Evaluation: Dash & Miller

Overall I feel that this has been my most successful project to date. I’ve enjoyed working for a company and gearing it towards my own chosen company or designer. For me, choosing Ashish to focus on was probably my best move, as it enabled me to keep my samples really fun and playful, which in return kept the whole project interesting and exciting. Dash and Miler wanted us to create a woven textile collection (as well as a print collection if we felt necessary), and I feel that I have truly challenged this brief by utilising hand techniques throughout. I understand that these methods aren’t commercially viable as they are time consuming and can’t be created in mass, but this may be something to look into regarding higher end fashion samples.

Initially having trouble with my first double cloth warp was a blessing in disguise when finding out what I liked and what I disliked. This also enabled me to try out new techniques such as ‘pick up’, even if I didn’t use this warp in the end. I went back to hand-rendered techniques that I’d used within my ‘Imperfections’ project and felt much more comfortable.

I understand that within the Dash and Miller brief, they expressed that they didn’t use digitally printed samples, however after not being inducted into the print room, this was my best shot in creating visualisations of what my prints would look like. I feel that the two collections work well together concerning shape, composition and colour choices. By doing a print collection, it also enabled me to utilise my collages/ drawings more obviously through creating shaped brushes on Photoshop. It also allowed me to experiment with composition much more quickly than if I was to weave it. A weakness of this project was timing. Due to personal issues, I’d lost out on a lot of time on the loom, and unfortunately felt rushed within the last week of weaving. This was a shame as I’d have liked to spend more time creating shape through tufting and inlay, but this is something to consider for my next project.

An example of Outward Facing was contacting and speaking to Jessica Simorte, an influential artist that I’d taken inspiration for my drawings from. Here, we spoke about the potential to collaborate with textile designers.

Overall, I’m happy in the progression of my own work and the samples that I have produced. I feel that my collections are well suited to my chosen designer, Ashish. They are fun and playful which was exactly the look I was going for. I also believe I have pushed the boundaries in terms of hand techniques and adding a small amount of embroidery to my woven samples. I’d like to pursue this within Unit X, as I feel I have finally found my ‘style’ of working.