evaluative statement

Throughout this past year I feel I have really found my place in the field of art and design. At the beginning of the year I tried to stay away from up-cycling as I felt it is currently a very popular field where everything you think of has already been done. So I decided to go back to something I know well, which was fabric. I also wanted to have a great source of inspiration which would keep me engaged for an extended period of time, and for me that was shells. I have always had a fascination with shells and enjoyed studying their shapes, textures and colours, so this seemed like a good idea. I started by looking at the characteristics of shells and I developed an interest with the lines that the have. I wanted to take these shapes into paper and fabric, which i struggled with at first as I couldn’t get the perfect effect that I wanted. After persevering I achieved the effect I wanted and developed a range of neck-piece designs. Over the Christmas period I started doubting what I was doing with my work, it didn’t feel quite right so I decided to change my direction and go bag to the paper elements, after making scans of my paper folds I decided that I could create a variety of patterns from these which could them be applied to a multitude of things. This is where I was able to bring up-cycling back into my work and use furniture to apply my pattern designs to, which I feel has worked well. I hope to develop my concepts and collection to make alternative series for the interior market in the future.