Portfolio Visit 3

The last portfolio visit I went to was Andrea Lord, who makes beautiful handmade gifts and accessories.

I think that this was the visit I enjoyed the most and one that I got a lot of good advice from. She told me that she really enjoyed looking though my portfolio and thought it had a good flow and wasn't too miss matched. I started by showing he the BMW work and explained how I made the work, she seemed interested in how I created the rubber block prints and thought I was nice to see that I had made and carved the block prints myself. As I was talking though my portfolio she was really impressed that I was a surface designer and that I liked to draw and she was impressed with my drawings, especially the birds and the feathers.
I showed her some of the purses I had made, I was a little nervous because she creates beautiful products to a really high standard, she said that they were great for my first attempt, but showed me how I could improve them even more in just a couple of minutes, she grabbed a knitting needle and just pushed out the corners to square them off and make them more presentable and professional, then she just cut some of loose threads off and told me that now it was fished and looked much more professional and people would buy them. I found this to be really helpful, that if I would have spent a few minutes longer finishing it off it would have looked much better. I also showed he the devore fabric I had made using the skull prints, she loved this and I told her how it would look nice for a scarf, she loved this idea and could see it working, she then said it would look fantastic as a blind as the light would shine through the skulls and create shadows on the wall. She told me that my work could be really commercial especially the skulls because of designers such as Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen, and being commercial isn't a bad thing and she could see people my age range buying the designs and products I had made.
She seemed to enjoy the FMP work, and told me that I should try wrapping paper, and loved all of the colour palettes of my work. She was impressed to see that I had actually made the products myself, and she could see them in person, as some visits she has done in the past they have only mocked them in Photoshop.
I asked he about how she had started, she told me that she had started on small markets, making small amounts of work, no more than five of each item, she did this to get an idea of what would sell and what people are interested in buying.
I found myself talking to Andrea for ages, she seemed really interested and passionate in what I was doing and my work and even asked if I was doing a dissertation and what it was about. She gave me loads of great advice that I will definitely take on board. She said to make the most out of the facilities I have at College, such as the print room. She also gave some some great advice and tips on how to finish my work to a high standard, making tags and stickers and even showed me how she makes and prints them herself.
I really enjoyed talking to Andrea and felt she was really passionate about what she does, she gave me a lot of confidence and made me feel really proud of how far I had come and my work. Although I was dreading these visits I can see why we have to do them, I walked out from this visit feeling proud of what I have achieved in the past three years.

Portfolio Visit 2

For my second portfolio visit I went to Lily Greenwood, I thought that she would be a good person to see because she loves nature and they are reoccurring themes in her work and I found links with her work and my own. Although she is a painter, mainly oil paints, I felt she would be a good person to visit as she applies her designs on bags, badges, and postcards something that I also want to do, so I thought that she would be an ideal person to see with my portfolio.

I started by showing her my BMW work, as apart from the FMP work this was my most recent works, she thought they were rally nice, and liked how I had showed the designs on bags. I also told her how it was a challenging brief as I had to do a lot of research because it was important to look at meanings in Chinese culture. She told me that she liked how for a lot of my work I had focus on folk themes and also liked that I had bought in actual products with me, as this is much better than looking at a photograph. I was talking to her about how I love to print and use different printing methods in my work, she told me that she doesn't have much knowledge of printing however she recommend me to Nell, a surface designer who specialises in printing, however she wasn't there, but I may pop in again next week some time.

I also showed her my most recent work for the FMP, showing her the letter sets I had made and she told me that they were great and could see people buying them and something interesting. 

I also asked her how she started and manage to work up to get her own studio and shop space in the craft centre, she said that she moved into the craft centre one year after graduating, I found this really impressive and showed she had a lot of determination. She told me that she was working in the Whitworth art gallery in Manchester and a couple of other people wanted their own stall or shop, so when they found out there was an available spot at the centre they all went in together and spilt the work equally between them.  

Overall I found Lily to be a great help and gave me some great feedback and advice. 

Portfolio Visit 1

After Christmas we had been given our final brief of the year and part of it was to go on three portfolio visits, as I didn't have much luck last semester, so I thought that this time I would definitely go on them. I had worked on my portfolio for London however didn't manage to show it to anyone we saw, however I did get to talk to a couple of people about my own work and what I am doing for my final brief. I was pleased with how my portfolio looked, as I had really worked on making it look more professional, simple things such as putting a drop shadow box around the photograph to lift it from the page and make it stand out more, and something as simple as changing the text, could really help the portfolio look more professional and presentable.
I knew I wanted to go to the Manchester Craft Centre, as I want to make merchandise and products for my final show and something I want to think about for the future, and I knew that at the Craft Centre would be a great place to show people who do a similar work and would be great to hear their feedback, as it could be really valuable and important.
The first place I went to was Quite Contrary, a beautiful store filled with hand made goods, such as purses, bags, cards and key rings, products that I am really interested in and would love to make using my own designs.

