Unit X- National Trust Craft Fair- Reflection

Unit X this year has been an interesting experience. Being introduced to other courses such as 3D design and Interactive Arts was a great chance to see what other disciplines produced with the same brief as Textiles in Practice. It was also because of this that I experimented with ceramics- something I am very happy I learnt and intend to take further in to my own practice. The unit as a whole has been different for me from the beginning, as I have focused on Children's wear mostly throughout my 2nd year, so I am glad we were given a particular briefing to work towards and feel I settled in well with it. 

In terms of collaboration, I worked on this project on my own and was happy doing this, however I did engage with others doing this craft fair option both in tutorials and outside of them, giving and receiving feedback. I felt the Interim Crit was the most helpful example of this as we could all see each other's work via boards and presentations. 

The professional lecture series was a staple for my experience on Unit X, not only learning about other people's experiences after university, but also Paul Scott's Ceramics work inspired my whole project! 

(Paul Scott's Cumbrian Blue(s))

(My toile du joug designs on ceramics)

My sketchbook work developed a lot over the course of the project, and I feel this was a strength. Without my drawings I would not have been able to produce my abstract designs. In addition to this, I created my toile prints on photoshop, a practice which I am very familiar with. However had I had more time, I would have liked to create more designs, and perhaps do some work on Illlustrator- which is a skill I have learnt quite basically in my last project but should have taken further with this project. 

At the beginning I was a little lost with what to do with this brief. I gained momentum with only around 5 weeks to go, when I found my key inspiration from toile design. Then by the time I had printed on to ceramics and thought it would be a final design, I wanted to take that further too. Although I'm disappointed I only thought of ceramic ware and picnic ware within the last 3 weeks, I think it is a good sign of a working designer- that I show I can see when and where I should improve my practice. 

My concept board shows my final proposal of a picnic set, which I am happy with but didn't find enough time to explore materials properly. 

As mentioned earlier, I have been focusing on children's wear throughout my second year, however this project has shown me that I can always learn new skills and have been inspired to design some dinner/breakfast ware for children at some point. I also feel it has been a great brief and final outcome to add to my portfolio. 

Maid's Quarters at the National Trust:

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Unit X- National Trust Craft Fair- Refinements and Conclusions

After a successful and inspiring Interim Crit, I went back to my design work and created more abstract motifs from the one I presented in the crit, as I felt I could create less obvious Toiles with my drawings.

Whilst design these prints I took into account  composition, back ground space, size of motifs, and thought about how they could be applied to ceramics. I felt some were more successful than others, however as abstract toiles they work well. 

Using some of these designs and my sketchbook drawings, I developed ceramics prints a little more:

I took inspiration from IKEA's Promenad range, which I found when I was buying my ceramics I was drawn to it straight away because of the colour palette which is similar to my own, and also because of the use of composition. Just because they are from a traditional toile practice, doesn't mean I can't use more modern ways of demonstrating my abstract prints on to the ceramics. 

I was really happy with how this breakfast set turned out, and really enjoyed learning a new skill of ceramics transfers.

However, I couldn't help but think I could refine my ideas a little more. I found Anorak picnic ware online, and was inspired by their use of simple motifs and repeat patterns, which create interesting shapes in the background space:

Although my theme and designs are very different, I felt inspired by their designs, as well as inspired to transfer my prints on to picnic ware, this context is even more fitting than kitchen linen and breakfast ware to my site of National Trust Gift Shops as they are a popular picnic destination, it is also fitting for my theme of the Maid's Quarter's, where one prepares the food in the kitchens and it is taken outside to be eaten. Before I began transferring my prints on to picnic ware I wanted to refine my final designs, to create a strong range for a mix and match picnic proposal.

