Harlequin.

Fig 1. 

Researching further into market levels I found Harlequin who create high end flamboyant wallpaper designs.
Using a range of specialist finishes such as metallics and a range of different textures they are a specialist in statement wallpapers.
They create a diverse range of designs in a large range of styles, suiting to various different room styles.
I think their styles of papers are really interesting with lots of mark marking and expressive designs, which I think my work would lend itself well to.
Harlequin are also a design team, and are the sort of company that I could see myself working within, and I definitely would like to aim for the higher end of the market purely because of the elaborate designs and the more extravagant details.

Fig 1. Harlequin (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 30th December 2013] <http://www.harlequin.uk.com/>

Sofa Competition Submission.

This week I took a few days out to enter the Sofa.com competition. I wanted to enter this live brief as it stated the designs needed to inspirational and eye catching, whilst being extremely commercial.

Since I've been interested in targeting both high end and commercial market levels, I thought it would be helpful to try out another commercial brief. 

I wanted to do this with digital print, as it's something I haven't experimented too much with yet within this project. 

I changed my drawings to be put into repeat, therefore making them a much more commercially suited design. 

It was interesting to experiment with this, as the original drawings took on a completely different feel than they had originally. 

It stated within the brief that different colourways might be appropriate to have more to work with, so I experimented with different colourways in Photoshop, it's been interesting to go back to using colour again after working with mainly monochrome within my main project. Colour is something I definitely want to bring back into my project. 

 It was good to be able to work to a brief set by a company and to have a set of guidelines within the brief to work to.

Seeing print visualised has really helped, and I think that's something I definitely need to start doing within my project, just to start seeing how my prints might be applied within an interior context. Market level wise, I feel that my designs are perhaps still too extravagant for this competition and wouldn't be appropriate to the intended commercial market level. 

I have felt that within my project that I should be able to hit both market levels, but through this live project I have realised that my working style is just more appropriate to the higher levels, so instead of trying to meet both levels, I want to aim solely for the higher market level. 

New Screens.

I've been experimenting with the placement of foil within my prints. I found that offsetting the foil as an all over layer underneath the print worked well. The foil didn't detract from the print, instead highlighted areas adding a shadowing effect.

This week I also exposed two more screens that aren't in repeat to add variety to my collection of prints. 

I started by experimenting with a different coloured foil, but this definitely wasn't successful as the foil stands out far too much as a contrast against the pigment print. I do however think the design as a whole came out well, and the qualities of the line are really successful at representing my original drawings. 

I went back to lead foil and worked with it in an all over layer again, as I had been experimenting with this technique earlier in the week. I wanted to work with the foil layer over the top, so that the pigment created a darker shadow underneath, adding a lot more depth to the print. I used flock with some of the prints to add texture, I felt that this would be an appropriate technique as flock is often used within interior to replicate velvet. 

I don't feel that this design is quite as successful as the previous prints, it worked better when I only took sections of it and not the design as a whole, the flowing marks seem to work better in smaller sections. I think the off setting colours worked well with these however, especially with the monochrome shades with white aquaspand layered over the top. I definitely think that the offsetting is something that I want to experiment with further, perhaps working with three tones of a colour, and moving away from monochrome again.

Digital Prints.

I decided to try out my drawings as digital prints, as I didn't see why a drawing couldn't be a finished design in its own right.
The prints came out well colourwise etc, but I felt that as soon as they were printed onto fabric, the qualities were lost, they've become very flat and lost any depth they had originally within the drawings.
I felt that the qualities that are coming out in the screen prints are a lot more successful and this is something that I should utilise within my work. I can create a lot more depth within my screen prints with layering and adding texture, which creates more interesting effects.
I think that it might be a possibility that I create a small range of digital prints that go alongside my screen printed fabrics. But perhaps they will be a lot more commercial, where I have edited them a lot more and created repeats to change them dramatically from the original drawings.

Timorous Beasties.

Fig 1.

Timorous Beasties are a design studio that I have long since been inspired by, using a combination of screen print and digital print, they create a great variety of interior surface pattern designs.
What inspires me about Timorous Beasties is the range of different projects that they undertake, with their wallpaper, upholstery and interior accessory prints. They also undertake commissions for a variety of outcomes from window displays to exteriors of buildings, with commissions for the V&A with large scale carpet, curtain and wallpaper designs. A large scale theatre curtain for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, they partake in many exciting opportunities. I feel it important to take part in different projects to keep inspiration fresh and to possibly open new doors, and that's what I like about Timorous Beasties, and I'd like to work for a studio like this.
Timorous Beasties are at the high end market level, with extremely elaborate repeat designs, I feel that my work would fit more within this market level simply because often my designs are quite elaborate and intricate with quite a lot going on. The more I research the more it is apparent that they higher end market level create the more extravagant and busy wallpaper designs

Fig 1. Timorous Beasties (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 8th December 2013] <www.timorousbeasties.com>

Publisher Textiles.

Fig 1. 

Publisher Textiles are a screen printed textiles company, creating high end printed designs for wallpapers and upholstery and other interior accessories. As they only use screen print their designs are aimed at a high end market level, due to the bespoke and intricate nature of their designs.
They also create commission based designs on request, so can offer one off designs.
I could see myself working for a studio like this as I would want to work as part of a design time as opposed to working for myself, or freelance. Working with screen print is something I'd want to do, and somewhere like this is a studio where I could see my work potentially being able to fit.

Publisher Textiles use a variety of specialist print finishes such as discharge, foil, flock, to create textures and surfaces. These are some of the techniques that I also use within my designs, the bold nature of some of their prints is also not dissimilar to some of the marks and patterns created within my designs. I found that my designs work well repeated, and due to their elaborate nature to not begin to appear too commercial. I definitely feel that my work is more suited to this high end level of the market, which is something I'd like to aim for when designing. 

Fig 1.  Publisher Textiles (n.d) [Online] [Accessed on 5th December 2013] <http://www.publishertextiles.com.au/>

Exposed Screens.

I've been preparing my screens this week, creating two designs that could be put into a repeat. I've never done hand repeat before and only experimented with digital repeat in the past. I felt that it was important for me to have some examples of screen printed repeat in my portfolio so it shows it's a skill I have.
I'd want to be able to show that I am versatile within my designs so want to have some repeatable and some one off designs, so as to show a range within the collection.

I feel for my first attempts at repeat the prints came out well and the design worked. I've stuck to monochrome so as not distract myself again, and I felt like I was able to achieve a lot more though doing this. I've worked with a variety of heavier silks, linens and wools, to think more about what sort of fabrics would be used in a interior, particularly at the higher end market level. The linen in particular hung really well, and would be something I'd like to work with further.
I brought some foil back into the prints to link to the metallics I used in my drawings. However I think that my placement of the foil in these samples is perhaps highlighting the wrong areas and distracting from the print. The print is strong enough on it's own. Perhaps the foil would work better as a layer over the top.
I feel that the exposed line has come out much clearer than the hand painted monoprints that I experimented with previously, and has still kept the drawn mark but in a lot bolder and more defined way. I would like to expose some more designs that are non repeatable as well, to start to build up a collection.