Practice - Evaluation

Over the past 18 weeks I have learnt a wealth of different things, about myself, the way in which I like to work and the style into which my work grown. To begin with I felt overwhelmed by the vast length of the practice unit, 18 weeks on one unit seemed to me like a never en ding road. After a few weeks finding my feet I began to feel comfortable and relaxed more into the project and my work alike. I knew quite early on that I wanted my work to hold a sense of order, structure and precision, something that has come to be my speciality.

The summer work which I had undertaken seemed to be hindering my idea process, so I decided it would be best to start over and work on a brief that more suited my needs. I chose to focus my attentions onto architecture and the surrounding shapes that towered over me. Manchester provided the perfect backdrop, with photography sessions in and around the city I was able to generate several image collections that would later be the main focus of my work.

I looked into collage, digital manipulation and of course weaving. After several weeks running with the ‘Urban shape’ theme I wondered what I would find if I were to delve back in time. Comparing the modern shape of architecture to the shapes and forms of past times. The university slide library became my new companion, searching for images from the 60’s a new hobby. A few in particular caught my eye and it was these images that would guide me over the next coming months.

Picking away at the shapes I found, I began to deconstruct images and create new forms and shapes of my own. This led me to the idea of double cloth, a new weave technique that I had never tried. Needless to say, it was perfect for me and my project. The structure, rigidity and heavy weight feel to the fabric enticed me. I found that I now was starting to become clearer in a potential context for my work.. Upholstery. Thick, dense, heavy.

Moving forward and after Christmas I engaged in a live brief, set by Dash and Miller. Creating samples for Ralph Lauren home was an amazing experience and enabled me to once again explore shape and linear structures to the extreme. Working with a single cloth I was able to generate samples that fit my own personal brief to a tee – ‘Urban Darks’.

I have discovered that as well as just weaving, I am extremely fond of using digital processes to enhance and push forward my design work.  I feel confident that I can run with my overarching concept into Unit X and hope that upon graduation I will have a clear and consice idea about where my future lies. This project has taught me to think outside of the box, push boundaries and to not be afraid of my own ideas. 

Week 18 - Jacquard Work

As well as working on my second Dash and Miller warp this week, i also had the opportunity to use the Jacquard loom in university. As exciting as this sounds, i was completely over whelmed by the sheer scale of the loom and found myself anxious when i first took to the machine.

Prior to the actual weaving process, it is required to put some time in to developing an image suitable to be woven. Differently to my usual Texel loom, the Jacquard loom is able to weave images onto cloth, leaving patterns behind on the surface of the cloth to create the picture / image.

I wanted to stick with the theme i have been looking at for the Dash & Miller brief, so opted to use an image created using Photoshop from one of my initial research images. The points / zig-zag pattern is one that has made an appearance rather regularly over the past 6 weeks, so here is the chosen image.

Above shows the development stages of the Jacquard design, from initial image, to scotweave input and finally to creating a loom harness, ready to take to the loom to be woven. This process was somewhat tricky to begin with, having to alter the size and dimensions to create a image big enough to fill the width of loom took some getting used to. I wanted the white chevron shapes to stand out strongly against the background,  to achieve this i chose to use satin and sateen structures only. This means one pattern is mainly warp faced, whilst the other is mainly weft faced, perfect for what i want to achieve.

Belows shows the final Jacquard samples, two in different colour ways.

Final Context

The final context of my work is now clearer than ever. 6 warps later and i am fully confident that the samples I am currently creating fit into the world of upholstery.

JAB

Lara Ashley

Designers Guild

Ralph Lauren Home

The last 18 weeks i have grown to have an understanding of the world of high end and high street upholstery. Laura Ashley and Designers Guild both design fabrics at a price point that sits well at a high street level. With Fabric available to buy in store, off the roll, this way of selling fabric is commercial, quick, easy and very accessible to all. Suitable for you and i.

At the higher price points are Ralph Lauren and JAB. Designing for Ralph Lauren has showed me that sometimes less can be more, a simple vertical stripe can be all that is needed to create a beautiful collection of fabric samples. The website houses over 1000 different fabric samples, in all colour ways, styles, yarn qualities and densities. It is this area of the textile upholstery market that i see myself working towards, high end prices created with minimal effort. The perfect combination.

With more time and further research into my own practice, i know that it is a feesable prospect to one day be selling to the same clients as Ralph Lauren.

Week 18

Dash and Miller - Ralph Lauren. Conclusion of Live brief. What have i learnt? How has it helped me?

This element of the project has really helped me find what sort of designer i want to be. I now know that home interiors, more specifically fabrics for upholstery is where i see my future. The live element of any project is something that especially excites me, the buzz of creating a piece/swatch for a client makes everything that little bit more important and therefore stressful.

