Christmas project teaser.

Laser wheels of plastic steel.

So from the list of workshops that we had to choose from, laser cutting was the one that appealed to me the most as I loved using it at sixth form and thought it'd be worth it to learn to use the adobe illustrator software properly as I had only used 2D design before, not illustrator. We were first assigned to meet at the Design Museum to visit the current Paul Smith exhibition. From this we were told to gather as much insight as we could for our projects. 

Fig 1. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Fig 2. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Fig 3. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Fig 4. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

A reoccurring theme throughout this exhibition seemed to be Paul Smiths focus on travel in the photographs and equipment/accessories he collected. I found the placement of them equally shared out throughout the collection, vaguely grabbing my attention throughout. The room with the bicycles and skis and snowboard definitely added character and almost a source to Smiths travel photo's he had collected which interested me extremely.

Fig 5. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Fig 6. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Fig 7. Paul Smith Exhibition (own photography)

Once we had taken in everything from the exhibition we were told to browse around London stores to gather inspiration for an accessory or product we wanted to create. From the exhibition I knew I wanted to keep the idea of travel close to me therefore keeping my eyes peeled for anything suitable. We headed straight to Selfridge's (well almost, after our stop to McDonald's that is) as their superstore seemed most appropriate for anything really. I had no clue as to what I was looking for, and struggled for a while as everything seemed basic and obvious. But as I begun to admire the huge baubles being hauled mechanically with massive clamped hooks on chains, I took a quick snap. Then in the technology section I found a motorbike poised beautifully with shiny wheels, which I also snapped up. These were the only photos I managed to collect however I felt they were all I needed.

Fig 8. Selfridge's bauble (own photography) 

Fig 9. Selfridge's bauble (own photography) 

Fig 10. Selfridge's Yamaha motorbike (own photography)

Fig 11. Selfridge's Yamaha motorbike (own photography)

This amazing wheel is the main source for my final piece as I played around with the shape and size of the middle plate quite a bit till I was happy with a final line drawing. With the line drawings we produced we had to place into illustrator to figure out how we would process the laser cutting. 

Fig 12. Own illustration

I wasn't sure of what I was to to create for the final piece but I knew I wanted to create a crazy wild piece with influences from Iris Van Herpen ft Suzuki type of collaboration, very tough but artistic. 

Fig 13. Collaboration Moodboard

With the line drawing I created I started to make different versions and also mini wheels to also laser cut which I thought would work well with the other pieces I had created. Once I was finished with drawing out on illustrator the designs I wanted to cut out, I decided on making a statement neckpiece which could represent a shell/armour in a way. I chose to do this onto silver mirrored acrylic perspex and blue perspex which would compliment eachother well and have the tough edge I wanted. 

Fig 14. Laser Cut wheels

After many hours of waiting by the laser cutter, watching each tiny whole be burnt out individually, I finally had my all my cut outs ready for the final thing. I had created some designs of neck pieces so I went from there, attaching different wheels with jump rings, making something small to begin with but gradually adding more and more until I had a final piece. 

Fig 15. Final piece

When I was making the piece I tried to spread out the large and small wheels equally which is highly effective for the piece as some parts are in your face as others are delicately laid. This piece is both a neck-piece and collar/mask to keep the sense of travel and protection involved in a semi-obvious way. I feel that the effort and time I have put into this piece has really paid off as it seems to sum up my project perfectly and embodies the influence I began with and the collaboration of the designers.

Fig 16. Final photoshoot

J.W Anderson 2.0

Once we were given the daunting aspect of a group project I didn't know what to expect, but when I got my chosen designer J.W Anderson it didn't seem so bad. We found that our group worked well and had very similar visions when it came to creating a collection and campaign which worked well for us as our final outcomes were exciting which led us to win one of the three categories (group that best understood the designer; if I'm not wrong).

