Durham Lumiere Festival / November 2013

Durham Lumiere is a festival that runs over four days in November and is made up of stunning light projections and installations spread around the city centre. The festival also ran in 2009 and 2011 and together attracted over 225,000 people and raised a profit of £5.8 million over the eight days in total. I visited on the Saturday (16th November) shown below is a small selection of the images I took on the night.

 This light installation was my favourite as it was a phone box that had been transformed into a giant fish tank, complete with about one hundred goldfish.

Tartan womenswear A/W 13/14

I love wearing tartan at this time of year so thought I'd do a bit of research on the trend. The AW13 catwalks brought us many variations of the trend, ranging from the simple plaid structured blazer to the neon yellow skirt, introduced to us by Versace. Tartan can work effortlessly on almost anyone, and can update a simple pair of ripped jeans or, teamed with a leather skirt, can instantly create that punk, edgy, but still fun feel. WGSN has used a good range of imagery to show how tartan is being used on and off the catwalks for next year. We also see a surge of tartan and leopard print being thrown together in the same outfit, which creates an interesting clash of colour and texture

http://www.wgsn.com/content/report/Trend_Analysis/Materials/Inspiration/2013/October/AW1415_ww_cu_tartan.html

Dyeing Fabrics

 Learning how to mix dyes is an important part of print making as it enables you to colour fabrics and experiment to get the shade you want. To mix a dye, a recipe is needed, which we were shown in a demonstration by one of the technicians.  The two types of dyes we were using were Procion and Acid. Through experimenting with colour samples and different fabrics we found that silk always came out a darker shade than the cotton. Procion dyes are better on silk or linen and acid dyes are best on silk or wool.  Once the dye was mixed it was poured into a cold dye bath, and then the fabric which had been soaked in water was added into the dye bath and left for around 20 minutes. It was then washed until all the excess dye had came out. I really enjoyed mixing up the dyes as it is a very hands on process and needs specific measuring and weighing to ensure the amount of each ingredient was correct. The end results were used as samples in my technical file.

 Cold water dye bath

 Using a spinner to drain excess water

 Finished samples

 Sample sheet

Koda-Trace Production

 In our studio sessions we are now doing a print module, which involves screen printing onto fabrics and creating samples using different techniques. To expose drawings onto a screen, a koda trace is used, which is a trace of your drawings using media which is opaque, such a china graph pencil, koda- trace pen, acrylic paint and Indian ink. In my koda trace I used a variety of different observations which I had done in the previous module. This enabled me to have plenty of images to work with when printing onto fabric and creating final pieces. 

Whitby Goth Weekend/ Whitby Kustom November 2013

Goth weekend is an event held twice a year in Whitby, and I went for the first time a few weeks ago at the start of November. It is one of the most popular goth events and attracts many people from around the UK and the world.  It is said that Whitby was chosen as the location for this event because of its Dracula connections and historic buildings. Whitby Kustom is a car show held on the same day in West Cliff school. Although it poured down there was a huge turn out of people and Whitby Kustom managed to raise a large amount for the development of the primary school. Here are some of my images taken from the day. 

                                                         http://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/

Jane Farnham

Throughout our professional studies module we have been asked to look at all areas of surface design, and keep updating our blog with things we find interesting. Gift design is something which I would like to do in my final year of university, so I have been looking on the PrintPattern blog for inspiration. (http://printpattern.blogspot.co.uk/)

Jane Farnham is a freelance surface/pattern designer maker who mainly uses repeat patterns within her work to create gorgeous surface designs. Computer illustration plays a big part in her work and coming from a graphic design background this is something I can relate to. Her work also reflects on what we have been doing in our drawing for design module in the studio.

These are just a few examples sourced from her many collections
Fruit Stand

 Garden Path

 Vintage Peach

She also has a shop where her designs are put onto home furnishings, tablet cases,ect.

http://janefarnhamdesigns.com/

Trends Industry A/W 14/15

http://www.wgsn.com/

  The womens biker jacket has been updated for Autumn/Winter 14/15 to include winter fabrics and minimalist detail, and the deep blue colouring is sure to stand out in the crowd. WGSN is a subscription website with a wide range of trends that cover all sectors of the design industry, including interiors and beauty. The website keeps you up to date on all forthcoming trends, and provides inspiration for designers.

While flicking through this months Cosmopolitan magazine, I found evidence of this trend among the fashion pages. 

Beauty blogging..

I love winter as it means I can pull out my dark lipsticks and wear big cosy jumpers, but as it gets closer to Christmas I like to wear as much glitter as I can get away with, so naturally when I saw this on the homepage on Beauty Bay I got really excited. http://www.beautybay.com/

With gorgeous, chunky glitter nail polishes in jewel tones such as green, gold and blue, I really love the way this collection by Deborah Lipmann has been put together, as it is sure to compliment any outfit wore for the party season this year. The glitters are very eyecatching and really give off that magical christmas feeling.

Dolce and Gabbana A/W 13'

 

   This collection by Dolce and Gabbana seems to be heavily influenced by artwork within Italian history.  The Santa Maria Nuova, which is a cathedral in Monreale, Sicily is what initially inspired the designers to create such unusual and bold pieces, and this shows throughout the collection, which uses mosaic design and embellishment in the form of jewels. My favourite thing about this is that the designers have put a great amount of thought into every piece in this collection, and it all comes together seamlessly, with each piece telling a story and bringing a cultural influence into the 21st century.

Dolce and Gabbana advertisement in Novembers issue of Cosmopolitan.
 

Orwell and Goode / Gift Design

I chose to research Orwell and Goode as most of their designs are carefully hand printed using different methods,  and in their own studio to ensure that every piece is of the highest quality, which means each product is entirely unique. Orwell and Goode sell everything from cards to lampshades to furniture and commissions. I like the designs as the block colour techniques really grab your attention, while the illustrations have fine detail and show a range of pattern and imagery throughout.

http://orwellandgoode.com/shop-at-orwell-goode.php

Repeat pattern and bold imagery is used on the furnishings, and many of the lampshades and cushions are sold together in matching sets.

http://printpattern.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/DESIGNERS?updated-max=2013-10-
01T08:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false

                                                                      Kerdova Print
Orwell and Goode's chief designer also runs a design and print business which also includes wallpaper.
http://www.kerdovaprint.co.uk/  The website has lots of lovely collections to browse through and each design is again hand printed. These are some examples.

Thornton Bregazzi S/S 14

Pre - Collection

While looking for inspiration on the WGSN website (http://www.wgsn.com/)

this dress caught my eye. Thornton Bregazzi has a very free and expressive way of designing which I love. This dress in particular is made up of many different elements, one which is a transparency, initially creating a lot of depth and structure within the design.

Each piece of fabric looks like it has been carefully layered to give a smooth appearance, and a wide range of printing and embellishment techniques have been used to enhance the design and make it eye-catching and unique. I think the whole spring/summer collection by Bregazzi is really wearable and the fun, colourful, yet subtle designs are something which we could see filtering down into high street stores and becoming a wardrobe staple.

http://www.preen.eu/category/collections/ss-14/pre-collection-ss-14/

Cole and Son

Cole and Son are a high end wallpaper company specializing in hand made and bespoke print designs. Here are examples of some collections which are based around foliage and floral design, which ties in with my sketchbook work. http://www.cole-and-son.com/en/  

                             

                                                            Patina Collection

                              

                                                      Historic Royal Palaces 

                               

                               

                                                           New Contemporary

                               

Foliage studies

Recent foliage studies in my sketchbook using dry media and printing techniques.