Fruit & Veg

Photography is one of my favourite sources of research. I loved taking these pictures of fruit and vegetables, moving them around, zooming in and getting the correct light. I have been quite successful with my photography during the last year and I would like to push this further into my career, as part of presenting my work for textiles.

My own work silk scarves.

My own work shows how I have worked with different Medias to portray my version of peacock feathers through surface print. I have looked at colour, shape and texture of the peacock and re created my own pattern taking elements of different sections. This fabric started out as a plain white Piece of haboti silk. I have dyed it and screen printed with discharge paste which is a solution that brings the colour back out in parts. I have then worked with marble paints, oil based dye that floats onto water so I could draw by hand the eyelet shapes that appear at the head of the feather. I have manipulated the fabric through heat to give a crinkled look to resemble the mark makings of the feather on the stems.
Throughout the different stages of creating these samples I have worked with bright colours but have been cautious to keep colour looking soft and washy. By doing this I have hand dyed my work and been able to tone colour down with discharge paste when screen printing. The majority of my work I have enjoyed has been working by hand and not digitally, by this I mean, with the use of computer technology, this has kept my work looking innate. I had thought of using digital processes in my work and have experimented with this media, but for me it just doesn’t work, by getting across the visual I want.

The image below shows how I have again been inspired by the elements of eye shapes at the tips of peacock feathers. Taking this one element of the feather and experimenting with mixed media to achieve a distinctive print. Like my previous image I have dyed silk and brought out the colour again using discharge paste to give a background print which is actually inspired from the skin of a frog, but the elements of the peacock feather has been hand drawn with oil based marble paints onto water. With the help of a fixing solution the marble paint stays afloat giving me the freedom to draw, when the image is ready, the silk fabric is placed face down onto the floating image which is then transformed onto the silk. Working by hand gives me the freedom to produce watery and quirky shapes, hand dying and printing in this way can sometimes drip and run, giving unexpected forms.

Issues and Practices. Running your own buisiness.

Throughout my degree my ideas of what path to take when I finish varies, from working for a design company within textiles for fashion, freelancing with the help of an agent selling to textile studios, or running my own business. I have decided to work part time within my current job and do some freelancing to gain experience to expand my own textile design samples.
Eventually I would like to work for myself, hopefully renting my own studio and using it as a working space as well as selling my products in house. Visits to trade shows and design studios have gained me some understanding of how creator-makers within textiles have achieved this opportunity. Chatting to designers about how they set up their own businesses, responded by saying that they had applied to organizations that help up and coming designers with funding like grants; the most popular organization is The Arts Council.


The Arts Council helps to fund trade shows like Origins in London and The Great Northern Contemporary Craft fair in Manchester, these trade shows are where I met designers who said that being awarded with a place at the trade shows had made a massive help in promoting their businesses. Some designers were lucky enough to have the support and money to help them take on their dream opportunity but others designers spoken how they had to take risks like borrowing money, relying on funding and being skint for the first few years which in the end thankfully paid off.


Understanding the reality of running your own business can be achievable by good planning, and getting as much advice as possible like financial advice, help with business planning and applying for funding. Being accepted as a designer maker at trade shows is a good sign that your work is good and will have the potential to sell, designer makers who I spoke too said that it is really important to get out and promote your work as much as possible especially through trade shows with a good website and postcards as a form of contact. Other ways of promoting work are through blogs and textile design magazines such as selvedge that show your work with good photography and writing.


Manchester Craft and Design centre have studio space which you have to apply for through their website, I have looked into this and a small studio is around £180 per month which isn’t too bad but the rates are much higher. If I ended up applying for a studio here I would probably share a space with somebody else to keep the costs down, also so I could work part time doing other work to support myself. Hopefully sharing a studio space would be better to help each other out to keep it running everyday for example if I or if they have to work somewhere else part time the other can help keep the studio going especially when customers visit.