This group project was a competition based around a theme we had to extract from a quote given to us, this immedietly put us all in a seriously competitive mood, two designers (Mary and Alexandria), two promoters (Ronan and Courtney), and two textiles/print designers (myself and Hannah); ready to create a collection and campaign to beat the other teams. Once we grouped up we realised we were a smaller group consisting of six of us compared to other groups of eight or ten people, which we were pleasantly relieved about. We all began with researching every aspect of J.W Anderson's past collections and campaigns, the shapes and theories behind his designs which we discussed as a group, feeding off each others ideas from what we had found. We mutually decided on a theme of contrasts gas/solids, rough/soft, light/dark etc which we felt was a positive reflection of Anderson's past designs which are usually very geometric, boxy, clean, and androgynous. 

Fig 1. My personal concept board of J.W Anderson's past collections.

My job on the team was to create textiles/prints for the collection which would be used moderately as we found that Anderson kept print and texture to very mute minimum at most times along with colour also.  Our colour scheme was a very clear choice of greyscale, navy and a slight pop of a neon-like yellow which felt very J.W Anderson. 

As I looked through the past collections I found that shibori was used many times in different ways either heavily as a full garment or slightly as a sheer top which was an interesting balance. Shibori is fabric manipulation technique which you create through wrapping fabrics around nails or coins to create a 3D texture which can have varying interesting outcomes each time. 

Fig 2. J.W Anderson shibori top on style.com

I immediatly started experimenting with different organzas and chiffons, creating different textures and patterns with whatever metal bits I found at home and created a different selection of textures which could be used for our final collection. I also created a form of shibori by pulling fabric through cut out paper which i then ironed over to create triangular creases.

Fig 3. My shibori process.

Fig 4. My own shibori. Ironed paper.

Fig 5. My own shibori. Wrapped metal, steamed.

Fig 6. My own shibori. Wrapped metal, steamed.

Fig 7. My own shibori. Ironed directly which shrivelled the material.

After finalising the shiboris I created I chose to look into basic fabrics that could be used with the collection such as neoprene, heavy cottons, and rubberised cottons. I thought these were best because of their heavy/boxy appeal they would have once crafted into garments. 

Further developing the thought of textures that could be used I decided that quilting would make a perfect match in the collection because of it clean and simple appearance with added geometric qualities. I thought neoprene would be perfect for quilting, however I couldn't afford to pay £20 a metre so grabbed half a metre of wet suite fabric which I simply doubled up and quilted over on my machine at home. 

Fig 8. Own quilting.

Fig 9. Own quilting.

Once I had finished creating different textures, I regrouped with Hannah who had been creating the prints for our collection, we decided on transferring our prints and textiles onto photoshop to create patterns with them. Then as a group we decided that myself and Hannah would transfer the colours and patterns onto the designs created by Mary and Alex via photoshop as the final task before our presentation.

Since I felt confident using photoshop I was glad to insert all the prints and textiles into the designs to make the collection come to life.The designer created two individual collections, menswear and womenswear, I worked on the womenswear and Hannah done the menswear. 

Fig 10. Materials I used.

Fig 11. The photoshoped final collection, womenswear. (Designs not mine)

This project was seriously more fun and challenging that I had first expected it to be. It was difficult at first dealing with a new group dynamic but after the first two days everything became so much more easier as everyone understood what they were meant to do both for their personal brief as well as for the group outcome. The presentation was an interestingly exciting process as it felt like a formal business presentation which is great practice for us. Every group was given a maximum of ten minutes to present, but we decided to keep ours sharp and simple, enough for people to remember but quick enough for them not to get bored. We managed to discuss everything; our inspirations, collections, textiles and promotion: with a video as part of our campaign. I feel we all worked immensely hard and cooperated  well as a team with equally added efforts from everyone which made the experience an ongoing joy throughout the two weeks we had.

To an end

It's over. The first lap of the year comes to an end as we wrap up our first project of the course to ready ourselves for our first assessment. I have finally finished everything, my stuffed sketchbook, knitting book, collection of large concept boards, pretty much everything apart from this blog post of course, till I type my last full stop to end this project but to only await the next blog post introducing my next project. 

