Design Inspiration - Holly Fulton

A current major design crush of mine is Holly Fulton, for her design signatures of “Graphic print, luxurious materials and hot accessories.”

Her silhouettes are youthful yet elegant, mirrored in her well balanced use of embellishment and bold print. It is this well tuned relationship between simplicity and extravagance which mean the clothes look beautiful on the body and on a hanger. 

I feel Fulton captures themes well within her collection with clever styling, her designs almost seem carefully constructed yet effortlessly done. Her style and work is easy to recognise, yet still full of surprises with continuously strong and sexy collections gracing the catwalks of Fashion weeks. 

She studied at Edinburgh and the RCA, and won awards such as the Swarovski Emerging Talent Award for Accessories at the British Fashion Awards and BFC/ELLE Talent Launch Pad winner.

I am very much taking note... 

In hindsight - An introduction

I wouldn't go too far wrong to recommend you follow my instagram to keep up with my Autumn term activities @izzym77. 

Balancing work and social life is a task which should not restrict or limit social networking, if anything it should enhance it! 

So please excuse my backdated posts, though this hindsight will hopefully prove some useful purpose towards reflection. 

Back in Business

It's official. I have stooped to a new low. I've resorted to using tight revealing clothing to get me grades....

Well, sort of. (Let's hope it gets me a grade at all!)

This is my Co-op poduct - a project aimed to raise awarness of our consumption, waste and sustainabilty. So I give you; Knitted Plastic Swimwear! (KPS maybe? - if it doesn't already mean something/ something rude)

Next step is to write a business proposal - in the form of a report and a presentation. I am very excited for this - I feel trend/ market research is more by bag than more historical reading. I enjoy the theoretical side of writing essays - but I've not got the knack for writing them. 

It helps that I am passionate about my product, and I find the swimwear fashion market sector (thingy) an engaging thing to research. I feel writing an essay is appealing because then that becomes a product, but with this business approach the product is physical and the proposal only goes to support it. 

Anyway this is all on my to-do list for my Winter break. Keeping my work as seasonal as ever...

Palm Tree & Orange

I've been getting distracted by Palm Trees 

Hard juxtaposed with soft

Angular with organic

Colour with colour...

Will be back with you shortly

Composition. Fun. Colour. Play

With Acrylic

My first Pecha Kucha - New Art Exchange, Nottingham

The format of this method of presentation (20 slides, 20 seconds talking for each) appeals to me as it requires clear and relevant images, provoking relevant and informative speech. (Or that's the idea anyway.)

I went to one recently hosted by the Real Creative Futures team in Nottingham. I was invited (by the organiser no less) due to my involvement within the Knitting Society of my university. But I'd say my attendance was mainly due to my personal interest within the creative community of Nottingham.

The speakers came from a mix of backgrounds, with their presentations having a mix of motives. The event (hosted this time at the New Art Exchange) is a fantastic way to promote yourself. As you're standing up selling yourself to a room of people who already want to buy into "this kind of stuff" (creative, community, etc.)

I had a great time talking with other guests/ speakers/ organisers. Initial steps now are swapping contacts, but I would definitely look to doing something for a future one - and hopefully bringing some more of the student community into it. (Thinking more art and design than knitsoc itself.) 

From the presentations I learnt about people/ places in town and around the city, helpful career tips, and also a bit of spiritual advice. Oh and some fantastic (some what wacky) gardening tips... All available to re-listen to on the International Pecha Kucha website (look for the Nottingham page.)

Free to attend, free food and drink, and lots of amazingly interesting people to meet and/or hear speak. I'm definitely going to the next one they host hear. (Whether I will speak or not; that will take some more deliberation...) 

Read more here;

http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/nottingham

And here

http://www.creativequarter.com/community/projects/pecha-kucha-nottingham/

Inspiration Profile - Jaime Derringer

I find inspiration in people who are successful and experimental in multiple mediums, as they do not see boundaries which rein in their creativity. 

I've just stumbled across Jaime Derringer, who is;
- Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk
- An artist (whose drawing style I like very much) 
- A poet
- Self - taught

Her artist statement begins; 
"My work is an exploration of shape and colour in its most brutal and purest forms, using layering as a guide. The repetition of shapes and lines is an exercise used to escape from everything else around me, to draw the viewer into this space."

I'm looking forward to exploring her work more within my project - I'm already loving her "shape a day" project. The sharp geometric lines of which juxtapose well to her confident use of bold colour in her sketchbook drawings.

It's this bolder contrast which I like to develop in my work 

Further Reading is available at;
http://design-milk.com/
http://www.jaimederringer.com/
http://instagram.com/jaimederringer