Graham and Brown Visit

On Thursday I went to visit Graham and Brown to show my work to Paula Taylor. I was nervous about going to such a successful company to show my work. I was put at ease and I felt like I came across quite well.

As well as Paula I was joined by Andrew from the studio and talked through my portfolio then after I went through it, they then talked through it. They thought how I had interpreted the lace idea with marbling and put this into a repeat to create my backgrounds was great she had not seen it interpreted that way. They both really liked the textures that I had used to create the pieces and that the finish was very professional and to a high standard, sometimes to a higher standard than they receive from the people who have been in the industry for years. The theme and inspiration boards that I have put together were really strong and showed creativity. The drawing was very strong as well and showed different styles; they both would have loved to see some hand created final designs, to keep the essence of the original drawings that is lost when taken into the computer. This would make my portfolio almost bespoke, which is what a lot of people are looking for at the moment, with this in mind I am going to try and produce my own hand created wallpapers. Andrew and Paula then offered myself a work placement, which I was very happy with and I have arranged to go the week beginning 18^th July, I am very excited about this opportunity.

Paula then showed myself the showroom this housed most of their range; also this is how they want their products to look like in the shops. Then she took me around the gallery with all the wall art, it was fantastic and it catered for every taste, which is great, I was inspired by the lacquered art the colour is so intense it is fantastic, then I also really liked the more painted textured pieces.

The overall experience was amazing; Paula and Andrew made me feel so at ease they were lovely. I am very glad that I have been offered a work placement for a week, it will be such good experience to see how a studio works.

Visit to Debbie Lord

After e-mailing Debbie Lord asking if I could come and visit her for help on the work that I am producing now as well as showing her the work she helped me on initially. So on Monday I went to see Debbie, this gave me the chance to see how she was set up working from home, as well as getting feedback and advice on my own work.

I had already sent a PDF to Debbie to show my first wallpaper collection, however I took the prints with me. Debbie really liked the textured backgrounds and said the repeat was great because she couldn’t see it with just a quick look. One area where I could improve with is to make sure the motifs are more into a flower shapes and prominent, so the consumer would know what it is at first glance. Another way that I could improve this collection is to create another design that has a WOW factor maybe damask with the dots making up the shape. ‘The colour used is sophisticated and on trend, this work has come a long way and developed than at the start’ when Debbie saw the work.

I showed Debbie my portfolio that I had put together and she said that it showed variety and had some really interesting and beautiful elements. However she thought that some of my more recent work was stronger, than some sheets in the portfolio. Her advice was to only put the work that was my strongest in the portfolio and adapt the portfolio to where I would be applying. However at the moment it shows that you have progressed and it also shows the more experimental styles of work.

Debbie was open to helping me with the work I am

producing now, for the final major project and suggested a few areas where I could improve for example look at all the drawings and make sure they look ‘beautiful’ and are ‘refined’ clean them up and tidy areas. Debbie liked the water style of my experiments and could imagine this in furnishing fabrics, although has to be careful of the repeat doesn’t show the join.

I wanted to discuss the colour pallet, because the one I had chosen is for fashion, which I did not realise to begin with. The advice was maybe that of looking at what other colours are out there now in the top companies collections, then to take this as inspiration and put together my own colour pallet to work from. I want this pallet to be a contrast to my first collection of wall-coverings.

It was a huge help going to see Debbie again, she gave great advice regarding the work and what next step I needed to take. She also gave me some tips and ideas of who to contact for other portfolio visits, which was very helpful. I have arranged to invite Debbie to the final show.

Debbie also showed me a few books that had an oriental patterns, these were another form of inspiration.

Graham and Brown

Graham and Brown have got back to me, and I have arranged a visit to them on the 31^st March at 2pm, this is in Blackburn. I’m looking forward to showing my work to Paula Taylor in such a big company.

Designers Guild

I had a reply from Designers Guild saying they did not have enough time to look through the work. However I saw on their website that they have got works experience applications and to send a CV and cover letter to them to apply. The description of the post did mention that it might be anywhere in the company and probably not in the design studio, however anywhere would be good experience. I sent my CV and cover letter off and now I’m waiting to hear back from them.

Karen Little Questions

I asked a few questions to Karen Little regarding how her business works. I have not put all the answers in this report however I have just taken the sections that I thought most relevant.

When asking Karen if she sets, set briefs the answer was no because if the work does not sell then it would be down to her so it’s more like giving advice where needed and slotting them into collections. Also a lot of the clients are always looking for “something new” so this is what I need to remember when designing my final collection. Regarding money, normally a design will sell for around £500 and the agent will take 50%, this is being as a freelancer, whereas in a studio this would be different. I asked Karen

“What would make myself more employable to you? Regarding work and how I present myself?”

‘I find you very presentable and also a talented creative designer. You just need more experience and practice; you need to keep going, get as much knowledge as you can and try to make sure your designs are different yet commercial. You then need a lucky break!’

This was pleasing to hear and good to know where I need to improve to succeed.

Contacting Companies

I have e-mailed companies asking for portfolio visits either in person or if I could send a PDF of my work to them. I did not just send a standard e-mail I adapted it accordingly to each company or person.

>Designers Guild

>Osborne and Little

>Graham and Brown

>Yellow Label

>Diane Harrison

>Karen Little

>Debbie Lord

Linda Keeley

Linda Keeley is an Artist, she is inspired by Henry Moore, Picasso and Cezanne.

I found these ink drawings and thought they were amazing, they have an energetic feel to them and the flowers are abstract however you can still tell what they are, the soft colour pallet draws attention to the lines and creates depth.

The image below is one of my own, I did this in a previous brief in the second year. When I saw Linda's flower drawing it reminded me of this one I had created, I am going to use this technique again because I think it would create some different qualities within my Primary research.