Other ways of working independently is through websites whether that be creating my own or through websites like NOTHS (www.notonthehighstreet.com). I have read a few articles of designer makers selling their work on line through this website and they seem to have been successful, one business in particular is Paper Salad publishers of stationary who I have previously written about in my blog for my practitioners report. I e-mailed Not on the High Street early this year and they have written back to me letting me know that they are willing to take creative designs like crafts for the home, jewellery, stationary and accessories for fashion and sell them with a small commission for themselves. One designer called Wendy Harrison a graphics artist who designs engraved pebbles says she joined the website in 2008 and soon had 100 orders a week.



I have looked at organizations that could be really helpful in order to set up my own business I have done some research and collected a file of information about funding, ie The Arts Council, Women in Business and Shell Live. Business planning such as IT for Business can help with managing, planning, promotion and tax, plus personal data, data protection act. I have had some useful information on copyright licensing looking at anti-copy right in design and Creative Commons, in order to protect designs from being copied or used to manipulate.


I still feel I have to investigate further into running my own buisiness and to find the best help available, I will carry on with this research whilst building up my design samples. Overall I have a broader understanding of how running a business can be made possible.

Practitioners Report, Compare and Contrast, Container Plus & Paper Salad

Images available at

http://www.containerplus.co.uk/

Container Plus are a concept creation art and design team who offer commercial services of 2D

and 3D designs that vary from illustration, photography and hand created set design. They devote their time and energy into personal projects which enable them to be experimental and explore new ideas, their illustrative work has been recognised as having similarities to the work of Aubrey Beardsley and Art Nouveau, admittedly they have been influenced by them but say they don't spend a lot of their time studying the work.

Containers was set up by Nicola Carter and Luise Vormittage in 2002, they met at Camberwell University of Arts and was working separately at the time, even though their work was distinctive they both had similarities in mind of how they wanted to express their work. Their first exhibition was at Notting Hill Arts club 2003 and they were nominated as best creative futures, from this they were offered a wide range of commissions ranging form interior design, book covers, collaborating with fashion photographers, animation, street art, product design and they even created an identity for a new MTV show.

After an exciting few years Nicola and Luise started to experiment with 3D art, working with set design and instillation's. Collaborating with set designers and photographer Patricia Niven who became the third member of the team, helped push their unique art into third dimension. Their work started to really take off and the company began to grow. Inspiring each other Nicola Luise and Patricia became container Plus in 2008.

Container Plus have commissioned work for BAFTAs, Charles Worthington, Diesel, Grazia magazine, Topshop and Selfridges, just to name a few of their well known clients, Containers have a massive clientele throughout Europe.

Paper Salad are designers and publishers of contemporary stationary designs, the products they sell range from greeting cards to other stationary like gift wrap bows and social stationary.
Claire and Karen met at Stockport College whilst studying a HND in Art and Design, after graduation in 2000 Claire and Karen set up a small studio space where they began to freelance their work.
With no commercial knowledge and no business skills Claire and Karen carried on regardless persistent to make the business work. Materials were expensive, but luckily the rent on the studio in an old converted mill wasn't too high.

With their art and design experience Claire and Karen were able to create commercial designs to suit the market with there simple elements of butterflies, flora and balloons being some of there art work, they have kept it niche with quirky lines and playful colour from trendy colour pallets.

After a few years of selling to major publishers Paper Salad decided to move from designers to publishers and in 2005 they invested in attending the Harrogate Home and Gift fair. They designed 32 designs and Paper Salad proved themselves to be a success, they now have a large clientele in the UK and overseas especially in the U.S.A.

Image available at

http://www.cardstore.com/

Having attended both lectures, I feel there are lots of elements and ideas within each company that I enjoyed and can relate too.

Container Plus are so eclectic, I really admire the way they work, there love of learning new approaches to design and collaborating with other designers has had such a positive reflect on there clientele, also the excitement of each project being different . There not afraid of any opportunity thrown there way, working out the solution and and getting the help needed to make the perfect design set, illustration, advertisement window display or three dimensional sketch books.

