PE Task 2!

My first year of studying Textiles in Practice has provided me with a great breadth of knowledge in different areas of textiles, as well as expanding the ways in which I work, making me more open minded when it comes to exploring briefs. This year I specialised in print and embroidery, as I love pattern, surface texture and manipulation. So far I haven’t combined the skills which I have gained studying embroidery and print, but the idea of layering embroidery textures on top of prints excites me, and I’d love to experiment with this during the rest of my University experience. I have also undertaken Unit X which was a collaborative unit. I definitely found this unit challenging in terms of working with other people, but I pushed myself in all areas of the unit. I stepped away from textiles to try and explore new pathways in the art world, and I feel as though I collaborated really well when I knew my group.

My favourite area of Textiles in Practice so far is print, as I love working with pattern and colour and I feel as though I could fit into the commercial market well. I loved being in the print room, descovering dyes and pigments, aswell as learning about the diversity of digital prints. I aspire to become a successful pattern designer and I gravitate towards gift-wrap, stationary and interior pattern products on the market, so I feel as though I could fit into these areas well. I love print for fashion but at the moment I don’t think my skill set applies as well to this area. However I would love to take second year as a chance to develop these skills and further investigate which area of print I’d really like to specialise in.  This year I have had an introduction to Photoshop and Illustrator, but as I hadn’t used either of them before, I still need to push my development in these to make myself more diverse and allow myself to use different skills in the world of print.

A contemporary company that inspires me is Tigerprint, who focus on innovation and creativity which has has lead them to become the sole supplier of over 5000 greetings products to M&S. (Tigerprint website: 2013). Their designs contain great colour, and they produce the kind of work that I aspire to produce.

I also love Rachael Taylors signature style of layering, textures & quirky hand drawn linework. Rachael has designed for the art, ceramics, interior, fashion, textiles, greetings, stationery and marketing industries, which is definitely the kind of career which I aspire to have in the future; making patterns that can be applied to a range of products.

Therefore, during second year I hope to push myself, and develop new skills such as learning more about Photoshop and printing, to enable me to become a pattern designer in the future.