Portfolio

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Evaulation

After the practice unit I had a very good idea of what I wanted to achieve in unit x, with my motifs and mark makings I made a good foundation for unit x to create patterns and final pieces. In my learning agreement I stated I want to establish myself as a versatile textile designer and I think in this project I have managed to stay versatile without stretching myself too far. I did have mixed feelings about crossing over from interiors to fashion but I think accessories is a good compromise.

Material investigation was a very important part of unit x as I hadn’t previously researched a lot of materials and hadn’t considered how it would affect my practice. I ensured that I prioritised exploring materials and it helped my practice dramatically. In previous projects I had avoided making any mock ups of my work but in unit x I learnt the importance of being able to produce a mock up. Especially after not being able to produce mock ups for the live brief, after university if I am working with a client or company they won’t be able to see my vision so it’s vital I provide a concept.

Keeping my work in line with my audience has been a constant focus throughout the project. With having the bright, strong colours throughout all of my prints I want them to have more exclusivity. When it came to picking fabrics, I constantly thought about my target audience and how I want to showcase my work as a textile designer

Challenges within this unit have really tested my ability to problem solve. In my learning agreement I stated the budget in my live brief may have been issue so I should have addressed the point of who would funding the project earlier and I would have been more prepared. My problem solving has greatly improved within this project, my fabric for the cushions in the degree show were the wrong sizes so I had to solve this problem by sourcing a different fabric for the back of the cover.

I have tried to make my body of work varied, as I want to be a versatile designer and showcase the skills I have picked up throughout university. This has only been possible by managing my time more efficiently, in the practice unit I was starting to get better at time management but in this unit I have really learnt the value of managing my time and seeing what’s possible within the time frame.

Overall, even though unit x has been incredibly challenging it has built my confidence as a designer drastically. By creating my foundation in the practice unit, it inspired me continuously throughout this unit. The processes I have learnt will certainly help me after university and I now feel prepared for what path I may take whether it be freelance or working for a company I now have the ability to manage my time and problem solve.

Final Cushion 1/5

This is one of my five final cushions, I wanted it to be made before assessment but the other 4 will be made for the degree show. In my previous blog post I stated that when I ordered my fabrics I made a mistake with my sizes as the fabrics were so expensive and it wasn't viable to have my cushions at the price point for that length of fabric. I initially thought that all of my cushions would be a repeat print, but after making a mistake with my fabrics I ended up getting a larger piece with more of a placement print. 

The mistakes I made seemed to end up working out well for me, the cushion turned out to be quite large as I didn't want to lose any of the pattern. Throughout my cushions I am using feather inners as it fits in with my price point, using a polyester filling would ruin the whole aesthetic. I had to source other fabrics for the backing of 4 of my cushions (including this one) but I am very pleased with this. I think if i would of had the pattern of both sides it wouldn't have looked as good. The majority of my patterns are very busy and all feature a lot of colour, to have them fit together may not have worked as well as having a fabric backing. I was slightly worried doing this would make my cushions not put them at the higher price point but the fabrics are all good quality. Whilst I was struggling with my cushion prototypes if I'd used a different fabric backing I think I would have felt better about the process and the photos I took.

Its inspiring to see the final product, before this unit I hadn't experimented much with fabric samples so to see my patterns in a product makes me positive about my future after university. Producing this cushion also shows my improvement in time management skills as I was able to get this one finished before the deadline.  I have also made a good contact with the company that have put together my cushion covers, the service was great quality with a good turnaround time, so after university this contact will be invaluable. 

Tie Project

Tie Photoshoot

With one of my prints, I had an idea that it would look good as a tie design, I used the same company that I received my fabric samples from as their fabrics had showcased my colours nicely which my project is all about. I really would like to be versatile with my prints and by creating this tie I thought it would show in my portfolio and unit x project how versatile I am as a designer. 