Paper Salad stick to what they no best, there designs may vary slightly but they have a certain style and every day to them is probably more routine. I admire what Paper Salad have achieved to become successful they have a simple but quirky style, and after meeting Claire and Karen I think they work well as a team and there personality suits the way that they work. The Birthday card just above is an obvious design by paper salad. After listening to how Paper Salad worked as a team, taking on board how hard they push them selves and the obstacles they have tackled there business seemed a nice, neat and simple way to work which is sometimes not so bad when your making money and not to bothered about hectic challenges. Unlike Container Plus with there crazy demands that sometimes there not sure themselves if there going to be able to achieve, but some how they just do because by collaborating with other designers they know so many people who can help them.

The Image at the top of the page is commissioned by Container Plus for Selfridges department store cafe, Oxford St London in 2004, the art shown is a typical illustrative style by them.

I love these illustrations by container Plus with the heavy black outline contrasted with flashes of washy colour, expressing these strong lines and soft colour is a style I can relate too myself mixing soft and sutlel shades with heavy texture within my own work. I like the quirkiness and comedy within the drawings along with Art Nauveau style. Their work sometimes has a beauty and the beast approach with beautiful art, but if looking closely there are strange stories and concepts behind them such as human beings with animal heads and three dimensional stories about the evil twins, their unique imagination throughout is endless.

Evil twins,Image available at,

http://www.containerplus.co.uk/

All of Containers work is hand rendered, they begin their projects by mixing their ideas of the latest gossip, what magazines their reading adding to this a sense of humour until they come up with an idea which begins to grow into a form of its own. Containers describe their work as imperfect, and can sometimes start out a big mess, I like this idea because sometimes in my own work I collect research which ends up a big pile of mess but when I break it down and work through it, this can result into some really exciting stuff.

Paper Salads work is neat and tidy throughout their construction of stationary but most of their illustrations are fun and scribble like, like the work of containers even though their aiming at different markets. Paper Salad have their own clientele like Containers and on occasion have worked on personalised commissions, so there are similar aspects to both company's even though they are so far from being alike, obviously one being solely publishers of stationary and the other collaborating and covering a wide range of design.

Contact Report with Jenny Rivers

Images available at http://www.paperandcloth.net

Jenny Rivers runs her own studio called Paper and Cloth in Northampton, after working as a buyer for Marks and Spencer for ten years her love of graphics and colour made her decide she wanted to set up her own studio.
Paper and Cloth employ freelancers, designers who have the creative ability to draw and use computer technology ie, photoshop and illustrator. Paper and Cloth take on designers under their own name and between them they hope to produce twenty designs per day and hope to sell 30-40% of them. Paper and cloth are always looking for something new, pushing different styles of design elements like paisley, folk and flora, being open to designs of fashion interior and stationary and understanding surface pattern, balance layout and colour.

Jenny Expressed the importance of trend and colour for future seasons, and being aware of what is going on around us for example, when the recession hit us last year colours of blue, purple and indigo were predicted to give a mood of calmness to balance the stress of what was happening.



Most of Paper and Cloth designers work digitally and a few hand draw their work then scan their drawings into computer technology so they can manipulate them, a colour pallet, range plan and a total understanding of trends is important to have a working understanding.



Jenny Rivers says "Clients are always looking for something new and edgy so don't be afraid to try new ideas, don't be the same as everybody else". Designs at Paper and Cloth sell for around £375 and freelancers take 60% freelancers also have a daily wage of one hundred pounds a day.



Having a discussion with Jenny about my own work her feedback was critical, honest and some really positive.

Jenny's views of my work were,



- "If samples are in the form of garments keep them trendy,



-Look at trends constantly for ideas,



-Samples need to stand out and be striking,



-Colour pallet must be in trend, maybe do two colourways to suit different skin tones.



-Never rush work question everything and choose the best elements and develop them with shape colour trend, the next directcional thing,



-Try and be versatile, if designing textiles by hand is what you like best that's fine but be open to computer applications so you have more experience to sell your designs.

After discussing my work with Jenny I felt like I had some good work which is individual, but some of my work wasn't that great and Jenny could tell that my patience lacks a little when it comes to planning. Jenny mentioned not to rush anything and to concentrate on the beautiful elements that I had created. I learned a lot from her criticism and I agreed with what Jenny said about the digital side of design being important to expand my work.

