Holden Decor Portfolio Visit

Holden Décor are based in Darwin, they specialise in wall-coverings. I arranged a meeting with Natasha Perry who is the founder of the company unfortunately she was busy in a meeting. However I showed my work to Nicola, Tracey and Liz who all worked in the studio. I was introducing myself to Nicola and telling her which university I was from, she actually went to Stockport College to do her degree however left in the second year because she got a job at Crown, and the job was too good to wait till after the end of the degree.

Regarding my work Nicola liked the different sizes of holes that were punched into a photograph, then how I had taken the work into designs was impressive and reminded her of a Chinese collection they had at the moment. It was good to show the visualisations which they called "white rooms", it shows the skill that I can put them together, and understand the importance of seeing the design in a room set. One comment was that it would have been better to have my sketchbook with me rather than the digital copies, of pages. I also showed my hand painted designs that I was working on at the moment; the tips they gave me were to concentrate on the scale and content, if someone was to buy the design they would have to have a lot going on. They also said that my portfolio puts there collage work to shame, which was really nice of them.

This experience was really helpful because they had been in my situation quite recently so they remembered what it was like. They suggested that work experience is one of the best recommendations for myself and to contact Natasha at the end of August to see if I can get experience at Holden. This would be another fantastic opportunity!

After visiting Holden I sent an e-mail to Natasha to thank her for letting me show my work. I am going back to show Natasha my FMP work. I asked about the work placement and she has offered me a work placement for a week to see if I like it and then to review it and might take it further.

I am very much looking forward to this opportunity!

Twitter

Recently I have created an account on Twitter. I know that networking with the design industry is very important and a great way to do this is the internet. I am keeping this account strictly business at the moment, rather than adding friends other than those who are specialising in design. I am still learning how to use the site however my follow tag is " HLDesign".

Blossom Images

This Blossom tree is in Stockport it's stunning, it has blossom growing from the trunk which is unusual.

This was a cutting from a blossom tree to draw from.

Blossom has a major Japanese influence, it's so delicate and has a lot of flowers in a small area. It's such a beautiful flower.

Designers Guild Research

These room sets are from the collection called "Oriental Garden" It has geometrics as well as floral designs, some are busy which have a statement, others have a calming quality. This is what makes a good collection I need to keep this in mind when producing my own designs.

Harlequin Research

Thes images are from the "Tamika" collection, it has been inspired from the Kimono and the Japanese Gardens, along with this the name means "Many and Beautiful". This collection shows variety and how one theme can be interpreted in many ways.


These two room set designs both have a huge influence in the Japanese Blossom, although have a different ambience, I want to create a blossom wallpaper in my own collection.


I really like how Harlequin have put together the collection of different of wallpapers. I could think of doing something like this in my final major project, or how to present the work as a collection. The white frames emphasise that they are a collection.

Research

These two images are from a company called Lejista, I was looking at new ways to produce visualisations that are more exciting than a computerised room set design. I like this idea and I might consider something like this when I have to put my visuals together.

The bottom two images are from Central St Martin's degree show. I need to start thinking about how I will present my work for the final show. I focused on these two because they both show how to present wallpaper. I like how they are suspended on the wall with the curl at either end, depicting a scroll.

Tatton Park

In the Easter break I went to Tatton Park to take pictures and to draw in my sketchbook. The weather was lovely and it was inspiring to see the florals in full bloom. I also walked around the Japanese Garden, which looked lovely this time of year the blossom, magnolia trees, the acres and the bamboo were all in full bloom.

Slight history and Information in the Japanese Garden

The garden is now rated "the finest example of a Japanese Garden in Europe". It originated in 1910 after Alan de Tatton visited the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition. There were Japanese men that came over to England to put together the garden. As well as many of the artifacts have been shipped over from Japan. The garden is known as a Tea Garden, this style of garden is not as strict as the other gardens for example the stroll garden. The lanterns in the garden have been designed to catch snow in the winter, therefore making the garden beautiful all year round. The bridge from the shrine into the garden has been designed to be a "almond eye" this happens when the water is clear the refection is a perfect eye shape.

There is alot of meaning in the Japanese Gardens and every aspect has been considered.