Last Day at the Office

So, today was my last day....

I've had such a great time on this placement! It's been an all rounded experience... having the excuse to try out living in London for a while, working a 9 - 5 office job, using 'industry professional services' for  sourcing materials; putting my compositional and colour skills to the test, develop an awareness of the systems involved in a publishing house (which I hadn't fully appreciated Global Color was) writing for copy, taking in all that was happening in regards promotion, marketing and forward planning, and of course the best activity in the creative industry - lots of cutting and sticking! 

I can't wait to see the final copy of the shoot in the fully printed magazine, which will be in a couple of months time. In the meantime, I'm happy top say that working with Global Color has reaffirmed my passion for colour and that I realise it is something I have been missing in my own work. The challenge and journey this now offers me is a very exciting one so I'm looking forward to going back home, tidying up my total tip of a studio space and sorting out where I want to take it all next!

Thank you Global Color for a great placement! :) x

Arrange, Drape, Position and...Shoot!

Today was the day of the photo shoot for the magazine! Using all the materials I had selected from material lab, plus the samples sent to Sally from companies, it was a case of trying out some moodboards/compositions:

These were near enough the chosen two!

Considering the whole palette and trying to hit it all over the two page spread it was a case of balancing colours, textures and dimensions, then it was on to the softer materials...

The chosen fabrics!

Swatches of each material needed sorting into reference notes

Then it was time for the shoot!

Poonum was photographer

Sally arranges materials

And the shoot was done!

I spent the rest of the day typing up the details of each material, to be used as copy in the magazine. 

From start to finish this has been a really interesting process. All the stages, elements and attention, then dropping it in to InDesign et voila! Magazine ready for proofing! The magazine will be published in August so watch this space!

Working with Global Color

I have secured a placement with Global Color Research and although I can't upload and images about what I've specifically been up to (due to the nature of their business in trend forecasting and client proposals) I can say that I've been having a great time playing with colour palettes, materials and mood boards! 

Global Color HQ!

Examples of the trend wall at Surface & Design Show this year

It's interesting to see that the colour exercises we were playing around with in first year are really used in industry and I've been introduced to colour systems like NCS to develop palettes for client proposals.

Working mainly with Hannah Malein this past week, I have been helping with proposals for paint manufacturer Pintuco and assisting with trend boards for an Autumn/Winter 2014/15 presentation in Israel.

Here is Hannah talking about Global Color for Interiors UK 2012:



This week I'm helping Sally Davies with a materials trend photo shoot for MIX magazine and was sent along to material-lab yesterday to source some materials for the two trends Blush and Frame. I had a great time! 

Funnily enough, I was going to approach material-lab for some work experience, but I think I actually got the better deal using them as a customer! It's an amazing resource full of all kinds of materials. Going with the purpose of fulfilling a trend/mood-board was great. Being able to rummage through boxes and boxes of soft, hard, tactile and matt. Arranging colours and textures to suit, I could have stayed all day!

My two favourite finds of the day: 

concaved mirror tile

textile sample from danskina

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week, experiencing a live photo shoot, and the editing that is involved in the whole process, it's a completely new arena for me and I love it!

Gdansk: it brought out the pattern in me!

Just got back from another great trip with Martyn...this time we were Drawing in Gdansk! It's a beautiful Polish city with lots of history and, as with my trip to Spain last year, this has fallen at the perfect time - I'm finished for the summer - yay! :)

View of Gdańsk's Old Town from the Motława river.

Here are my drawings from the week (a much shorter one than Spain...) and I must say - I'm surprised by all the pattern that's come out! I'll be honest, it's completely thrown me for where I should take my work next year (that dreaded 2d or 3d question...grrr!) but that's what this last big summer break is all about...stepping back and assessing what's worked best these past 2 years!

So, the journey: 

Day One....

After wandering around the shipyards, taking lots of photos and stopping for a very curious coffee at the ship builders cafe, this arrangement spoke to me out of the window:

an abstraction of the shapes of the rust on an old shipping container!

After walking back to the old town we set ourselves up at a cafe facing the water:
 

I was more literal in this record of the mill...

...then a little more abstract about the cabin on top of a boat!

What's going on? So many styles!!??

Leigh and I parked up at another cafe

where these guys were playing in the square!

The main square is laden with groups of colourful tourists.
The jazz music seem to fit so well as their backdrop, I just had to record it over the top!

Tutorial was interesting that evening....lots of styles to choose from! I questioned my  drawings as being very separate beings to my 3D work...how could I combine the two??? 

hmmmmmmmmm?

Day Two....

We had a life-drawing session scheduled at the local art school in the afternoon so in the morning it was soaking up the city:

view of the Town Hall, with a beautiful blue sky!

abstractions of the crowds and picking out separate colours.
I'd like to layer up more of these - from different locations maybe....?

And in the afternoon a collaborative drawing session! The task: team up with a student from the Polish school and work into each other's drawing. 45 mins on your 1st drawing, swap to your partners drawing, 45mins, add your own style to the drawing. Go back to your original drawing - what problems now lay for you, 30 mins, close.

I was teamed up with Igor, who uses spray paint as his medium! Not only that but the students worked * REALLY BIG * - their easels are the size of doors - no joke!! This was of course a challenge enough in itself, then to contend with a medium you have never used and work into it - * s c a r y * exciting and liberating too though - really great exercise!!!

I forgot to take a picture of my original drawing but here is Igor's, just after I've added some marks:

It was great watching him work, the technique - amazing! It feels like a Francis Bacon this drawing -  I love it!!!

Now my drawing, with Igor's addition and mine again on top! A vast improvement from the original underneath - yep - he sprayed all over my original drawing!? I was very happy about that though because I hated it!!!

Over both drawings, there were some elements that worked better than others - 

these are my favourite bits:

We held a tutorial afterwards with some of the Polish students - this was interesting to gain their perspective on our work. It was suggested that my style was more painterly (fine art) than design (which sent my head off in a spin again - of course!) Appreciated the comments though and am parking them for now as I digest what's going on!!!

Day Three...

It was Polish bank holiday and a special procession took place in the city. Whilst waiting for it to start we had a coffee and I drew some tall buildings...

the procession got underway with lots of national dress

Afterwards we head over to Westerplatte (by Pirate Ship of all things!) and set up camp by the monument. The view was of windows, ships and cranes. I abstracted and assembled again:

primary coloured boat

marks and cranes and windows and colour

So as you can see, lots of pattern happening in my sketchbook! I'm enjoying it, just not that sure what to 'do' with it? Screen-printing maybe - but on to what? My feedback on last term was asking for more design work so maybe I'll start there....?

Well, from now until I go back to Spain (September) I have a lot of time to think about what I want to be doing next year. I've my dissertation to get stuck into (thinking installation ceramics as a subject), family to visit (France) and a mess of a studio to sort through! (eeek! it's a total tip!) Hopefully though some sense will come out of it all? In the meantime, it's back for a couple of days then off again! This time to London, for work experience!

To close however, Gdansk was brilliant - I will definitely be going back!