Debbie A. Lord

She came in to talk to us and show us some of her work. After finishing her studies she rang around Manchester to get company's to see her portfolio work and 5 companies showed an interest. After 4 years of working for Tom Lewis Studio creating designs for fabrics, wallpaper and bedding Lord decided to work freelance from home for Pure studios.

She showed us images and visualistaions of her work and brought in samples of wallpapers with her designs. Her top tips for inspiration were:

• create mood boards
• create your own reference library? fill boxes with fabric/wallpaper samples etc
• look at magazines for colour and design
• go to the shops, see whats new in texture/ shape/ colour, take photographs
• look through books
• buy vintage reference: Crownhouse sell old document archive material
• get out of the office, go for a walk or go to a museum

Her advice on recieving a brief were:

• whose the customer
• when's the deadline
• what colour and style
• always repeat size

list of important tradeshows:

• Premier Vision - Paris
• Decosit - Brussells
• Surtex - New York
• Hiemtex - Frankfurt
  

Acrylic manipulation

I've worked with acrylics in my previous projects by laser cutting, etching, layering, painting and sticking vynil. Now I want to fold and bend it like a piece of paper. Karl (the college 3D technician)is always on hand to help to intoduce me to new gadgets like the hot wire strip heater and vacuum former. Both of these equipments manipulate acrylics but in different ways.

The hotwire strip heater (below) is this metal machine that is plugged in and the metal thin strip is heated up. The acrylic sheet is placed on top of the heated wire, this is where the acrylic can be bent once heated. It's really easy and is great for angular bends and folds.



For curves the vacuum former is used, this is also a metal machine plugged in, the acrylic is placed on the bed and the lid is closed for about 30 seconds. then the acrylic is turned over onto its other side to be heated and the lid closed again (protective gloves have to be worn for this process). This alternating of the acrylic is done several times and it becomes soft and pliable. At this stage it can be wrapped around a mould to shape it or placed in a die to set it (see below).

Tent

After visiting Origins I went to see the Tent Design Event because it was just round the corner and there was a concession on the ticket if you bought the Origins and Tent ticket together. The MA students of Kings University were exhibiting their work and I particularly liked the illustration students work. The work was lovely but it was set in the gallery which was cramped and alittle chaotic. It didn't feel like it was organised well, the tent digital work was given much more floor space but not much was exhibited compared to the Kings University students.

On another note it's always exciting when you recognise someone's name or work. I'd been looking at some of Jo Pierce' work weeks before and Tent were exhibiting one of her pieces.

Bean bag by Jo Pierce

3D lace by Rachel Harding

Origins Craft Fair 2010

It's design week in London and there are soo many fairs and exhibitions going on that your spoilt for choice. Since I was only going down for the day I chose to go to the Origins Fair, Tent and 100% design if I could squeeze everything in in one day. I went to see Origins first because I'd never been before and judging from the website it looked right up my street. With limited time I decided to make a list of the artists that I wanted to see at the fair. The people were friendly and approachable and were kind enough to take the time to answer questions. Some of the exhibitors said they had other incomes besides from their craft work which made me realise two things. One, these people were really passionate about their work because they continued to do it even if it wasn't paying all their bills. Secondly, success is measued in different ways, in this instance personal happiness and achievment.

Maarten Baas

I'm used to seeing clean cut linear furniture and Maarten Baas' work was a refreshing change. His furniture consists of a metal skeleton covered in clay by hand and then painted in bold coloured lacquer. They almost look like they belong in one of those fairytales you read when your a kid like Hansel and Gretel.

Lydia Meiying

Kosuke Ikeda

I don't know what to say about these illustrations except for Wow! The detailed patterns within these line drawings are amazing and so different from anything I've come across. Ikeda's work is simple but beautiful.