I showed him my portfolio and talked him briefly though the projects and how I had created and made them. In my portfolio I had included some of my favourite pieces of work and the work I felt most confident and comfortable talking about. I included some of my work from the BMW project, some of my Mexican folk and skull work, and finally some of my most recent work with the birds and parrots for my FMP. I had actually bought along some of the products that I had actually made such as note books, writing sets and fabric samples. He thought that the products that I had made were interesting and he could see them being sold and people would be interesting in the and there is a potential market for them. He told me that my designs work well on stationary I that I should definitely stick with it as I am doing well so far. He seemed to be interested in what I had done and how I had create my work.
I also asked him how the company started and how to get into the craft industry, he told me that they had initially started on a small market and stalls, they had started a few years ago on Tib Street in Manchester and it had grown from there on. I also asked about selling online stores such as Etsy, he told me that he does have one, however doesn't use it much as when buying one off hand made items most people much prefer to come into the shop and look at the actual items in person.
I thought that for one of my first portfolio visits it went really well and got some good feedback and advice about how to start.

End Of Year Show Ideas

As the end of year show is fast approaching I decided that I wanted to start looking at how I could present my work for the show. As I want to do stationary, including note books, cards, wrapping paper, and also possibly ceramics including mugs and plates I wanted to start looking at how I could possibly combine all these different elements and make them harmonise and work together.

Firstly I started to look at Craig Fellows, who I saw the work of in Stockport Gallery a couple of Christmas' ago. I looked on his blog and thought that he displayed his work really well, he too has a mixture of different items and products on display that included, beautiful silk scarves, poster prints, cards, wrapping paper, cushions, and purses. I think that the reason that his display works so well because the colour palette is subtle and soft, another reason is that he has different groups of items together, such as the scarves and the cushions. Another thing that I think works really well is that he has displayed the items on different levels, he had hung the silk scarves quite high so they delicately drape down the wall, he has then placed items on a table and smaller boxes near the floor, creating lots of layers of interest.

The next artist/designer I looked at for inspiration was Katharine Watson, a print maker who specialises in block printing in particular. The reason the way she presents her work caught my eye was because she creates alot of cards and notebooks, which I thought were quite tricky to present. She has also quite a simple and folky feel about her work, and also looks as if she prints on to natural and rustic papers, which is something that I want to do in my work too. 

I like how the notebooks and cards have been displayed on shelves, not stacked or laid on a table, this means that people can see all the cards as a collection. I am not keen on the vibrant red back ground, I feel in a way it takes something away from the objects on display. 

I also wanted to try and create some wrapping paper to include in the show, however instead of just having sheets of wrapping paper just laid out, I thought it would be more interesting and realistic if I actually wrapped some boxes in the wrapping paper and then maybe tied some ribbon or string around. This would also be really good to photograph and then put in my portfolio too. 

Also one of my tutors gave me a great idea to include in my show, as I am doing work with rubber stamps, (as seen in my work for BMW) and I also want to include this style of working into this brief, it would be a good idea to have stamps laid out and then visitors could use the stamps to either stamp into a sketch book or I could even put blank cards out and they could then use the stamps to create their own card. I thought that this would be a great idea and would really get people involved in the show. I will have to think about this more and create some samples and maybe I could also talk to other people and see what they think, and would they get involved if they saw it in a show. 

V&A London

On the same day I went to the Natural History Museum later I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum because I have always been interested and wanted to go there but had never had the opportunity or time when in London previously. The V&A is the largest museums of decorative arts and design and has a huge collection of over 4.5 million objects. It has objects and artefacts from all over the world and from different centuries and eras, including Victorian, Edwardian, Post- war. And includes fashion, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, metal work, sculpture and textiles.

The first part of the museum I went to was fashion and textiles, I thought it was really interesting how they displayed the dresses and fashion pieces showing really early pieces from the Victorian period and then going through time and era's and had more modern fashion pieces. I loved the prints and the colours of the two dresses above in particular and also the silk scarf below, I thought that the prints were really simple but beautiful. 