I had fun looking into a more personal side of identity of myself this time as I'm used to playing it safe however I feel I have explored something new and that I have explored the title well. Each week itself has been a mini challenge, pushing us to remember all these different ways and techniques which was a good way to help us deal with quick-paced pressure, bouncing from one subject to another; I have definitely enjoyed it and like to think I succeeded in every week. If I'm honest my biggest challenge has been trying to keep this blog live and well as my goldfish memory found it hard to remember to post which meant I usually left it too late most times, however once I did post everything usually came running back.

I have seriously loved taking part in each week and learning things which were alien to me eight weeks ago and the fact that I am now a few steps closer to knowing all I want to know about textiles excites me. It has been a wild experience and I really can't wait for our next project and title to get stuck into. 

Wrap me with your camera

The location of my shoot was always prepared as I knew I wanted to shoot outside St. Thomas' Hospital, opposite the cardiology department on the embankment. This was the perfect location since its where me and my family get our heart scan check ups every year, as well as the genetics department. But despite the personal links, the actual location has some great photographic points such as the gridded exterior and minimalist pillars surrounding the hospital. Around the corner their are also metal stairs on which add character to the large hospital.

The shoot overall was a fun experience as I managed to express the vulnerability and harshness I wanted as a whole with the background, garment and model even if we did get only 15 minutes to shoot as we were told it was against patient confidentiality to photograph on the hospital 'grounds'. Lucky enough I had the photos that I needed and was positive enough to proceed with the little amount of photos I managed to snap. 

The two successful photos chosen for my A1 board:

Caught in a moving caption

When we were told we could either create a photo shoot or video to represent our final piece I was looking forward to the challenge of producing both. I wanted to create a short film which sums up my project and personality rather than showing a garment which could be seen in a creatively directed photo shoot. 

This video is a representation of me and my feelings of still being too young and not ready to deal with the chance and possibility of having my fathers heart failure gene. My connection with putting the flower together is my acceptance with the course of nature and that not everything can be stopped. But the snippets of myself show that we cant have control over everything like emotions.

Just make make create

After a long think and scribble, my ideas eventually formed into a final piece; two final pieces to be specific.

Having one strong vision to print onto a jumper from the start of coming up with a final plan I immediately got to working. I chose to go ahead with one of my prints that I previously designed during print week on Photoshop; a print made up of cut up heart pieces from the heart I drew at the beginning of this project. At first I had the hopes of actually knitting a jumper to print onto but the concept was too adventurous as I only have a weeks experience on the knitting machine and magically making a jumper is not so easy, however I instead went on a hunt for a poly fibred jumper to heat-press my print onto. It wasn't easy but once found I headed straight to the prototyping room the next day to print my black and white pattern. Naturally I first sampled the prints on knit fabric however it wasn't very successful as the press flattened the knit which also meant the print wasn't very distinctive either. However after many samples with different knit fabrics and print sizes I finally managed to print onto my jumper by enlarging the print slightly to make it more recognizable which was a success however instead of black the print transferred as an off green which was a shame; but since my theme and intention throughout this project has been black and white, the photo shoot also was planned to be black and white also therefore saving me from my colour dysfunction problem.  The process was interesting and quicker than I thought as I wanted to get everything finished so I would have a clear mindset and enough time to edit and plan my photo shoot, video and sketchbook.

Since I had my jumper all finished and had the hopes of knitting I decided that I wanted to go ahead and knit an extremely long scarf with cable knit to represent dna and genetics which I had the vision of my model being wrapped and twisted in for the shoot. That morning I got to working from 11am in the morning soldiering on till 11pm that same night. I went 10 hours straight knitting to get this long scarf finished which to me payed off as it gave me the opportunity to teach myself how to fix up my mistakes.

Creating these two final pieces meant I had more options for my final decisions which would conclude my project. I had extreme fun producing these two in the mediums I most enjoyed experimenting within. Next step photo shoot.

Nearing the end of the first lap.

