Quote of the Week!

This is a new little feature I have decided to add to my blog :)...

And this week's quote is one I snapped up from the editor's letter in Elle Decoration:

'You can tell alot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled christmas tree lights'.

The tangled christmas tree lights is very appropriate for the time of year and I have to say it certainly brings out some interesting personality traits in my family! hehe

Tremendous Trends

Last week I attended The Bradford Textile Design Competition Conference and let me just say that the 'Peclers Paris' Presentation was just FANTASTIQUE! (in my best french accent there.. cough... cough...). I don't think I have ever written so many notes during a talk before, I was literally scribbling everything down and praying to god that I would actually understand my scribbles later on. But luckily I did and I am now able to re-tell the brilliant talk on the Spring/Summer trends of 2011 to you :-)

Good news for all of us, 2011 is going to be a season of positive thinking with a certain innocent nostalgia attached. We are going to get out of this depression and embrace the idea of hope and happiness...

Floreal

The first trend embraces nature, discovering the hidden dimensions of our environment. The creative influences combine natural grace, nature expressed throught poetic movements, flowing water, ballet etc.

The colours are all about the 'Fresh and New', greens moving into sun-drenched yellows, reflecting the summer pollen and crisp vegetables...

The idea of travelling also plays a big part; dreams of enchanted gardens, flashes of oriental colours (adding pinks with flowery, tonal shades mixed with oranges), intricate etchings, delicate designs... creating precious little worlds.

Meandering

This second seasonal trend focuses on the idea of slowing down. We live in a world of such intense complexity and scale that we sometimes just need time to switch off. A rejection of being constantly surrounded by technology and instead generating dreams of infinite possibility.

The creative influences combine the ideas of nostalgia, day dreaming, escapism, travel journals, handwriting (adding a personal touch, something hand-made, away from technological advances, not looking perfect).

The colours link in with the idea of travelling, reflecting misty boat ports, shades of grey moving into blues and running alongside blacks. There are also a lot of terracotta shades, showing a sophisticated edge. To sum up:  dusty and smoky yet dense and colourful.

Carlene Edwards- Observations of our world.

Digging out old projects brings about alot of new found inspirations. Whilst searching through some of my Alevel projects I found a single image (shown above) by designer 'Carlene Edwards' and was delighted to re-discover her stunning work as well as some exciting new collections.

floral based work

“I start with a theme or concept, something I want to portray, sometimes a message. I then think about visual representations of these ideas and go to work drawing and photographing. Then come the designs.”

Carlene is a printed textile designer and illustrator, working on many design projects including fashion prints, album cover design, graphics for websites etc. Her cultured childhood led her to be creatively crammed with inspiration from the world around us. The styles flavours and colour of life, the cultures, the impact of our visual surroundings and everday issues that we face are all combined to help produce her amazing work.

I adore her use of mixed media techniques in the design process, ranging from collage to water colours and diluted inks, from chalky pastels to vivid pencil marks. Behind every finished deisgn, there is a hand-drawing or personal photograph that started it all off.

I love how a three-dimensional effect is created in her work,  through the use of collage and layering techniques. She also makes wonderful use of textures, making the viewer not just want to admire her work through the eye but also through the hands, allowing us to be fully engaged with the designs.

Latest Collection: Autumn/Winter 2010/11

Based on the idea of discovering a city in today's modern world, one jam packed full of construction and building sites. The collection combines sharp silverly lines, geometric and graphic shapes and of course that slight presence of nature from the ever dwelling city pigeons!

I cannot help but think of 'Mary Poppins' and 'Feed the birds' when I look at these!

Selected favourite works

"Carlene’s work constantly explores new themes and imagery, sometimes combining these with traditional techniques, and always creating beautiful, original designs".

http://www.carlene-edwards.co.uk/

The Fabric of Dreams

Wow, what a fascinating guest lecture I had this afternoon. Aileen Brindle (a textile design graduate from Leeds Univeristy) came in and talked to us about her work in the textile industry. She is currently working with a remote tribe in the Philippines, helping them find a place in the market to sell their amazing work.

These tribes people have incredible creative abilities, producing beautiful 't’nalak' fabrics' from Abaca fibres. They have no machinery, every step from pulling the fibres from the abaca plants, to knotting each fibre together, to the long tedious weaving process, all is done by hand. None of the workers have any sense of time, no watches are worn, no clocks are hung, they start work when the cockerel crows and end when the crickets sing.

The natural abaca fibres (plant is similar to the banana plant)

Each 5 metre piece of fabric take one weaver 10 whole weeks to produce, from stripping the raw abaca to completing the final cloth.  The amount hours they work would  put most students to shame, (including myself !)

With no design teaching or training, it is hard to see where or how the Tiboli weavers come up with their incredibly intricate fabric designs. Well believe me or not.. they appear in their dreams!.

This is where Aileen has stepped in and aided the tribe in creating a marketable and a commercially viable range of products including 'The Dream Pillow', 'The Dream Journal' and Wall Panels which are 'Memories of the dream', all created from this gorgeous T'nalak fabric.

Keeping the traditional technique and the authenitic deisgn with a new contemporary edge... Perfect!

P.S. I wish I had more imagery of the beautiful fabrics and products, but unfortunatley the web is somewhat lacking on this subject at the minute! Apologies!

Lucy's Lush Snaps!

As well as my love for photography, my flat mate Luce has a big passion for it too. People often get a bit annoyed at us if we are out anywhere as we want to stop every few seconds to snap away! Even though, like me, she just plays around really, I think her photos are beautiful! I have posted a selection of my favourites for you to have a nosey at :).

The colour of the sky are just stunning !

I love the curves and reflections in this one.

A love for photography

Ever since I got my first digital camera, I fell in love with photography. I would take my camera wherever I went, I just loved to be able to record my memories and was always known by my friends to be a tad 'Snap happy'! However only recently have I started using photography in an artistic way and started building up a portfolio of some amateur photgraphy work. I love capturing beauty in nature and architecture.  I play around with the photo once it's been taken, adjusting the contrasts and colours. For me photography is all about having fun, creating beautiful imagery and treasuring the memories.

Check out my online portfolio...
http://picasaweb.google.com/rachaelclark15/PhotographyWork#

Divine De Gournay

For my first project of Second year I am creating a collection of laser cut pieces inspired from the theme of chinoiserie. I came across this company when researching and automatically fell in love!

Absolutely beautiful and equisite hand painted wallpapers, fabrics and porcelain insipred from 18th century chinoisierie and 19th century French designs. Labelled at the top end of the decoration market, these interiors will make any house sparkle with elegance.

Their patterns are down right incredible! Each motif has been drawn to perfection. In my view they truely are the world's finest hand painted wallpapers.