The issues I had with this were for this printed tie it was £24, the quality of the finish wasn't up to a high standard that I expected for this price point. This has made me realise that for after university, if I wanted to work freelance it would be a good idea to learn how to put together my own products so that I know the finish will be to my standard. Also when it comes to price point if I was paying £24 for the production a tie that needed extra work from an external source the price of the tie would be very expensive. Whereas if I could do the finishes myself I could simply order the fabric in a bigger role to have a bigger profit. 

Tie Photoshoot

This is also an important lesson when it comes to what I produce after university, there are certain times where my work will be in someones else hands, as I can't do everything but I will need to do better research when it comes to the quality of what is being produced. I tried to externally getting the issues with the tie fixed but was told it would need to be hand stitched. To showcase my tie how I thought it should be showcased I did a photoshoot in an office environment. 

Overall the product has taught me a lot because I have said throughout the project I wanted to make my prints versatile so they cross over from furnishings to fashion and this shows me what my pattern could be used for and not just for soft furnishings. I have also solved a lot of problems after the issues I had and in the end managed to have a selection of images to show my print in use. 

Cushion Production

As I wanted 5 cushions for the degree show, I have been looking into the process of having them made. I want them to look like the real product, down to the filling inside. Having done my material investigation, I am certain of the fabrics I want and I've taken into account how the fabrics will look next to each other. After researching into where I can get the cushions made, I found that this could potentially very expensive. I need to try and keep my outgoings to a reasonable level as in the outside world after university it will be crucial to keep to a budget especially working with external clients. Seeing as I have used very bold colours within my project, this is very important to make sure they're fluent throughout. Having looked at quotes for making the cushions I thought it best to order my fabric from the website I used for my samples to ensure fluency throughout my project and find another source to make the cushion covers. 

07/05/16 

Whilst ordering my fabrics, I started to regret deciding to do 5 cushions as the price was starting to add up quite drastically. I came to the conclusion that the best idea to keep my cushions at the higher price point and within my vision was to back my cushions with a plain coloured fabric. This alters my vision slightly but it solves a big problem, it is essential I learn from others within this process. There are certain areas that I am not knowledgable in and I have to adapt my practice from the knowledge I gain from others. 

16/05/16

I have had back one of my cushions made and I am very happy with the result. As stated before I had to change the vision slightly as my price point didn't match exactly with what was achievable with the budget. This has taught me to take more care with numbers and ask for help when needed from other specialist areas. I am happy I came to get at least one cushion ready before assessment as this shows my time management skills have improved dramatically which will be crucial when leaving university. 

Material Investigation

In my brief I stated that I wanted to aim my cushions at a higher price point, to keep everything to the same standard the material investigation was really important to find fabrics that keep in line with the higher price point. In the practice unit I stated that I wanted to investigate materials more to better my practice as a designer. 

Oxford Linen Look 322gsm

This fabric would be suited for outdoor cushions but it wasn't the high end fabric I was looking for.

Quilted Jersey Stretch 255gsm

This material was too thin and cheap, it would be more suited to a fashion outcome rather than soft furnishings.

Suede Vision 180gsm

This fabric did not suit my target audience and didn't have a soft finish. Although the colour and pattern came out nicely.


Lucent Satin 120gsm

This material was spot on for what I was looking for, it had a nice sheen to it and the pattern didn't bleed.

Plush Velvet 450gsm

This fabric had a nice luxurious feel to it that I was looking for but the detail of the pattern didn't come through. It also may not be suitable for cushions and may be more suitable to fashion.

Velvet Shimmer 371gsm

Velvet shimmer gave the finish I was looking for as I'm going for a more expensive price point and this fabric will show that.

Crushed Velour 180gsm

The crushed velour combined the two good aspects of the lucent satin and plush velvet as the pattern came through nicely but had a nice sheen and luxurious feel.

Live Brief Evaluation

As a live brief I worked work with a franchise letting company to create artwork for their office revamp. With the company being a franchise I had a very limited colour palette and theme to work with which turned out to be good practice in comparison to usually having freedom. Initially I had a variety of ideas such as a wall hanging or soft furnishing piece but after a discussion with the company I was told that I would need to fund the project so this hindered me slightly as my unit x project became expensive and it was viable to have the same budget for both projects.

