Mollys journal

During the third week we looked into branding and logos. This was by far my favourite bit as I was able to be creative and start designing not only my logo but shoe designs digitally.

Week 2 was all about introducing us to marketing, target market and identifying brand rules to have a successful business.

During the week we had a few talks from our tutors, guiding us about the targets we would need to reach to understand or required target market to be successful I found this week quite interesting as I was able to realise that my target market would need to be more social media based as that is where I would promote my business majority of the time.

Looking into the target market aspect and the social media side to it, my market would ideally be someone who is future fashion forward, out going who looks for the aesthetic yet comfy approach.

However, I created a questionnaire for my target market to see what background, work and hobbies they had Looking from this I was able to see that my target market was in fact larger than I thought, however this means that my customer base would be much bigger and it is a good sign that people look for similar designs or desires meaning I can focus on those things to gain loyal customers

 

with my inspiration from older students incorporating their loved ones Into their objects and the use of lighting I started to research designers that were inspired by these things as well.

Some designers that inspired me the most were Rashad Alakbarov (who created new images through objects and lighting), Charles Guo (fashion designer) and so on.

RASHAD ALAKBAROV

With looking into light I thought this was really clever with the way he’s used object through light to portray something different. With the jumper I will be creating, I wanted to use the source of lighting to portray something different from various angles so it isn’t just a symbolic object, it is showing something else.

CHARLES GUO

As a fashion student I also wanted to research fashion designers who were inspired by light. Charles Guo has created several looks incorporating light. As a fashion student I also wanted to research fashion designers who were inspired by light. Charles Guo has created several looks incorporating light.

After discussing my inspirations and ideas to my tutor I decided I wanted to create An object that was dedicated to my nans passing which incorporated light as well. As my nan loved wooly jumpers and knitting I wanted to use her old jumpers to create a new jumper. This jumper would have lights shining through it and onto it which could potentially portray a new image from the lighting and object.

Firstly, I started to sketch my ideas on paper and then eventually created a quick digital drawing to show what my object would look like and how it would be presented. With showing this to my tutor I was able to start prepping ideas on how I would complete this progress.

With showing this to my tutor I was able to start prepping ideas on how I would complete this progress. I was also fortunate enough to find some books from uni which demonstrated how designers display their garments effectively which really helped me.

From starting this field at the beginning of the five weeks I was not sure on what I could possibly create as my final outcome. After creating several mind maps, researching various designers and inspiration from previous students I was able to begin my progress.

At first I wanted to use my old garments that I had made from last year and display them in an exhibition environment as my first initial idea. However, as this didn’t have a lot of meaning to it I decided I wanted to use something that was close to me. From this I came up with the idea of using my nan’s old jumpers to create a new one, meaning I was still using my Fashion design skills whilst being out of the course for five weeks.

Creating the jumper was more tricky than I had anticipated as the jumpers would start to fray when cutting them up, resulting in the sewing being harder to sew than normal. However, even though this was the case I was still able to produce a new jumper made out of the old ones, creating a stronger bond between the materials, physically and symbolically. Once I had sewn the jumper I went onto the next step which was creating light. For this I used LED fairy lights and a lamp in the background.

Once this was completed I then added a few personal items and started on the setting.

As previously said in my other posts I decided from the inspiration of Gregory Crewdson I wanted to use my nans house as the setting for the final photos.

As you can see from my final photos, I was really inspired by Gregory Crewdson’s work with the dramatic, dark scenario. I wanted the background to be dark and muted so that the jumper was the main attention of the photo. I Also liked the way I placed the jumper in the first photo as its as though a person and their life is sat there and still with us, creating a chilling effect. Even though I wanted a more  home based sense, I decided to have a big lamp shining onto the jumper as though it was an object being displayed in an exhibition.

Looking at the jumper itself, I do feel as though it gave me some closure in certain ways but it also created something stronger and more powerful. I feel as though, as a viewer you are not only getting one story but three different stories. One about the persons life and memories, second showing there is still light after death and the third meaning once mending things together it creates a stronger and powerful bond.

With this project overall, I was quite apprehensive about this field as I did not really understand the purpose of it. Having different tutors meant I had to explain myself over and over again which I felt wasted some of my time which I could’ve used to be more productive in the making area.

However, during the five weeks I am pleased with my outcome as not being too well at the moment I was able to use some grief and loss to create a powerful object that tells a story.

During todays tutorial, I discussed what I needed to add to my presentation ready for Thursday and how I would be taking the photos of my object to show everyone. With my presentation I wanted to focus mainly on my inspirations, whether they were designers, objects, lightings, spacings and so on. I Made sure to research as many designers as I could In order to have good background knowledge so that I knew where I was going with my final project.

I also wanted to add in my design ideas and my design development to show the process step by step as though the reader has been through it with me as well.

