3rd year Design Seminars

I really found the 3rd year seminar that I watched very interesting.  There was such a range of themes such as; tribal, cocktails, nature, mystic, romantic, light in the darkness, hope, architecture and much more. There was a lot of print students in this seminar so I did find it a bit repetitive and would have liked to have seen more knitters and weavers.  I learnt new things about how to present my work and also what the tutors where looking for. I got new ideas for my own work like more mark making and different types of medias for my visual studies.  Market research is a huge thing to focus on so I am going to look at WGSN as a lot of the students had researched this company. I want to use everything in my inspiration and the 3rd year students even used postcards and jewellery as inspiration. Because I will be focusing on a product field I need to choose something that has a big product selling point, and my theme must stand out and the colours must work for people to go wow!

Lost in Lace

For visual studies we were asked to visit Birmingham to look at the "Lost in Lace" Exhibition.  Because I am moving on to Weave rotation next week I was looking at patterns and lines that could be used in my weave designs.  I found swirls, circles and flower images were very strong in lace so I will focus on this kind of style and create my woven samples related to the lace theme.

I found the Exhibition very inspiring for myself as I love lace and detail. The exhibition was small and very laid out full of space to walk around and look everywhere.  I could touch little samples of the full scale displays which allowed me to discover the fabric and texture.  I could walk through huge walls of lace and see a computerised structure of lace that changed colour on a timer, the colours used were neon and I really liked this effect so it could be useful for my own work.

Below is a link to a slide show of some of the photos I took on my trip to Birmingham

http://www.flickr.com//photos/70067575@N03/sets/72157628054989143/show/

Fireworks!!

I really like fireworks; the colours the patterns and the bright lights.  But I'm not too keen on the noise but I wasnt close to them this year which was good for me.  The display was in Markeaton Park.  The park had a fun fair set up and then a Bon fire, then at 6pm the fireworks started.  I recorded the display on my camera but it still needs a few tweeks before I can post it up here hopefully by this week.  I really enjoyed the display and I could sense my creativeness kicking in as I seen the fireworks spilling out and creating interesting patterns.  I could see some of the patterns on dresses and so this put me in a customising dress mood.  But i am going to wait till after I get my coursework completed and assessments over with so I can relax and have fun with the garments rather than stress about coursework.

Information Exchange Evening

On Wednesday evening there was an information exchange event at university.   The 3rd year fashion students displayed their work placements that they had done in the 2^nd year and I was able to ask questions and discuss with them if the placement was suitable for my own degree.  I am currently thinking of work placements for the summer so I found this event very useful.  After wandering around and picking a few interesting placements that suited my degree and my own interests in textiles, I discovered that I should focus on small businesses or freelance designers for work placements.  I think I am more suited to these kind of companies as I would get more information and experience on a one to one basis instead of a busy business where I would feel pressured to not ask them questions about what I would be working with as I would feel I was keeping them back from their deadlines.