Initial Mood Board

Communication with the company was good throughout which included emails and face to face meetings, this communication was a good confidence builder for after university as I may be again working with other companies in this capacity. The issue I had was that it wasn't always viable to give the customer physical copies of what I wanted to achieve and mostly consisted of digital prints for them to see. In the future if working with a company again I would limit myself to working on smaller, fewer projects at a time especially if I was funding them myself. 

As the budget was a huge factor, I had to scale down some of my ideas and came to the conclusion that working on stationary would be good for the company and the budget. This is also good promotion for not only the company but myself as well, as they would be seen by a lot of people and they could potentially open relationships with other companies. 

 Print Design

My idea was to buy mock notepad and pens that I could use with transparent adhesive paper to show the company what they could potentially look like and this process is very cost effective. I created images on Photoshop of what these could look like so I had various ideas to show the company and proceeded on what they told me they liked. As I had only shown digital mock ups to this point I thought it would be good to show them an actual copy. I had a major issue with the paper and it ended up not working well with an inkjet printer and I couldn't produce any samples that I felt happy with to showcase.

Notebook Concept 

In the timescale given by the company I couldn't fixed this problem in time and couldn't produce any mock ups for them apart from the digital mock ups. I think this could have been an issue for me as the company most likely would have been more excited if they saw what it could look like.

To conclude, the company were happy with the work produced but their circumstances changed but they ended the communication with a possibility of working together in the future which could be useful after university. 

Developed Prints

After deciding to work with my practice unit motifs, I was still in the mind set of the patterns I was focusing on in that unit, which was what about detail and busy prints. I regrouped to realise that I wasn't working on my practice unit it didn't need to be the same and I had to really try hard to work on what I wanted to change in the last unit.

I had so many drawings and motifs in the last unit I was really disappointed as the project went on I started to get carried away with different aspects and almost forgot about my drawings and motifs. So I decided to go back to the very first motifs I did and see if I could make something from them in Unit X. 

From a professional aspect, I need to ensure that I have a range of different prints and patterns in my work and portfolio to show I can do a range of styles. I don't want to just showcase one style of work I can produce I want to show as much as possible. In terms of my degree show, as I have used bold colours I don't want it to be too overpowering and by having the more simple designs it breaks up the overall look. 

Developed Cushion Concepts

After the first attempt of pinning the fabric samples to cushions and not being happy with the results, I decided to order larger samples in an A3 size so they would fit onto actual cushions so I could get a better idea of what they would look like not only individually but together as a group. 

Cushion Concept 1

Once again I followed the same process of pinning the samples and the trimmings as well. Another improvement I made was photographing the cushions on something where they would potentially be used by the target audience. 

By ordering the larger sample sizes I was able to find a larger selection of cushions to apply them to. This process helped me a lot when it came to deciding on what I wanted for the degree show. It also helped me make the decision when it came to the finishes on my cushions. I was really happy with the colours and patterns that fit together.

Cushion Concept 2

Before doing this process, I was worried that the cushions would be too much with the bold colours and patterns together but by taking these pictures it's allowed me to step back and see things from a different perspective after seeing the samples for so long. I hadn't previously arranged the cushions on something flattering for the arrangement but I think this purple in concept 2 really brings out the colours of the cushions and completely changes my mind set. 

Cushion Concept 3

 Cushion Concept 3 is the almost the finished article I envisioned, I wanted two normal sized cushions at the back, with two rectangle cushions and one smaller square cushion at the front of the display. This was hard to achieve with just my samples as they wouldn't have fit onto larger cushions than pictured but by having two rectangles I know which prints look better on what shape. 

3D Cushion Concepts

After receiving my fabric samples I decided to use these samples to create cushion concepts to get an realistic look of what my cushions would look like. The issue I had is that I couldn't find any cushions small enough to fit on my A4 samples, after searching I decided to use some of the fabric samples I wasn't as happy with and made a simple cushion out of them with toy filling. 

