Sping Fair Birmingham NEC Feb 2010

I visited The Spring Fair at Birmingham's NEC on Tuesday 9Th Feb. This trade show is an annual event where retailers get the chance to view what new products and designs are available. It was slightly over whelming as a first time visitor , due to the vast array of products on display. I spent time in the stationary hall and noticed several trends including delicate laser cuts, silhouettes and embossing, lots of illustrations of animals particularly rabbits and birds. Lots of white , photographs and bold graphic prints and single motifs. I also visited the interior hall and saw evidence of vintage and old English nostalgic design and also very vibrant Scandinavian reds and whites , very complex detailed floral patterns and lots of stitch applique and beautiful embroidery. I was particularly drawn to the French and Dutch designs of both La Marelle and Pip Studio.

La Marelle is a publishing company which was created in 2004 by Pascale Nivet and Fabrice Bernetiere in France. The company produces designs by Mile Heloise and Nathalie Lete and is hoping to become a publishing house for 50 cutting edge illustrators . I love all the product ranges they are very different and eye catching. The designs are striking and quirky lots of little details and humour , tres magnifique!

www.lamarelle.net

Mary and the Wolf

polypropylene bag

designer Miss Heloise

Flexible notebook

designer Martine Roch
Set of melamine dishes

designer Miss Heloise

post card 14 cm x 14 cm

designer Lauranne Quentic

Alan Fletcher Exhibition

Alan Fletcher Fifty Years Of Graphic Work (And Play)

This exhibition is brilliant Alan Fletcher's work is varied and clever. He uses humour in a lot of his work and combines text with illustration to get his message across. He is responsible for some iconic logos and his career spans more than 5 decades. He obviously loves his work and has a playful approach which really appeals to me, i also like the graphic illustrations he uses and the simplicity of the motifs. He often collaborates with other designers and artists and it was interesting to hear Lauren Moriarty who recently gave a talk at collage state that Fletcher is one of designers she admires the most.I loved the collages that made up the Chinese Horoscope Calendar from 1993 the rabbit was made from old envelopes and used bus tickets. My favourite piece in the exhibition was a poster called 'We The Undersigned' from 1971 which was a campaign poster against admission charges at galleries and museums, it lists signatures of all the great masters , genius!This piece was inspired by Fletcher's experience in an office, he asked if any one could lend him a pencil and no body had one because they were all working digitally. He felt that the pencil was becoming redundant so he began collecting them from friends and family in order to create this art work



Alan Fletcher

Walls Are Talking

This fantastic exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery is on from 6th Feb to 30th Aug 10. It has wallpaper designs from over 30 artists including Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol. The art represents four themes , sexuality, imprisonment, subversion and commodification ( i know , is there even such a word!) .Don't let that put you off this is well worth a visit , lots of inspirational ideas and some truly amazing techniques. Catherine Bertola who was commissioned for this exhibition created her exquisite piece with ash from her fire hearth you have to see it to believe it !

Beyond The Looking Glass 2010 by Catherine Bertola

This wallpaper by De Angelis and Garner is called Head Jam from 2008 i like it because the head belongs to Leigh Bowery who was a walking work of art !

Research Interiors

The new brief involves researching whats out there on the high street right now, so i went to check out whats in Vogue in the world of interiors .
I began in Habitat and found neutral colour palettes ,browns ,creams and whites lots of natural materials wood and cotton and minimal clean lines .
Dwell was very similar to Habitat in its display following the same colour themes with the additions of muted greys and accents of copper and silver. There were limited patterns around but several of the smaller accessories( like cushions) had bold graphic illustrations adorning them such as skulls and tatoo type hearts ,cars and maps.
Next had more patterned fabrics on display as did M & S and BHS lots of examples of flora and forna along with other natural images like sea shells and birds. These stores had dark reds,maroons and sage greens in there displays. I noticed there were lots of small details emdroided on the bedding and accessories and crochet ,knit , beads and felt also featured regularly.White was also around in most of the stores and in BHS in particular it featured along with creams ,lace ,glass, mirrors and crystals this was also evident in Laura Ashley which again had accessories which were appliqued with birds, animals and very English cottage imagery like tea cups and roses. Laura Ashley's colour themes were again muted and subtle, pastel pinks, creams, aqua and pale blues.

Research , Kids Interiors!

I have always loved Mammas and Pappas designs and was not disappointed when i visited the Manchester store . They have the usual pale muted pastel pinks and baby blues but also have neutral tones in creams and whites . There are lots of beautiful examples of appliqued patch work , knitted and crocheted accessories and clever use of complex pattern in simple shapes. Sweet little animal motifs feature heavily as well as lots of stripes and florals . There were also some graphic prints and designs which looked like collages with stitch effect printed over them. Very inspiring!

containment brief, research

sketch book images : We were just given the word container or containment as a starting point!! Very interesting !!

For this project i was inspired by what is contained with in a persons mind , heart and soul! I am a people person and i am fascinated by what makes people tick. I am beginning to really appreciate the work of some of the YBA's (Young British Artists) like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin and feel it is interesting to find out the story behind the art and the artists thought process.I believe that a piece of art is much more interesting and has more depth when it is personal and has a part of the artist's life or psyche represented.

The Conceptual Art movement of the 1960's is all about the ideas thoughts and feelings of the artist and the concept over shadowed the final out come .This theory links in with my ideas for this project because i have made it very personal. From my sketch book i have developed the idea of commemorating the birth of my niece who is due to be born on March 13th. We have been instructed to use a white only palette which i think it a beautiful idea and fits really well with my design ideas.

Damien Hirst

Tracey Emin

Helen Latimer

Helen Latimer is a freelance designer who works in the fashion industry . She graduated from Northumbria Uni several years ago and began working freelance in July of 2009 having previously worked for several large companies. Helen came into college to talk to us on 8th Feb about her work experience and what she feels we need to include in a portfolio when pitching for work and meeting with potential clients.Her advice was to edit the work on show down to items that are truly relevant and those which demonstrate all your skills ie sketching ,drawing and digital designs. Helen uses two portfolios for interviews with the designs presented on a double page spread and she uses two pages per project only so as not to bombard the client with too much information. Helen gave us common sense and practical advise and suggested taking photographs of every one display boards which could then be put into a book as a reference for every one to use . She told us about doing shop reports when she was working as part of a design team , each person would go out to the high street and gather information about colour trends , styles , fabrics, prices etc then feed back their findings to the whole team. Helen uses hand drawn designs and then develops them digitally using illustrator she has recently worked on the designs for the England football team kit for Umbro. She does lots of research for each project and even spent time with England ladies football team in order to find out what her design needed to include.She was very approachable and helpful and it was great to meet some one with their finger on the pulse , many thanks Helen www.studiolatimer.com

containment brief

I love the quilts produced by Tracey Emin and her use of text to convey her feelings, so decided to use fabric in my piece to create a wall hanging. I made a copy of my brothers baby's scan picture and used kodatrace to transfer it on to the silk screen i also made a card stencil of a tree ( to represent the tree of life) and again transferred the image to a screen. I wanted the piece to "contain" the baby and also to "contain" a personal message from me to her. My brother and his partner share a love of all things Italian so i thought a message stitched in Italian would be a nice idea, I also included found items, materials such as beads and ribbons. The finished item could be a commercial product , it would be a bespoke art work that could be added to over time ( with details of the child's life as it unfolds) i have not found any similar products on the market but quilts or wall hangings with a child's name on them retail at an average of £250.