection

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IDEAS FACTORY

EVALUATION

To improve our performance we could have brought some yarn and pretend to (knit) the post-its onto the body rather then just sticking them on. This would have represented further what we do with in own lives. For this project it was effective to work in groups as I think this was a very broad project that could have had any outcome and by working in a group we were able to harness our ideas effectively. This project was successful as we managed to gathered all of our ideas together to create one outcome.
     I have enjoyed this project because I believe it relates to me on a personal level, as I myself believe the hedonistic view is full of faults and I believe you can find personal happiness without having to seek self-indulgence.

OUR PERFORMANCE

13.SEP.17

IDEAS FACTORY

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS LIBRARY SESSION

We went to the Central Saint Martins Library, to explore our concept, material and process further. At the library we accumulated a body of research, photographing information and photos. Our research included finding three books relevant to our idea.
1) "Fabric for Fashion - The Swatch Book"
2) "The Wedding Dress - A Sourcebook"
3) "And the Bride Wore… The story of the White Wedding" by Ann Monsarrat.

These were relevant as I wanted to research further into the material of mesh, and how this material links to Hedonism. I came across the fashion section of the library and here I discovered the section relating to Weddings. This interested me as I started to link our material, mesh, with wedding wear, as wedding headdresses and veils are usually made from mesh. I also discovered a link between weddings and hedonism, as marriage is a huge form of pleasure seeking.
You're wedding day is suppose to be the happiest day of you life.
     Lastly we resumed out research at the library by finding a section on knitting in a swatch book. In this book we found diagrams and photos of zoomed-in knitted structures, alongside real knitted swatches. I found this book helpful as we could visualize a knitted structure up close and even feel the texture of the structure with our hands. Here I saw a link between mesh and knit as although they are completely different in the process of creating their structures, they both have a similar features such as containing holes which make them somewhat transparent (especially when held against light).
   Once our research was complete we met as a group to have a final discussion on how we were to accumulate all our research from the past few days into a concept that we could portray the following day. We discovered that linking our given three topics with marriage and money was our starting point. This was helpful as these two aspects opened our minds to list all the aspects that we could think of that we chase after in our life order to bring us self-gratification, such as sex, food, power, status… e.c.t. We would include this list in our following proposal the next day.

Some text from our performance…

'Hedonists believe that the goal of life to chase anything pleasurable to be happy.
Chasing materialistic things like money, partnerships, success and power.  
Like mesh material this seems like it will provide you with security and have you covered. But in fact also like the mesh material this has faults, spaces, holes when you zoom into the material and look closely.'

'This whole performance has represented by the process of knitting. Knitting consists of layering and we have layered Nichole (our model) with aspects that make us happy. But like the knitted structure and the mesh material these aspects can easily be unraveled and contain holes. We need to keep mending, knitting and layering things, in order to keep our happiness.'

HENSONISM

  • pleasure-seeking  - through the world's "highest pleasures" security in money, sex, owning  goods, power, status
  • self- indulgence
  • a fake happiness - that we tell ourselves to get through everyday life
  • The Great Gatsby (Chapter 3) - links to the American dream - 1920s

MESH

  • Chicken Wires
  • Fences and gates - war barriers and top qualilty security
  • A structured material that provides protection
  • Ideal for trapping items

KNIT

  • Mending and Fixing
  • Bringing things together
  • Blockage
  • A structured combination that provides safety and protection
  • Strong, unbreakable

11.SEP.17

IDEAS FACTORY

GROUP DISCUSSION IN CLASS


With our given theme being HEDONISM, material being MESH and process KNIT, my group and I decided we would note down words, synonyms and phrases that we connected with our project.

The highlighted points are what we decided were the strongest link between the three areas. Therefore we decided to focus on and move forward with these as our main areas for further research and idea exploration.