UNIT X - Blog Post 2 - London Contextual Research

Before Easter I travelled down to London to vist Chelsea Habour for further high end contextual research, inspiration and to help me come to a conclusion on which fabrics would be appropriate for my context/designs. 

Mark Alexander Devore Linen

  
Mark Alexander's fabrics have had a big influence within this unit. He has inspired me to take the designs from my first collection in the practice unit and develop them further onto new materials. I have demonstrated alot of repeat styles within that collection that I would like to include in my portfolio but the fabrics I initally used were more of a dress weight. To adapt their suitability to the context of sheers fabric collection for an interior I'm going to develop my sampling further on  Devore Linens and Velvets, Voiles and Silk.

My second collection that I've been adding drawings and designs to throughout this unit has now been confirmed it has a much better suitability towards a high end interior market. I found within London alot of the high end companies had such as Anthropologie and Designers Guild had similar qualities within their designs including colour palettes, total variation, abstract mark making and fabrics. 

Designers Guild

Alot of my designs so far for the second collection have been panel designs. Designers guild demonstrated some simple side to side repeats using textural imagery. It's made me consider a more simplistic approach to the repeat styles I use within this collection not to overcomplicate them and detract from the minimalistic style of the designs.

Jessica Zoobs collection collaborating with Black edition demonstated a very inspirational range of fabrics and compositions. The textual qualities within the linen she uses provide a fresh and contemporary contrast against the luxorious velvets. Velvet and moleskin cotton are two fabrics I have been using within my second collection as the pile allows me to create textural differences and resists that are a feature of my designs. I'm now considering the additon of Woven Silks and Linens or possibly a plain weave cotton to the collection that would be suitable to use as a throw unlike the onesided pile fabrics I've previously been sampling with. 

Jessica Zoob Sample Book and Fabric Hangings