Self Initiated/ Bradford Textiles Live Brief

My starting point for the Bradford Textiles live brief is 'Imperfection' and the question that I have chosen is 'A woven fabric for either fashion or interiors'- focusing on fashion. This brief allows a vast scope for anything I want to create, and allows me to carry over my summer work. The concept for my self- initiated brief came from the idea of women's imperfections, and how it is those that actually make you beautiful. I started my research with Pinterest, looking into images that had elements of imperfection within them. These imperfections translated perfectly as interruptions once I had started to look at relatable weaving techniques. 

I have looked at a specific anonymous quote to use as my main inspiration which follows the words ‘Curves and dimples are beautiful. The women that inspire me are not necessarily beautiful by society standards. They all have wrinkles, or stretch marks, birthmarks and moles, scars and rolls. These blemishes tell their stories. The stories of how they have obtained the largest hearts and the biggest smiles. They are strong and honest. They are more than just role models. They are who should be photographed’. I believe that this quote holds a strong basis on the themes that I would like to explore. Creating beautiful spots, marks and dimples within my own woven samples. I have looked at Nina Canell and George Rousse as my main inspirational artists. Nina Canell’s (a Swedish sculpture and installation artist, shown below) work  specifically struck me as she demonstrates interruptions through fluorescent light tubes, revealing the beautiful in the disruptions. This was inspiring for me as the spots that your eyes are drawn to are so striking, just like how I see them upon women.

Creating a mood board of inspirational images has enabled me to make decisions of how I’d like my collection to look, as well as the colours and scale and stimulating drawing influences such as Sandra Thomsen and Jessica Garvin. However, Moodboards mainly allow me to express a colour palette, and I would personally like to concentrate pastels, pinks and fleshy tones.

Within our first week we had to start making our warp. My summer work was mainly colour studies that allowed me to make decisions quickly on the yarn selection. The colours that I had been working with were mainly pinks, pastel colours and flesh tones. I decided I wanted something delicate and with a shine, consequently going for an end on end baby pink and cream silk.

My initial drawings have started with very simple collages and shapes that represent the idea of 'imperfection' within the human form. I have experimented using mixed medias of collaged papers, paints and fine liner pens to re-create what I felt represented imperfection. I have translated moles and freckles into small dots and stretch marks into line lines upon the paper. My next step is to develop my drawings, and look into weave techniques which will enable me to re-create and re-design these drawings.

Having constant inspiration from working professional creatives enabled me to visualise more clearly where I want my work to fit into context. I like to know the context of my samples before I start, as I feel it’s necessary when working on the loom. I looked into the work of Temple and Webster, a home-wares company, as well as Sun Choi (a 2013 knitwear fashion graduate) and Evelien van Pruissen (a fashion graduate), alongside Mia Christophers sketchbooks which help me to visualise the style of my work alongside the context. Sun Choi’s work has specifically inspired me, even though she is a knitwear designer. After looking through her graduate collection, she has developed a unique style where she focuses upon the textures upon the surface. This is an aspect that I would like to pursue through woven samples. I have decided that I would like to do this collection for fashion (even though I was so put off by my last second year Unit X project), I feel that my samples would be most suited for this. 

This week I started to weave. I have experimented using chunkier yarns that I’d selected from an external yarn store, tying in knots of tassels (a technique that I’ve never seen to be done before). I felt that this especially expressed the term ‘imperfections’, and believed that this was a good start to an alternative collection. This sample gave me the inspiration I needed for the rest of my samples when looking into surface textures, and from this I started to experiment with compositions and putting knots together in blocks. (As seen below)

When looking into textural weaving as inspiration, one person that I came across was Maryanne Moodie. Maryanne lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. This natural fibre obsessed lady mainly creates work commercially, weaving wall hangings to buy and is known for her unlikely colour combinations, something that I wish I had a better eye for! Maryanne specialises in texture within her weavings and although I understand that she does not sample for fashion or interiors, I am especially influenced by her techniques, researching the ways in which she ties in her yarns for external touch. Maryanne works on a hand loom, which is an aspect of weaving that I would specifically like to try in the future as it’s much easier to create shapes within the weaves this way.  

Generating more developed images in Photoshop using my initial drawings allowed me to visualise clearly how I wanted my samples to look aesthetically within the third week of weaving. Here I have introduced a light/ dark blue as I felt it necessary as my palette has suddenly become so refined to pinks, fleshes and corals. The reason I have used Navy and light blue is due to the contrast they create, consequently making the ‘imperfect’ colours and textures stand out. You’ll notice within my samples that these new colours have only been used as backgrounds to my work. 

Samples that I believe haven’t worked so well are the ones where I haven’t fashioned any texture, even though they may have some form of inlay and shaping within them. I feel that this project has become about forming surfaces relating to dimples, stretchmarks and moles, rather than flat shapes upon the face.

The above sample is the sample I've chosen for the Bradford Textiles live brief. I chose this as it was my most developed sample in terms of colour and experimentation. One thing thing that I love about it is that I have used both sides within my final garment visualisations, which could also be something to take on board (reversible fabric) when thinking about my next project. The random dots suit my Imperfection concept the most, contrasting with a subtly shiny embroidery thread/ coral twist yarn as the main background weft.  

When looking into context for my final collection, I had already decided that I would like to sample for fashion. With the samples being so textural and playful, I felt that they needed garments that paralleled this. I have focused on oversized jackets, wide skirts and shorts and smock dresses. The style of these garments are well suited to the aesthetics of my samples. For the Bradford textiles live brief, I chose the question ‘A woven fabric for either fashion or interiors’, and I feel that I have fully pushed the terms of ‘woven fabric’ and worked well to the brief. My favourite aspect of my collection is that the majority of the samples are reversible, demonstrated this in my visualisations by using both sides. This makes my samples extra diverse.

  

Overall I am extremely happy with the way that my samples have turned out with and without context.