As there was so much to look at and such a variety I was surprised as to what I found interesting and was drawn towards. I really loved looking a costumes and theatre design costumes and stage designs. I thought that they were really special and could recognise which show and theatre productions they were from. And the amount of skill and detail that goes into making these costumes. 

This was an exact replica of Kylie Minogue's dressing room, from one of her tours.

There were lots of costumes from both the theatre and pantomimes, including The Lion King, and lots of Shakespeare's plays.  

I was also really surprised that I found the ceramics so interesting, they had a huge selection of ceramics from all over the world and from different era's. These are a couple that I liked the most, the top left are ceramic tiles with one of William Morris' designs on. The other two I thought that the patterns, prints and colours were really beautiful and pretty.

I really enjoyed my afternoon and the V&A and would love to of back and see one of the special exhibitions, as a was a couple of days early to see the David Bowie exhibition, but I think I may be going back to London later in the year, so hopefully I will get the opportunity to go back and see it.

Natural History Museum London

On the last day in London I decided to go to the Natural History Museum, I thought it would be useful and help me in my work as I am looking at animals in particular birds, and I was getting bored of going to the Manchester Museum every time a new project came about, and the animal exhibition was under renovation. I went there mainly to look at the birds, but I also am interested in all different types of animals and insects and found myself wondering around the museum for ages.

I thought that there would be more birds on display, but there was only a small selection that would be suitable for my needs, however I took some photographs that would be suitable for my work. I took photographs of any that I thought would fit into my work, so anything that I thought was a good shape or position, or that resembled a green parrot, (as the story I am working from isn't too specific on what type of parrot it is, just that it is a parrot and it is green) I was also looking at the colours of the birds, how the colours of their feathers blend and mix together and there are no harsh lines or areas where one colour changes into another.

I found this painting in the bird section and thought that the composition was really interesting, although they are all the same type or breed of bird and are all a similar size and the same colour, they all look different and interesting because they are in a different composition or position. I also like how the artist has include the branches, twigs and leaves, I think that this adds more interest and depth.

Like with the photographs I took in Manchester Museum I will use these photographs to sketch and draw from and hopefully they will help me draw some parrots for my designs and patterns for my final project. 

Erica Wakerly

On the second day in London we went to  meet the designer Erica Wakerly, who specialises in mainly wallpapers. She told us a brief history of where she studied and how she started, she told us that she did a degree in graphics, however she found the process of making and designing more interesting and also liked the idea of printing, so she then did a Masters in Printed Textiles. In 2006 she created the design Angle, which was one of her first big designs and is still probably her most popular to date.

She also told us about the processes she uses to create her works, like how she only likes screen printing and likes the tradition that goes into screen printing, and likes the quality and look that it gives. She also told us how she had tried digital but didn't like the look or effect it gave and went back the the tradition of screen printing. 

She also talked about how she creates the designs for the wallpapers and how she draws them. I thought how she creates the drawings was really interesting, and inspiring and something that I have never though of before. She told us that she creates small sculptures and models and then draws from them, this creates a more three demential drawing, therefore making them more interesting and have more depth. I think that this technique of making small models and sculptures and then drawing from them really translates into the drawings, you can see this in the wallpaper 'houses', where you can see that the houses are not flat they have been drawn from different angles and viewpoints, they have also been drawn with shadows. 

Another process that she uses to create her works was to create a college of different images and photographs and then drawing from this. This creates a more layered and dense image. You can see this process being used in the wallpaper 'homes', where the images collected were all from 1950's magazines and photographs. The drawings have been overlapped and layered on top of one another creating an interesting wallpaper, however it doesn't look too complicated as they are simple line drawings in black and white. 

She also talked about how she has had her wallpaper used, she mentioned how her wallpaper had been used in Topman across the country, also they have been used in bars and restaurants too, as often they want something different, unique and high quality. 

Like the visit to Timorous Beasties the previous day Erica also talked about how she doesn't follow trends, and instead does what she wants too and what inspires herself. I think that it's great that a designer has the courage to step out from the main stream and do what they are inspired to do instead. 

I think from Erica I have learnt not to be afraid of challenge myself and not to give up, I talked to her about my work and how I was finding repeating a pattern difficult and wondered if she had the similar problems when she first started, she told me that she did and it does take a lot of time and practice to get a repeat right. She said that even now it takes her along time, and I think that I was rushing repeats and have realised that they do take a long time to create and master. I have also learnt new techniques and have gotten ideas about drawing, just like when we were in first year and we made hybrid animals from found objects and recycled items, and then used these models to draw from later.