Shop Windows

Last week I was given a new brief, we had to choose form three different briefs, all very different from each other and different to any thing that I had done in the past. I decided on the brief Enchanted, this was to design a shop window display for a toy shop near Stockport College, I thought that this brief would be great as it would give me the opportunity to really use my imagination and think like a child and what they would like to see in a window display. We have to work in groups of between two and four, I have gone in a group with two other surface designers and an illustrator, I think that the mixture of the two pathways will be good as they are quite closely linked together so we can bounce of each others ideas.

As part of the brief we have to present our ideas and designs to the shop owner and workers and the design that they like the most will actually be put in the shop windows, I think that this is a great opportunity to have our work in a public place, and also give us some experience to presenting to potential clients for the future. 

I think that to make a good window display we really have to think like a child and what they would like and what caught our eye and imagination when we were growing up.  

As part of my research I went out and took some photographs of shop windows around Manchester, although none of these are toy shops, instead they are mostly of clothes shops I feel they still give a good idea of the imagination and creativity that goes into a good shop window display, and they are a good point to start my work from. 

Dialogue Ignites Change Brief

I was given my brief a few weeks ago called Dialogue Ignites Change, the main idea of the brief was to talk to people and have what they say and their stories have a lasting impression on you. As a group we had to come up with an idea, we choose the idea around sustainability, WW2 and recycling. We had to make something to do with crafts and making something, I decided to use only recycled fabrics, and not buy anything because during the war rations made it difficult to buy new clothes and fabrics because they were in shortage and expensive.
I decided to make cushions and tea towels in a patchwork style, made from recycled materials and fabrics, the only thing I bought was the new tea towels from a charity shop.
Here are some photo's of the final cushions and tea towels and my sketchbook:

Pages from my sketchbook

Patchwork samples

Charity shop tea towels with patchwork and free hand machine embroidery, with the war time saying, "Make do and Mend"

Square patchwork cushion, made from recycled and found materials and old buttons

Square patchwork cushion, made from old curtains, and a pillowcase

Square patchwork cushion, made from an old pillowcase and old curtains

 

My mood board of ideas and inspiration

Overall I really enjoyed this brief, I liked the idea of using recycled materials and fabrics, I think that if I had more time I would have done some more free hand machine embroidery as I think that this is a great technique and something that I will use later on in my work.  

Art School in Poland

The first full day we had in Krakow we went to an art school called The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. It was a great school that has been there for over 132 years, there were many different buildings and campus' spread over the city all filled with different art subjects such as sculpture, painting, drawing, stage design, interior design and graphics, the degree  is spread over 5 or 6 years and gives the students an opportunity to try as many different fields as they want, and then specialise in one subject. I really loved the print rooms, they had many of them each one from different types of printing such as mono, or lithography printing. 

Poland 2011

This year we went to Krakow in Poland on the College residential during November, three people from surface design went and more from illustration. 

Krakow was a place I had never been before and wouldn't have thought of going, but I am so glad I did.

Krakow was filled with tradition, culture and history, folk traditions including horse drawn carriage traveling around the main square with an outdoor market market hall. 

Also beautiful architecture and buildings, all about five stories high and painted different pastel colours, and wonderful churches and towers.

Here are a few pictures: 

Chloe Owens

Chloe Owens is an artist/crafter who specialises in appliqué, free hand machine embroidery using salvaged fabrics she has collected over the years. She produces cushions, soft toys, canvasses, greeting cards, and t-shirts, sewing together a mixture of fabrics of different prints, colours and styles, and then free hand sews on top using a sewing machine to create layers of stitching in different colours. I think that her work is beautiful and interesting, and I thought that it fits in with the work that I am doing now, with re-using fabrics and quilting techniques.  

She also has a book on Amazon that you can buy now!

War Time Fashion

I found these videos on youtube, I know that they are from American and they didn't have rationing like we did in Britain on clothes and fabrics, but it can give an idea of some of the fashion during the war and the shapes, colours and styles of the clothes during that period. 
The first video is a a modern reenactment of fashion and clothes in the 40's, and is British.  

TRAIDremade

TRAIDremade recycles, refashions, and remakes textiles that would otherwise be thrown away, and they create individual and unique new pieces of clothing from them. Each piece is handmade in a workshop by the seaside in Brighton.
Instead of throwing away clothes TRAIDremade encourages people to recycle their clothes to help fight poverty in developing countries. 
TRAIDremade is un by a UK based charity called TRAID, the money raised is used to fight global poverty. 
Their shops are all based around London and Brighton, you can also volunteer at one of the three shops.