These are the design boards I have created for the final presentation of my work:

Because of time constraints, I am only able to produce picnic ware proposals, however I feel they works really well as a mix and match set and I am glad I have gone for picnic ware, with the final designs I have created. The picnic set includes: Melamine plates (£3.50); melamine cups (£2.50); platters (£4.50-£6.50); bowls (£3.50) (the prints of which are inspired by my ceramics development); flask (£9.50); picnic rug(£18.50); cotton napkins (£5.50) and a food cover (£7). I decided on the prices after looking at the National Trust gift shops prices, and Habitat and Anorak's picnic ware because their picnic items are made of the same materials I would be using for mine, as well as being the same dimensions.

I refined by boards from the interim crit, because my work has come a really long way in just two weeks. My boards below were presented to around 10 students, 4 tutors and Ann Marie from the National Trust who we have had contact with throughout the project. I feel my presentation went well, as I said everything I needed to say, however it was a little nerve racking! 

I didn't change my Inspiration board as my research hasn't changed. However I did change the Context board, keeping my initial inspiration for the whole project, Paul Scott, and adding inspiration I found in IKEA for ceramic development and Anorak Picnic ware. The new Concept board features my picnic ware as a scene, to show what it all looks like together, as well as my 4 final designs.

I ended up enjoying this project once I knew what I was doing- and I would love to develop this picnic set as well as my designs further, I feel there is a lot of room for improvement, but I am very pleased with my final proposal nonetheless.

Unit X- National Trust Craft Fair: Research and Ideas generation

This project has asked us to focus on the National Trust, and work towards either a design/product for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair or an item for the Gift Shops. 

At first I was keen to carry on my Children's theme from the last two projects, and work towards a print design to feature in the National Trust gift shops. I also thought first of all that I could create a print to re-invent the Gift Shops- bringing something abstract and contemporary to them. 

After some very initial thinking and research via the National Trust Collections online, I found it difficult to find children's-themed items which had inspiring forms and graphics. 

Over Easter and during the Dunham Massey and East Riddlesden House trip, I noticed kitchenware objects had the most inspiring forms, in my opinion, and began to use different techniques to draw them - 

I also found objects such as candle holders, and banisters inspired me when using blind drawing and thinking about structures. However, at this point I was aware that only focusing upon form of objects wasn't helping colour work or contextual research, and was quite lost to say the least.

Paul Scott, an artist from Cumbria, combines fine art, craft and design to create his individual ceramics. He visited the university to talk about his work, and I was very inspired by his works. 

Using a traditional Chinese ceramics design, he uses political and current affairs to spark his "Cumbrian Blues" collection, such as the Foot and Mouth disease, the Morecambe Cockle-pickers tragedy, and the Sellafield factory settings to name a few. 

I like the blue and white colour theme as it is very traditional, and is featured throughout the houses (in their more traditional designs), as well as the gift shops. 

After this, I tried to find other colour inspiration from my visual research I collected from the visits, mainly from the gardens (i.e trees; flowers; chickens; deer)

Unfortunately, I felt very uninspired from the colours in the gardens, as I didn't feel I could bring something new to the Gift Shop collections with the neutral colours I found from the unblossomed gardens.

Looking through my visual research, however, I noticed forms and structures within the gardens, taking advantage of the unblossomed and bare trees, and the forms of the plants in the orangery at Dunham Massey. Since I was at a stage of experimentation, I began to draw from these inspirations, too.

 

I really enjoyed using different media, techniques and these pieces to inform my sketchbook work. I also began to use blues to inform my colour work. 

Contextual research is important also, and after visiting Dunham Massey and East Riddlesden House and their gift shops, I would like to think about creating a print for a mini collection, such as aprons, tea cosy's, and oven gloves. 

 These aprons are from a National Trust gift collection and are an example of homely, humble prints which really suit the Trust's Gift shop feel of products, as well as an example of a Toile De Joux blue and white print. Because I don't feel my work fits in to the feel of the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, I want to design or create prints very suitable for the Gift Shops, however featuring exciting new ideas and designs.

My theme for my project, will be the Maid's Quarters. A view of the house from the Maid's perspective for example, the kitchen (i.e pots and pans, jugs), view of the gardens from the windows and the yard.