Now that we have finished our fashion rotation we are now hit with the pressure of creating a final piece led from our project from over the past two months. It has been a wild and tiring past couple of weeks, and changing each week can definitely test your sense of organisation and commitment as no week can be classed as an 'easy' week; but I could easily pick my favourites from the bunch, that being print and knit.

Since print and knit were my favoured weeks I know I want to interweave these two mediums for my final piece to create a substantial outcome which represents my project and theme of identity clearly. Throughout my project I have been closely looking into hearts and genetics linking to my fathers illness which is something I am eager to include; and since my prints from the digital print week are formed of my heart illustration, I want to use them in some way whether through digital print or a physical accessory.  One thing I have had in mind was printing on to knit to combine different aspects of textiles into a single piece but I am not sure on whether to create my own knit of to simply put together different recycled knits to represent recycled genetics. 

I have two weeks left until the deadline and I'm confident with my project to lead me towards a substantial idea to build upon, hopefully combining all my ideas into one successful piece. I already have some idea's of where to shoot my piece, its just a matter of figuring out what my final outcome will be.

Knitting you away

Along with digital print this was also a week that I much looked forward too, to actually get physically involved with making and creating something with texture and dimension. Knit has always been something that intrigued me and when we got introduced to the machine I couldn't wait to get stuck in.

\We started off with basic row knits which wasnt as easy as it looked as we had to pull out the needles for each row hoping it wont get stuck, but once the clamps were applied everything seemed to go smoothly and soon enough we go the hang of it.

Every hour we learnt a new technique; cable, weave, drop stitch, polka dots ect all as difficult as they look but somehow me and my partner Ronan managed to get the hang of most of the techniques breezing by each time and enjoying it as we went which was super. Finding each of the steps fun instantly led me to believe that I was definitely more into textiles over fashion design which was a perfect eye opener.

For me this was the most rewarding week in that I learnt to use a new piece of equipment and along with it learnt many many different techniques; and even taught myself to fix problems and faults whilst I went along which meant my confidence was at a high during the last day. I felt I didn't struggle at all this week because of how much I enjoyed doing knitwear, it usually meant my positive attitude reflected on the knits I made. But I do have to mention that if there is a difficult part it has to be packing the machine up, it's like a metal jungle.

Digi-digi-digital print.

Being someone who has always been attracted to colours and prints, digital print week was the one I most looked forward to! The concept and process of prints and textiles excites me; and using Photoshop is something I love love love to experiment with as I love the basis of creating something totally new out of a single image, and learning new tools to progress is always a plus. So learning and creating prints based on our family history was a fun and rewarding personal experiment.

We started by learning the basics of crating print patterns as we learnt how do create patterns which repeat as well as drop repeat and using different tools such as cloning and how to control layers on Photoshop. At first, even though I've used Photoshop in the past I found it difficult to catch up as we were learning one thing after the other, which definitely challenged me memory wise as I couldn't note steps down but eventually once done I managed to get the hang of the new tools. 

With some pre-prepared Photoshop edited hearts I created some prints using the new pattern tools which was a great part of the learning process because we were finally able to create original prints. I used the tools to clone, chop, merge, distort and filter the prints in various crazy ways which kept on developing my ideas and patterns which eventually led me to a wild bunch of prints which had connections to different parts of me; genetics, family and background. I chose these three different sectors to keep the patterns totally different with unusual outcomes that relate to me but also with the mutual theme of grey-scale throughout which keeps a sense of cohesion within the prints as well as with my sketchbook.  

For the final print collection I presented it on a basic jumper design mixing and matching the prints to keep it interesting. Because I believe I'm more of a textiles/print person I usually tend to keep the shape of my garments simple but relevant to focus on what is most interesting to me; textile and print.  I honestly really enjoyed this week and can joyfully say that this has been my favourite week so far, but there's still knitting next week so we'll have to see how that goes first then I can honestly decide; although it'll probably be a very close shave.

Develop develop design develop.

