Moved blog......

My blog has now moved to BaaLamb

Come and visit and say hello ;)

Paul Simmons Lecture - Part 1

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to hear Paul Simmons talk at the Sheffield Millennium Gallery. Paul Simmons is joint founder of the textile and wallpaper company, Timorous Beasties. Described on their website as "surreal and provocative" and "William Morris on acid". I find their work exciting, pushing the expectations of what is traditionally expected in interior patterns.

For me the company name is synonymous with the Glasgow Toile, a design based on old Toiles de Jouy's, produced in the small town of Jouey-en-Josas, in pre-revolutionary France. A Toile is a type of repeat pattern usually printed on a white background depicting a fairly complex scene, and as Paul explained can have quite sinister imagery.

As Paul flicked through his slides he showed us a rather disturbing Toile of a woman with what looked like a leery drunk man pressing against her with force. Paul commented that he imagined this would have been used on a young girls wall, as a warning to stay away from the opposite sex and the perils of alcohol. I was fascinated by his interpretation of the piece and his placement of it within society. He also explained that the copperplates used to make Toiles could take years to produce. A woman could work all night in candlelight etching away, having to sharpen her blade for half an hour after only four inscriptions. The patience that was used to produce these prints was astonishing. Simmons believes nothing has ever been reproduced with the quality and workmanship of the traditional Toile. (Below: La Moutin Chéri, Unknown c.1785; Sourced from "Peacocks among the Ruins" by Leslie Jackson and Co-curated by Timorous Beasties)

The Glasgow Toile (below) designed by the Timorous beasties is a reproduction of these toiles screen printed onto fabric with a narrative more in-keeping with modern day society. The company talks of the historic toiles and how they adapted them on the Design Museum, London website; "They depicted scenes which were then contemporary, but we now see as traditional. Some scenes showed the factory at Jouey, and others rural scenes of workers relaxing, drinking, dancing, and womanising. So we did not actually change much in the Glasgow Toile; a glass of wine becamse a can of super lager, a pipe became a rollie, and an old man sittin on a stool in a rural scene became a tramp on a park bench."

End of Year Wallpaper Collection

Tal Rosner and Andrew Pavitt

As part of my college course i was to select two practitioners and compare and contrast their work and how it influences and effects my own.

Two practitioners i shall be comparing and contrasting are Tal Rosner and Andrew Pavitt. In this blog i shall be discussing their similarities and different working methods, hoping to see where they unite and where they find their own styles.
Tal Rosner is a film maker, his website describes his genre as Motion Graphic Art. His work consists of title sequences (one of which he created for the Channel 4 series Skins) to visual interpretations of classical music. I find his work energetic and lively as it ebbs and flows with the beat of the music. There is a certain excitement to Rosners work and his knowledge of Graphic Design and page layout is apparent as his work unfolds as if turning the pages of a book. Rosners background is in Graphic Design, he left the 9 to 5 work of commercial design to begin evolving as he mastered working with video. Tal Rosner left the studio behind him and now works for commisions alone or with the occassional help of a colleague.

Andrew Pavitt is an Illustrator and Designer who has a love for pattern and form, his work ranges from editorial designs for broadsheets to his own range of greetings cards. Pavitt begins his designs with pencil roughs, quite quickly, and then moves his designs to Adobe Illustrator to manipulate and finilise his images digitally. Andrew is based at Big Orange studio in London where he works alongside around 8 other deisgners, also sharing half the studio with the institute of illustrators. Andrew trained originally as a Fine Artist.

Both Andrew and Tal have been guest speakers at Stockport college, i attended both seminars to learn more and find out more about what unites and seperates them.
One of the many things they have in common is the fact they have both evolved from their original schoolings. They started in a different field of Design and Art and adapted as they grew with experience and life skills. Tal wanted to get away from working in a busy well paid office as he thought his creativity was being stifled and Andrew felt like he wasn't ustilising enough graphic elements as fine artist. I feel this is significant to me as i began my degree with Graphic Design and changed to Surface Pattern Design. They taught me that you can utilise many fields, and there is room to grow and change as you learn. That the degree studied is a firm basis but you also learn once in working environment, putting many aspects of design into play. The fusion of illustration, graphics, fine art and video makes me realise there is no reason to be stifled with your title or influences.
Another comparison is their appreciation of pattern, both artists seem to favour repeat and symmetry. Tal mirrors captured video footage and manipulates it to create beautiful kaleidoscopic films, full of reflection and reoccurrence.





While Andrew uses repeat to create playful images and geometric designs in his portfolio.

This compares to my work as using pattern and repeat is of great importance when creating surace patterns, and i am excited that they play with replication in their designs. The lessons i could learn from their practices are that inspiration for surface pattern design can begin anywhere, even with a video camera.

One of the contrasts Tal and Rosner posses is at the moment their working environments. Where as Tal left the studio to work on his own and have freedom, Andrew prefers to base himself in a studio. The studio for Andrew can help with artistic blockages as Designers bounce off each other where as Tal prefers his own space. The market place sometimes calls for a designer to set up in a studio to share costs. All Andrews bills are split between the design group, costing £200 a month. Both ways are symbolic of my own ambitions ideals I wish to begin my design working life in a studio to get a real feel for the industry but evolve to be set up at home for freedom and space from the outside world. The market place and external rigours financially make it more viable to share a studio for quite sometime once graduating.