Contact report with Helen Latimer

The images displayed are all my own.

Helen Latimer is a free-lance fashion designer, some of her clientele have included Cotton Traders, United Textiles, Gilert and recently she has worked for Umbro designing the new England football shirt amongst other designs.
In January 2010, Helen visited Stockport College and gave feedback to all third year students on our work, shortly afterwards I met up with Helen and she gave me some critical but useful advice on my own work.

At the beginning of term I chose to look at organic elements of natural life in the form of mushrooms fungi and tree bark as inspiration for my brief, the brief I had written referred to surface design for fashion Spring /Summer 2010.

Helen said "I had good research and really liked my photos, I understood my context but spent to much time on research as this was stronger than my final product, the mood I created was fantastic but fabric manipulation needed to be pushed further for final fashion market". Helen told me "to make stitch samples looser because my photography of mushrooms and the moulds I had made as part of my research were visually softer than my final fabric samples, and to experiment more with fabric manipulation from my photos". Other advice Helen expressed was "to show more of an idea of how the fabrics should look visually when displayed onto fashion garments, to expand my mood boards more, boards looked empty and I needed to get a better feel for the concept". Helen really liked the mushroom moulds made from foam and plaster that I had created.

Helen gave me some good advice for my final major project which I was just beginning and said "I had a good eye for colour and putting things together and that I was aware of trends and visually displayed my work well, but lacked textile techniques". Helen suggested that I "work onto a stock man to pin fabrics for fashion and textile shape, to make my final mood boards creative by showing a suggestion of an image or fabric sample rather than the whole thing".

Helen's own portfolio was fantastic and professional, neat and clear, I respected Helen's advice and took on board the questions raised of how I could better my own work and make it more professional.

Contact Report with Nell

Images available at http://www.nellclothing.co.uk/contact

Manchester Craft and Design Centre set in the Northern Quarter in Manchester has 19 studios where designer-makers create and sell their work. Research into looking at studio space lead me to have a good conversation with one of the designer-makers called Nell. Nell is a textile designer specialising in one off designs mainly children's wear. I have chose Nell as one of my contact reports because she has gave me a great deal of advice regards how to balance working independently along with other part time work, Nell talked me through her work and the ideas that inspire her, Nell also told me about print techniques and good advice on studio space.

Questions by me, Answers by Nell.

Q) "Do you share studio space with anyone else"?

A) "No I used to but I found this small studio that I can afford its not as expensive as the others".

Q) "Do you to work else wear to support yourself and the studio" ?

A) "Yes I work extra hours teaching which pays OK, I get chance to spend more time on my designs, but in the past I had jobs like bar work which didn't pay as well and I struggled a bit whilst building up my work".

Q) "Are you more established now" ?

A) "Getting there, I design hand made skirts, scarves and badges. Hand printed bags and t-shirt, baby wear, bibs, baby grows sleep suits and t-shirts . The baby wear is my my best seller.

Q) "What print techniques do use on garments and accessories"?

A) "Block print and heat transfer, some embellished with computerised embellishment, I like to keep things natural, I hand print everything and use 100% organic t-shirts".

Q) "Is the craft centre a good place to sell your work"?

A) "It varies most times its quiet but I have good weeks, I sell on line and have the studio space to work in, so I have the chance to sell my work while creating, I'm still working on building my work but I get by so I'm happy.

Q) "Are there any studio spaces free"?

A) "There is one small studio free but you have to apply to the craft centre with a business plan its about £180 per month".

Nells studio is set out really well, its inviting and colourful, everything is well made and natural. She uses the wall space well and the clothes are hung so you can browse through. Nell is polite and helpful and she made me feel comfortable when looking around the studio. The contact report with Nell has gave me a good insight into running my own business being a possibility.

Some of the print techniques on the garments were simple but still beautiful and I noticed it was about being clever with placements of elements. The conversation I had with Nell has been really helpful, positive and has made me realise this is a direction I would like to go in.