Each time we rotated the design development week was the one I dreaded the most as all I saw and heard about was the task of having to create constant different unique designs of up to 20 details in about five minutes; 20 shirt collars in five minutes you have to be kidding me. Being set the stressful task to create multiple designs of trousers/skirts/shirts/collars/sleeves one after the other, keeping the creativity flowing was a struggle but one that really tested our abilities and was a definite training for the future. However producing constant designs wasn't as daunting as I thought, I wasn't good at it but as odd as it sounds I enjoyed being put under the pressure and getting the smallest experience of what the reality of the fashion industry is really like. 

Fig 1- 23/09/13 (Own work/photography)

Fig 2- 23/09/13 (Own work/photography)

Once that quick activity was over we were told to pick a symbol which represented ourselves, I chose to use the Turkish S from my name which is written slightly different to get the 'shh' sound which I thought was a good and simple symbol to choose. With our chosen symbol we had to draw and cut multiple sizes and layers to later drape onto mannequins. This was a really interesting task as we draped each others symbols onto mannequins rather than our own and funny enough when it came to pinning my own symbol onto my mannequin I found it difficult to come up with more creative ways but managed with what I had.

Fig 1- 23/09/13 (Own work/photography)

Fig 2- 23/09/13 (Own work/photography)

After experimenting with continuous design development and draping and gaining influences and inspirations from the past two days we were told to create a collection of six designs which would be our final collection whether it be with pencils, watercolours, Photoshop, so long as you created a successful collection.Because I feel I am more of a print/textile student over a fashion design student, more of my designs were kept to a minimal shape-wise but bold print-wise which is what I love to focus on mostly.  Of course naturally I turned to Photoshop to fill in create my collection however not all of my work was Photoshop based as I originally drew my designs and prints onto paper, scanned it into Photoshop then filled in the textures of knits and weaves to create the illusion of real technique kept in the my original colour palette of black/whites and greys which is repeated throughout my sketchbook.

My finished collection is based on my S symbol which explains the curved/rounded garments I created within my collection; as the heart prints represent my continuous use of genetics with this whole project as I have managed to include a snippet of a heart in nearly every week which I don't know whether is an ideal thing to do but I feel it keeps my sketchbook looking slightly cohesive. My final concept board for my collection seems successful to me because I like to think despite my bad efforts to design a unique shape for my collection, I still managed to pull it together with a print and with the layout of the board as I also created flats for each garment I drew which makes my whole board generally more professional and well kept. This week was a struggle for me but at the end of it I have learnt how to keep in tact under pressure and also learnt how to work towards a deadline and actually get everything done on time which I am extremely pleased about.

Gerhard Richter

As you enter room 11 in the Transformed Vision floor at the Tate Modern you are instantly towered over by these large canvases lashed and scratched with paint which injects you with a weird dose of fulfillment. 

Fig 1 - Gerhard Richter - Tate Modern - 26/09/13 (Own photography)

The placement/curation of these large art works may have been why I was overwhelmed by the art; even though the art speaks for itself as the harsh squeegee paint lines are what overpowers the artists emotions through his piece. There was 6 pieces overall covering each wall with his work which is why I felt so strong by it because of the amount and largeness of the work in general which gives you more to enjoy. 

Capturing the feeling and state of mind of  Richter at the time was quite difficult but it didn't take me too long to make out some understanding. What I got from the piece was a sense of impatience as the thick lines seemed to strike with irritence. However it seems that these paint lashings were influenced by music which best describes Rcihters constant harshness of paint against blank parts of the canvas as he has been interested in "sound and silence" which is shown within his work.

This is a great collection to simply enjoy for the sake of art as it suggests a lot of movement and thought behind each canvas and can inspire almost anyone from any age which is the effect every artist wants to have on their audience and I definitely believe that Gerhard Richter's work radiates this positiveness to inspire. 

Fig 2 - Gerhard Richter - Tate Modern - 26/09/13 (Own photography)

Fig 3 - Gerhard Richter - Tate Modern - 26/09/13 (Own photography)

Bibliography

"sound and silence" - Tate Modern description board- Curated by Mark Godfrey- 26/09/13