The final samples i have gotten from the 'Urban Darks' warp are different to any other samples previously woven. They have depth and a real sense of purpose, something that i will aim to have in all my future works. I feel the compositions are varied in each samples, making for a very well rounded and coherent collection of samples. They work well individually and as a set, which is an element that i would pitch to Dash and Miller, of the opportunity arose. My aim was to have samples that could be fit for any purpose, i feel this has been achieved to the highest level.

After two weeks of weaving at 16 inches wide, i felt maybe the samples could do with being a tad more dense. This led me to change the width and EPI count of the cloth, leading to a 13 inch wide cloth with a density level of 60 EPI instead. This was a move that i wish i had undertaken sooner into the weaving block, as the samples are exemplary and far outshine the earlier, wider samples.

As it stands i have a good body of samples to present to the client, each with different colour ways, emphasizes and pattern ranges.

See below for images of the smaller samples from the 'Urban Darks' collection.

Additional samples produced as a sideline to the Dash & Miller brief. With 1 week left to spare i opted to use my time wisely and invested in a new project, combining my ideas from the Ralph Lauren work and my previous double cloth warps.

I chose to use 4 key colours. Black, White, Grey and Blue. I want to keep the samples simple in colour but complex in structure. Set over 4 blocks the warp will be able to weave in a variety of different combinations. I have currently only been able to weave 4 simple samples up to now, but plan to utilise the next 2 weeks to complete the warp, in the hope that i will find new inspiration for Unit X! The cloth is extremely thick, dense and sturdy. Perfect for the context i am looking into.

Week 17

Samples, do they fit the brief?

This week has been nothing other than the weave element to my project, i have focused all my efforts on creating a collection of samples that work individually and as a whole. Sticking with the theme title of Urban Darks i decided to maintain the colours i had in my warp and use them as weft colours too, so as not to over complicate things.

This was a important decision that i made early on, the imagery i collected gave me all the colours i needed so i feel it would be wrong to add extras. Saying this however and by pure chance, i found a discarded image from earlier on in the minor project that i felt i could work with. Orange. By adding a flash of orange sporadically through the collection i feel i have lifted and given an edge to my samples. The experiments i did on Photoshop last week have proved invaluable and have been vital in informing my decision making this week.

Here are a selection of my own samples, next to the inspiring samples as done by Ralph Lauren.

The warp, although dark in its own right, is lifted by the pale tones added through the weft. The top and bottom samples were woven using solely white 2/16 cotton. Each sample measure 16 inches square. I feel the samples are different in quality to those of Ralph Lauren but i feel they work well as a complimentary collection and up to now i am pleased with the results. More to follow.

Above right - Ralph Lauren. Sample Swatches. Ralph Lauren Home. [Online]
[Accessed 12.02.2014] http://www.ralphlaurenhome.com/products/Fabric/items.aspx?haid=19&collId=182&phaid=19

Ralph Lauren - Twill's

Above - Ralph Lauren. Sample Swatches. Ralph Lauren Home. [Online]
[Accessed 12.02.2014] http://www.ralphlaurenhome.com/products/Fabric/items.aspx?haid=19&collId=182&phaid=19

Week 16

Weaving commences for Ralph Lauren collection, entitled - Urban Darks.

Before the initial weaving process could begin, i first needed to decide upon structures and patterns. The colour wrap in the last post shows how the warp will look, i have slightly altered it and added a few inches to the right hand side, as i feel it had a stumpy element to it that i wanted to eradicate. Measuring 16 inches wide i am hoping the warp will produce samples that have the sense of being made for purpose, fabrics for upholstery etc. 

The earlier end of this week saw me delving into the world of shape and pattern, in a bid to find one single idea i could run with. After doing two sets of double cloths so far, i feel it is right for this warp to be plain and flat, with only one warp densely set, with 48 2/16 cotton ends to every inch. 

The initial imagery i collected has led me to look at the idea of points and twill's. Ralph Lauren themselves use twill's often within their fabrics so i feel this is a nice link to their existing works.

Examples of pattern development and proportions.

Photoshop repeats are an important tool for me to use, they enable me to get a sense of what a fabric will look like once woven. Structure is the most important thing for my work so this element is crucial. I have been slightly inspired by my second double cloth warp (white wool and cotton). The recurring square shapes led me to develop a series of pixelated edits, informing my choice of colour and proportions for the weft of my samples.

Week 15

First hand research - Ralph Lauren for Dash & Miller.

As with Ralph Lauren's work, this week i proposed to set about finding my own theme for my upcoming weave collections.

The focus of my work has and always will be architecturally based. The strong shapes found within building enable me to devise weave structures and patterns easily. Creating for a company that have an interest in stripes and linear qualities i began to gather imagery similar to this idea.

Gathering strong visual references is a key part of my work. The images i took this week are a turning point to my major project, enabling me to get a strong sense of where i want my samples to go on the upcoming weave rotation. The images have left me with a strong colour palette, one which i think i can run endlessly, ideas for patterns, structures as well as potential Jacquard samples.

Urban Darks.