Once I had my tutorial I was able to then get the final pieces together and start setting the scene up at my nans house down Cardiff. With setting the scene up, I felt as though it was a bitter sweet moment as it was also my last time I would ever go there again. I think this gave the object more purpose and meaning to me as I was capturing the last moments before it was all gone.

Whilst also setting the scene up, I was able to find photos of family members with my nan which I thought would look good on the jumper itself as it would again have more meaning to it and it would almost be telling a story of her life.

 

Again Thursday morning we had our tutorials with another tutor to show our progress and ideas. Showing my digital design and jumper so far my tutors were pleased with how my progress was coming along. Again we shared ideas about the spacing and what would be most beneficial for my with doing the home based scene. Some ideas were that I used lamp lightings from my nans within the photos or a dark based room Wirth small lightings portraying onto my garment with fairy lights coming in and out of the jumper.

Once having the tutorials I was able to start threading the fairy light through the jumper. With creating the jumper, I did not expect the fairy lights to be the hardest part of creating the object as they kept getting tangled in the process of threading them through!!.

with the fairy lights, I wanted to use quite subtle, pretty ones as they are quite feminine and gentle. I wanted them to portray this aesthetic as the scenery will be quite dark and dramatic so it needed a contrast to create a balance. As you can see, from inspiration from older students who used family photos of belongings, I was able to find family photos myself and place them onto the jumper creating a story behind it.

With the progress so far I am pleased with how it is turning out as it has been a struggle to do this but I’m glad I have been pushing myself to do this as it is creating such a powerful and beautiful object that has a lot of meaning to it.

After sewing the jumper together, I felt as though it had something missing. As this was the case I decided to add some of my nans jewellery onto it so it had more personality and meaning to it.

Once adding the few personal items to the jumper I feel as though it had come more to life as though it had purpose. All I needed to do now was add the lighting to it with the set background for the final outcome.

During Tuesdays tutorial we had another lady talk to us to help develop our ideas. Once discussing my project and showing the tutor my progress so far I was given more advice on what I could do and what inspirations she had from looking at my progress so far that could fit into my work.

We discussed more about the spacing of my project and how I could use certain spaces to create more of a story. Again, after explaining my project she mentioned a designer called Gregory  that would be good to look into with the spacing and lighting. Based from this designer and my object we both said that perhaps using my nans house as the spacing could be quite dramatic in telling a story with lamps or house lighting around, like the designer has done.

However, my initial idea for spacing was an exhibition style spacing as I thought this would be able to portray a different image with the lighting I various angles, just like Rashad Alakbarov. But with the dark, dramatic sense of a story coming from a home based spacing I do this this would be more appropriate for my object.

 

 

On Thursday we had technical 1:1 tutorials and space tutorials. During this time I was able to speak to Natasha about where I would be portraying object, how I would be and what the story is behind it. Discussing with Natasha about my project,  I explained that my object is more symbolic as it is old jumpers from my nan being recycled Into one, meaning things mended together creates something stronger. As I am looking into light as well, I also explained that the lighting will also be symbolic as it is showing that there is light’ after death that would shine through the object and around it.

One designer that I Was told to look into was Celiya Pym.

Cyliam Pym uses old sourced materials from all sorts and creates something new with them thats suiting the trends nowadays. Her designs are all very abstract as she has used a lot of fabric manipulation to give that extra style to it. Looking into her designs I was inspired by her as she’s used old un wanted materials to create something brand new that can be handed down in later years or infant recycled again to create a new clothing or item.

After researching into this designer and having more tutorials, I was able to start with the jumper.

With the jumper, I cut up several pieces out of old ones like Cyli and began to piece them together, seeing what looked right before sewing them together. Once I had done this I was able to start sewing the jumpers together, creating the new jumper.

Looking at the jumper, I feel as though i need to add a few more things to it, whether its my nans jewellery or photos of the family to give it more character whilst also adding my own aesthetic to it.

During the presentation from last Tuesdays lecture, I was really inspired by another two students work who created objects inspired by their grandmothers. Each of their objects had something of their nans incorporated into it that made the object have a meaning and purpose. As I was already looking into light I wanted to try and bring my nan into it as well as she unfortunately passed not too long ago. As a fashion student as well I thought perhaps involving her clothing into the project with light and see where this could lead.

After also researching various designers who were inspired by light In different ways whether it was light appearing through clothing, little lights and objects creating a new object etc, I started to create a mind map on potential paths I could go down and where it would lead me towards the end of this project.

Once creating my mind maps I was able to have a tutorial with my tutor to see my progress and where it could potentially lead me. We both wanted to make sure I didn’t go down just one route, but I also tried various styles and ideas to see what I could come up with and what would be best suited for my final idea. It was important we did not have a final outcome idea at this point as we needed to explore our minds and develop our skills as a designer and individuals.

During my one to once tutorial I was able to look at some of the uni books that explored these categories.

These two books focused more on lighting and ways you could use them to create an effective display or object.