As hand stitching is not something I'm particularly

good at I was trying to avoid this method as long as possible but eventually gave in and decided just to go for it and see what I could come up with. These also served as a great tool to apply patterns in Photoshop to make them look slightly more realistic. Another big reason for doing this is that because I want to have different trimmings on my cushions I need to see how they work colour wise and with certain patterns. 

This concept was really the only one that worked, it allowed me to apply the pattern how it would look when made properly and also how the tassels would look against the pattern. I'm still not completely happy with this method, it's not quite working for me and what I'm trying to achieve. 

Initial Prints

My initial prints came from motifs from the practice unit, in the unit I produced so many drawings and mark makings that towards the end of the unit when it came to looking at making prints, I had forgotten a lot of the motifs I drew at the very start of the project. As the practice unit was all about detail and texture I decided to take these motifs and make unit x about colour. In the practice unit I wasn't brave with colour until the end of the project so I didn't get chance to explore colour as much as I'd like. So already having the motifs and experiments from the practice unit it's allowed to make unit x all about colour.

All of the prints I've made so far have been very busy with a lot going on, I want to explore more different repeat styles, so not every motif is so busy. When it comes to the collection at the end of the unit I want to have a variety of different styles to show how versatile I can be. With the work I am producing in this unit I want to be very aware of the image I project for my portfolio or future employers. 

Unit X

After the practice unit there were two main aspects I wanted to focus on, being more brave in the initial stages with colour and investigating the materials to take my work to a more professional level. I did a lot of drawing motifs and mark marking in the practice level so I felt that a lot of these would still be relevant in unit x.

By this point I know that the prints I create will be for interiors/soft furnishings so this will be where I start my research. In the practice unit I was advised that by using bright bold colours you are aiming at a more expensive audience, so I will be aiming my work to a higher price point and this will reflect in what I make. This is why I want to do a lot of material investigation to ensure every aspect is following the higher price point.

Matthew Williamson uses bright colours nicely and his prints and used cross over from sofas to stationary to fashion which inspires me as I like the idea of patterns having more than more use. This is also a good mind set for after university as if I was to work freelance being able to offer a service which crosses over different areas. In unit x I aim to create versatile prints than can cross over. 

Evaluation

Throughout my practice I have been creating a range of prints mainly for interiors. As the last project I wanted to ensure I worked on the faults I’ve had in another projects and establish the style and techniques I am good at and enjoy. At this point in my practice I should know what I’m good at. Looking back at my first blog post I was still unsure but I felt this unit has helped me significantly. I have discovered new ways to create a body of work which makes designing patterns and prints a lot easier.

From the start of the project, I regret that I wasn’t as brave as I was towards the end because I would of got a lot of unique results that reflect the work that I enjoy making. At the start I was using more muted colour schemes and focused a lot more on the motifs. I found that when I came out of my comfort zone and moved away from Photoshop I found techniques that made my practice a lot easier and more enjoyable. When I broadened my techniques, especially by using the inks I found a new colour scheme that really reflected what I enjoy making and how I want to be as a professional, this resulted in a large body of work in comparison to previous projects. In Unit X I can take this new found confidence and reflect it in work.

As I had such a big body of work, looking back I wish I had managed my time better so that I could of explored certain aspects more, as I said previously I developed a new colour scheme from my ink mark making and I enjoyed it so much I think it took up a lot of my time and I didn’t develop my other colour schemes as much. Saying this, the mark makings I did within this colour scheme was some of the best work I think I have created so far and helps me see what kind of work I want to make in Unit X and after university as well.

Although I have done a lot more traditional techniques rather than just the digital techniques I usually do, there needs to be more material investigation in Unit X. I didn’t take my material investigation that far so I need to see how my prints transfer to different materials. Within interiors it’s really important to have good quality materials that fit their purpose as well as the aesthetic so I need to investigate this more in Unit X.

In Unit X, I want to ensure I investigate materials in detail, I already have a body of final prints that I want to develop into a product and make them into a collection of potentially soft furnishings. The final prints I made could potentially reflect my work after university as a professional designer so I want to ensure I show them in the most professional way at my degree show to showcase my own style.