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes is a fabulous Graphic Designer from Canada. Her portfolio is vast, ranging from typography to oil paintings, pencilled illustrations and the most relevant and appealing to me, pattern work. Her website is incredibly interesting, full of dry wit and humour, not only is she a Designer but a writer also: you can read her musings on the site.
I am also amazed at her typographic skills (which she calls Wordsmiths), after years in the business and roots in typesetting her talent is immense.
When looking at her site I was tempted to email her so I could write a contact report for my blog, but I came across questions and answers for students under the heading "About MB". I found the information she provides on her site enough to learn from without overloading her with more student requests, so I shall leave a link to her site.
Marian Bantjes seems to has a huge following and has worked for many many big names including Eye magazine and Wallpaper magazine, her portfolio is extensive. One of the aspects of her work that appeals to me is her pencil work arrangements (as above), I am constantly fascinated by pattern and how people achieve such fluidity between the repeat. Her designs entwine beautifully and I find my self staring at them for hours in the hope one day I can achieve such dynamic work; the eye follows the page around not knowing where to stop. I would love to create such density in my work as I try to conquer too many stark white spaces, something I am working at just now with pencil drawings of flowers; below is my unfinished attempt, I shall post again when completed. I hope you enjoy her site as much as I do!

Claire Louise Designs

Claire Louise Designs is independently managed by its namesake, run from home, she completes and constructs all designs herself. Designs consist of Florals, Geometrics and Modern Damasks. Claire Louise contacted us by email to kindly answer questions about her business, the Textile industry and her working methods. Below is a summary of the information she shared with us which gave us insight into freelance designers and their practices.

Designs by Claire Louise are hand painted, this she feels gives her an edge on the market as many companies are entirely CAD based. Occasionally she will compose smaller motifs on Photoshop, but for the main she and her clients favour hand painted illustrations. These are complimented by a small collection of embroidery designs in which she hand sew sequins and other embellishments. Metallic and textured grounds are also incorporated into her works.

Claire often works to briefs set by companies. Commissions, in which an idea or visual prompt is provided by the client "They night show me a fabric or picture then ask for something that would do the same job." she states.

For research, contacts and trend predictions Claire attends Heimtex. The companies who commission her also provide insight into what is on trend and what clients are looking for. In conjunction Claire keeps her eyes on the market with current magazines and shop visits.

After working for two studios (Susan Hawes Design and Artwork) Claire feels the experience was good but not necessary to achieve in today's market if you wish to set up alone . " I self taught myself a lot before I went to companies by looking at repeats and fabric. Work experience is always good but I have learnt more on my own than I did working for companies." Claire sells her designs from £350-£500 with low production costs and a varied client base from low to high end market companies. Claire concentrates entirely on her own business with no other sources of income. previously she taught but found this distracting and prefers to focus all her energies into her designs. This also leaves her to concentrate on her clients as she prefers a more personal service.
Claire generously closed her email with some advice as we progress on our degree and venture into employment in the Textile industry:

"If you want something work hard and you will get it. Try not to be lazy or scared to go to London for work. When I fist started I lost a lot of work for being lazy and not wanted to go to London on the train. Silly! But with time you get confidence. I love doing the shows in Germany and Belgium so now London doesn't seem so bad! Take some chances and don't change your style for a company. I have seen many people come and go in studios but if you have a strong style and work hard you will have a good career. Don't get down if you are not selling as many of the others in the studio. It can be hard but if you love it, it's worth it. Designing or working in an office all day? I know which one I'm happy with, and it's nice being my own boss!"

Diane Harrison Designs

This week we were fortunate to visit a working studio titled Diane Harrison (after the founder of the company), in Cheadle, Cheshire, and witness the surface pattern design industry first hand. The studio employs around five designers and a few freelance designers who create a wide range of images for everything from shower curtains to wallpapers.
The studio was fascinating and seeing people at work was very encouraging, in the second year of my degree (I felt encouraged as it gave me a sense of where I was heading, what I could achieve and opened my eyes to the working world of textiles). We arrived at the studio and the first thing I noticed was the relaxed atmosphere creating an ideal working environment. Books and magazines were plentiful, inspiration was at hand on every shelf, and a feeling of calm was in the air as staff busily created. In the studio there were computer stations, and working stations for initial studies, as designers engaged in their secondary research with watercolours and various media.
We were lucky enough to flick through many designs, all varied and showing a wide range of styles and colour palates from geometrics, to florals, and primary coloured themes for children's bedding. This opened my eyes to the variety and diversity within the field. Everyone in the studio had something to give with ranging talents, and as they weren't all sat at computers, but starting with paper designs, this appealed to my taste (This is the way I would rather work, collating information, drawing, painting, compiling sketchbooks and then moving these studies to cad).
In the basement I noticed mood boards and in a working habitat I realised how vital they were to give direction; things clicked into place about how methods at student level relate to the working world. Next time I collate a mood board i shall with much more conviction,after the influence of seeing them used in situ.
During a discussion with Greg Threlwall, the Studio Manager I learnt more about the textile industry and how he runs his studio: Similarly to my methods, the studio do not embellish their works or hand print, all hand work is achieved previous to cad.
Diane Harrison Ltd visits all the Trade shows, Heimtextil, Indigo, Printsource and Surtex in conjunction with independent visits to clients, they have a constant foot in the market as well as a reputation in which customers come to them for commissions.
Greg Threlwalls insight and experience proved invaluable as he shared with us his inspirations, opinions and direction. Greg advised us to all carry a camera, to capture images of anything that appeals and can be used in the future to spark ideas. He told us how sometimes even he with his years of experience can get a creative block and how a simple walk around a shop can be full of ideas for that eureka moment. Self motivation can be found everywhere from Covent Garden London, Oklahoma in Manchester (pictured) and even John Lewis Department store.
The visit left me with an energy and optimism as I look forward to the future and prospects of working happily in an industry that appeals to me more and more each day.