My Stationary and Gift Wrap Design

Blank Space

Elizabeth Kwant told me about BlankSpace, a new creative hub in Manchester that is run and managed by Blank Media Collective. It's aim is to support budding artists and practitioners in the North-West. It provides a space for artists to exhibit their work and an opportunity to network with like minded people. Individuals and groups can put forward ideas for future exhibitions ans the costs vary for the space depending on your financial situation (discounted prices for students).

BlankSpace
43 Hulme Street
Manchester

Andrea Lord

After being let down at the eleventh hour by the people (organisations) that were meant to see my work I called on Andrea Lord at the last minutes. Lord owns &made based at the Arts and Crafts centre in the Northern Quarter. She was kind enough to look at my work and give me feedback.

This detailed pink areas of this pattern remind me of snake's head fritillary. The pattern is lovely and the design looks Turkish but the shade of pink makes it look contemporary.

Both of these patterns are suitable for gift wrap because of the size of the motifs but after zooming into the image I find that they would also work on a larger scale too.

I'm not a fan of pink and orange but the shade used in this pattern is lovely, the pattern is much more freer than the others and the leavy motifs are reminiscent of the ginkgo tree.

The flowers in this pattern fold in on themselves like a kaleidescope, this is very different in style to the others, its geometric but organic and the colours sit well with each other.

Again the colours work well and although the pattern is geometric, the details with the square shapes are less rigid.

I absolutely love this, I love that the shapes are not perfect, the imperfections give it individuality and it looks like a fretwork piece. The two colours used here work beautifully together and it's simple but beautiful.

The detail on the flower petals are lovely and the faded centre works fine because of the large scale of the flowers, if they were smaller then the centre would need more detail. You can see the drawn quality to the flowers and I can picture this in a hallway. The negative spaces are just as important as the positive and I think there's a good balance of this in this pattern.

These 3 look stylistically the same and very different to the other pieces. They look like a separate collection and I think they would be better suited for fabrics rather than a wallpaper. The bluey green in the background is a beautiful shade and and the leave details are lovely. I can visualise this in a rural setting on a window seat cushions in a country cottage. It's chintzy and the lemon colour shade would fit well in a country kitchen.

Elizabeth Kwant

I saw Elizabeth Kwants work at the Nexus Cafe where she is the artist in residence, and I was drawn to the fragments of William Morris wallpaper she had used in her Passage Exhibition. Kwant is a fine artist and uses mixed media for her work and her canvass paintings opened up my mind to having my patterns on canvass instead of wallpapers. Kwant also lived in Morocco for a couple of years and exhibited there so I wanted her to look at my work because I've been told my patterns look Moroccan (Islamic).

My patterns are placed in 3 seperate categories with it's own individual palette.

Furnishings

I really like the colour palette it’s very contemporary and bright in a nice way and the patterns look complicated.

Gift Wrap (stationary)

I feel that the geometric patterns are stylistically Islamic and I like the design and colours. The geometric patterns with the black background appear masculine and the others are more feminine because of the pinks and orange. The black and red pattern reminds me of screens with cut work. Most of the patterns are tight and controlled but the floral pattern in the cream background looks retro and fluid. The cream background works better than the blue background pattern which I don’t particularly like. I think the detail on the colourful geometric patterns are lovely, they’re soft and feminine which appeal to me but I think the black patterns would appeal more to men.

Wallpapers

The colours in this palette are lovely the biege and taupe colours look masculine, the bluey greens are neutral and the yellow and orange look soft and feminine.

This pattern almost looks like a Moroccan tiled, the design as very Islamic. The pattern is easy on the eye because it's not rigid and formulated. The imperfections of the motifs make it look more natural and I can see this appealing to men.

The leafy pattern looks delicate and natural, the colours are feminine and I can imagine this in someone’s sitting room.

The light and dark colour’s in this floral pattern gives it depth, as well as the faded centres otherwise it would look like a flat image. The faded parts also give a sense of mystery to the pattern and leave’s the viewer wondering what the centre should look like. The detailed flower looks delicate and complex and I think this pattern would also look good on gift wrap.

The colours in this design work really well and it's this and the bamboo that gives this design an Oriental feel to it. The details like the veins on the leaves, the dark outline on the stencilled flowers and the bluey green foliage in the background really stand out. I think this pattern would work on stationary products as well as wallpaper.

This pattern reminds me of Ottoman pottery which also has a white background with hand painted chrysanthemums. The design looks Islamic in that sense but not the colours, the stalks look too wide and abstract.

I love the Iris in this pattern, you can tell it's hand drawn and gives it a fragility to the pattern. The yellow of the Iris against the orange works really well and the bluey green background is lovely. These lighter wallpaper patterns would look good on fabric and the collection is coherent because of the colour palette, but for different rooms. The designs are fresh and contemporary and the mixture of dark and light designs add strength to the set.