Paper & Cloth

We have currently been set a live brief from Paper & Cloth to design for them. There are four areas we can pick from Womens fashion, Childrens fashion, Stationary or interiors. I have choosen Interiors as its were my interests lies. Paper and Cloth are a surface design studio team whos work has a strong Illustration team running through out. There are currently 7 designers working for Paper & Cloth. Each designer get to put there name on their designs so they can be recognised for their own work, which means that if anyone wanted to commission them for work, then they would know who. Paper & Cloth's work is so fun and playful.. i think they will be great to design for!

http://www.paperandcloth.net/

Lauren Moriarty at Stockport College.

Lauren Moriarty is based in London and can be classed as a texile designer, a product design erand even a industrail designer.. She personally feels she fits in best with a 3d textile designer. One of the reasons she gets seen as a industrail designer is because she best known for the industrail material she uses such as rubber foams, plastic and rubber. she uses these materails as they are good to use for heat moulds and lazering. She first got noticed for her "noodle boxs" at new designers.. but just as noodle boxs they had no use so the design was reconsidered in to cushions. If something is to sell successfully you have to ask yourself "what is it, whats it going to be used for and why would people want to buy this product." She also adviced that customer feedback is a good idea because it needs to do well enough to sell but you as a designer happy enough to sell it and have your name on the product. Its always a good idea to keep designing as well rather then just getting stuck on the process of making the product as you soon loose your way and loose the fun of taking risks nd being receptive to new ideas. I really enjoyed speaking to Lauren Moriarty as iv looked at her work before and took inspiration. She also takes on students for work experiance, she gets them involved with work rather then just letting them be.. she gets them designing and shows how to produce using manufacturers and contacts. (the image is a lamp shade she produced with a student doing work experiance with her) It was a pleasure meeting her!

Fashion & Interior Combined.

There are aspects from both Interior and Fashion i would love to bring through to this brief. i love the idea of Interior looking oriental but i also like the idea that Fashion has of giving it a Country feel with the use of colours and florals. Two colours that have occurred in both Fashion and Interior is a Olive green and a shade of pink so i think thats something i could defiantly take through in this project. I think that this image i have found is a perfect combination of them both.. the wall hangings in the background are very Oriental while the layout of the table is very Country and the use of colours Combines them both.. Green and pink once again!

Fashion Trends

Fashion is something iv never really looked at before to influence me but looking at whats about at the moment.. i love it! The pale colours with floatly florals! The idea of something seeming so girly and delicate but yet then with a twist of a big blazer or boyish shoes with socks.. whats not to love..you get the best of both worlds! The materials are delicate as well to compliment the look chiffons and lace with pretty pleats and gatherings. The printed pale florals are small as well, reminding me of old country houses and picnics in the park. Pretty delicate colours like pink, greys and creams is big at the moment aswell even on the more boyish trends... such as pale blazers! the picture above is a perfect example of whats out there at the moment!

Interior Trends

I have been looking at current trends in interior design.. Mooching around the shops like Habitat and flicking threw magazines such as Elle Decoration. One thing that did come to my attention was transparent and plastic furniture is big right now from shelves to lamp shades and not in any old colour.. Bright colours, reds, greens, yellows! While looking around Habitat even with the bright furniture it had a Oriental feel to it, maybe it was because of the use of olive greens mixed in with bright colours or maybe because the massive lamp shades that were based on paper making and foils. When looking through Elle decoration it wasn’t as apparent this trend as much as the interior shops were suggesting but the colours had the same feel to them olive greens mixed in with striped and dotted furniture. The bright colours were only suggested in accessories though, the wallpaper were not right reds nor were the sofas, the bright accessories were complimented with either white walls and furniture or wood's which using wood gave it a much more retro feel! I love his trend at the moment.. i think alot can be used from it!

Drawing Exercise

The breif that we are donig at this moment is a floral brief, so we have been drawing flowers. Dont get me wrong.. i love drawing! i like flowers.. but i seriously dislike drawing flowers! I dont mind flowers with a structure.. but sitting down in a quiet room while the only noise you hear is pen scratches seriously isnt my cup of tea! So i tried lots of different ways to produce.. from hanging pieces of paper on the washing line outside (which i would of really loved... if it was only a little warmer) drawing with my left hand, drawing with sticks and print with leaves! i loved it all... which is when i came to decided i didnt like drawing in control.. not drawing flowers at all! So with that in mind, i started to enjoy drawing flowers alot more and who cares if it doesnt look like a exactly like a flower! i dont! :)

Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)

Alan Fletcher is a well reconised Graphic designer. I went to he his work at the Cube Gallery based in Manchester were they showed a varity of his work some being very commercail and others being more personal work he has done. They show first sketches, posters, objects even a tape is playing were Alan Fletcher is in a interview about his work. Even though Alan Fletcher was based in Graphics he had also produced work in collage and Illustration. He has a personal style of work which makes it very distinctive. Some of the work i looked at was a little bit to graphic for me but because he had such a varity there were parts that would appeal to all. I personally really enjoyed the collage pieces of work he did and the objects like the pencil board showing above.