Time to Smell the Flowers

Time to Smell the Flowers

 As the end nears, spring has sprung and summer is forging through. The light at the end of the tunnels has brightened to the point of hypnotically blinding. The air smells fresh and light again whilst pure joy is on the horizon.

Over the last semester of the Textile Degree I have endeavoured to create a persona that (if I chose to go public) would represent me strongly and accurately. I have chosen to keep it quite informal and more about where I look for inspiration and what I choose to surround myself with to keep my motivated and my eyes pleased. I love beauty, given the choice I would choose classic beauty over grotesque individualism. I admire peoples search for the new and untouched yet have resigned myself to the realisation that nothing is really that new anymore in 2012- what is new is peoples interpretations of the past and their willingness to improve on this for the future, using the expanding knowledge and wealth of information that is available to us today.

Sustainability and the awareness of our carbon footprint are key factors to this growing understanding of good design v’s high fashion or fast turn over. Creativity has been given a new lease of life through people’s exploration of past and traditional techniques in a modern world, generating a greater appreciation for hand crafted and up cycled objects. These aspects combined with our advances in technology and people’s grasp that knowledge is power, happiness is health and wealth is not necessarily financial, I feel indicates the movement to a happier and healthier future. I am not unrealistic and do not think this will occur in the nearest of futures however I do think it is a growing trend and an increasing backlash on the current social state and status.

As generations come through with this vast understanding to their individual impact on their world, their surroundings, they will be leaps and bounds ahead of past generations in which were taught that money is everything and quality of life is meaningless hence encouraging a lack of respect for themselves and their roles within society.

It is with this knowledge that I embark on the transition from education to reality and I have made a promise to myself that I will continue to increase my positive impact of my local community by minimising my carbon footprint where possible and sharing the knowledge that I have learnt and the habits I have been taught in relation to good and sustainable design. Start local go Global….

A Good Ol' Yarn

A Good Ol' Yarn

Such a lovely textile shot and it sums me up beautifully, I feel. A neutral colour palette highlighted with flashed of bright fashion colours. The variation is yarn weight and texture is what got me interested and keeps me interested in knit. I feel the image is poignant to me as a designer and mimics my organised chaotic thoughts, work process and approach.

These are some of the yarns that I have experimented with for my Design Project #2 'Spontaneous Optimism'. The slubbed alpaca yarns were far from ideal for the domestic knitting machine standard gauge so I am going to have to develop a hand knitting project to use them up- that beanie that has been in the thought process for months now but hasn't really developed further. Perhaps a summer project while I sit on my dad's balcony listening to the waves crashing on the sandy shore with a cold wine or chilled cider close at hand. I am so excited to have some well deserved down time......a little off topic....

Back to the images above...... I wanted to experiment with various yarn types and techniques that were not overly complicated but extremely effective in the outcome. Slubbed yarns have been in my vision for a while, I love the way a simple stitch becomes another entity through the use of a dimensional varying yarn. The yarn is just soooo tactile while the colours are a result of the natural fibre of alpaca and ties beautifully back to my staple colour palette. I have had to move on from these yarns for the purpose of this project (as I said the machine did not like them). So I have worked with a couple of slubbed linen blends that also given an interesting result yet the machine can handle the yarn effectively. 

More to come on the process and development of this project. 

Love a getaway

'Love a Getaway'

I love Australia, I love the sunshine and I love the get away that allows you a renewed inspiration and appreciation for your homeland. I don't feel like I have had the chance to appreciate Australia since I have been back from the UK, I haven't really had the chance to get away and see some of the beautiful sights that Australia has to offer but last weekend I had no excuse not to so Skot and I went down the Mornington Peninsula to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Saturday was spectacular weather so we decided to venture past Portsea and down to Point Nepean exploring Fort Nepean. We did the walk along the beach to Fort Nepean. The walk was so motivating taking in the sunshine and savoring some amazing sights (and thank god to always having the iPhone handy being able to capture them). These images are the classic combination of man-made meeting nature and the beauty mother nature creates purely by herself, a recurring theme through my digital photo albums.  

The sun was so warm and invigorating, I got down to a singlet and got a substantial (and very necessary) dose of Vitamin D. All these factors combined are the essence of Australia and make me so excited for the upcoming summer (after 3 winters in a row) and more opportunities to get away and explore this amazing country I call home. 

My Surroundings

'My Surroundings'

Some snap shots of my cleaner areas in my work space. They capture my working environment perfectly, organised chaos. I love to have a lot of things surrounding me, as I have chatted about in previous blog entries. Our walls are filled with Skot's art and the shelves and other surfaces are filled with my knick knacks. These pictures capture some of the things that I love to (well cant help to) clutter my space with. They also show where my inspirations come from- books, nature, travel and family nostalgia to name a few. The head pieces on the foam head are creations of mine from my time in the Textile diploma 'Experimental Textiles' subject. I love the contrast from the natural textures in the foreground of the bottom shot to the more industrial and coloured feel of the head pieces while the frame of the image almost captures the process from inception of an idea to the actualisation of the idea.

Colour and Texture

'Colour & Texture'

These are a couple of images I have come across during my recent research for up coming projects. They both caught my attention for the use of colour and texture through height and layering.

The colour mix in both images is aesthetically pleasing to me, one being more primary palette and the other pastel. The depth and contrast in the primary palette evokes a darker emotion whilst the pastel captures summer, fun and happiness- dreamy happiness. 

The ambiguity within the images allows the focus to be on the colour usage, instilling the importance on the beauty within colour placement.

Natural Beauty

'Natural Beauty'

I have an obsession with flora and the dried results of collected flora, from stick to pods, hydrangea's and roses to eucalyptus leaves and gum nuts. I love how the colour changes and results in naturally interesting textures. I love the way my collection breaks up the starkness of what would otherwise be empty and devoid surfaces. It makes me happy to look at the collective colour combinations of my natural objects that sit beautifully with my textile samples and vintage and contemporary objects that positively clutter my personal space. It is through my obsession with the natural beauties and my love of knitwear that I decided to study textile design. I needed a way to express myself creatively through a surface application that interested me- fabric or fashion.   

Home is where the Heart is....

'Home is where my Heart is'

Pictured is a three panel collage that Skot created for me whilst I was on a month long holiday in the USA, 2004. He has collected and compiled things that are important to us both individually and collectively from my mother who passed away when I was 6, my childhood horse, me as a child, Skot as a gorgeous redheaded kid, a clip of another artwork he created for me, a map of Richmond, David Bowie, Puma shoes (for him), the Flat Iron Building NY, to name a few. 
The main focus of the panel is a enlarged photocopy of Skot and myself. Our apartments wall are filled with Skots artwork while the shelves and surfaces are stacked with my knick knacks and things I love. I have a compelling need to surround myself with vintage and contemporary eclectic 'things'. I believe that an empty space represents and empty mind- hence why there is so many higglety pigglety objects in my home. I believe in surrounding myself with beauty in colour, texture, tactility and overall object.