design narratives

micro florals

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I’m used to gathering flowers and then drawing them over and over in order to learn more about their colours, shapes, forms and structures in order to develop imagery for prints and textile designs. At home this weekend we looked at flowers in a different way. We investigated last years plants that my daughter had pressed safely, and looked at them under the microscope that my son had become rather too keen on discovering inside the utilitarian wooden box it lives in.

We had great excitement as some rather plain plants revealed stunning patterns and textures and were disappointed when something beautiful at full-scale looked rather scary close-up. On trying to capture these images on camera the results were reminiscent of Len Lye animations and got me thinking about other ideas. Here’s a few images to share…

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noticing Nottingham

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Having had such a great ‘destination’ review from Cara of Patternbooth blog fame via Helen’s blog DesignHunter we chose Nottingham for a last minute weekend get-a-way. I had last visited the city as a student in about 1997 and this time we set off looking for a completely different experience from the cider-drinking ‘DM boot wearing’ art student of yesteryear.

We visited lots of independent cafes and restaurants, watched a great art-film in the Lounge at the Broadway Cinema, shopped in vintage shops & design shops and yes, we did find time to sup ale at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem. It is a city with a great variety of interesting buildings embracing a myriad of architectural styles; almost a timeline of the design history lectures I give to my Textile Design students. The lace trade is still visible in many ways, and contemporised on the exterior surface on Nottingham Contemporary.

We had a thoroughly great time and returned home with rounder tummies and fuller bags than when we left Brum on Friday night! Thanks Cara, Helen and Nottingham!

images L-R: exterior facade of a car park, dots on a crossing, Nottingham Contemporary exterior, stair detail from the Paul Smith shop

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Norfolk lines

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I’m naturally biased when it comes to the Norfolk landscape but seeing as it has shaped my aesthetic, colour preferences and my approach to drawing I am happy to consider it to be inspirational. I don’t spend enough of my time in Norfolk these days but every time I visit I take deep breaths, and big eye-fulls of the vast expanse of open landscape, the ever-changing light qualities and the endless colours of the land, sea and sky. Here’s a medley of Norfolk from this Christmas including sights of seals at Horsey Gap, a rainbow & the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea, and fields near Cawston and Alysham.

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the true Plot to Plate harvest of 2013

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Today I picked the final handful of beans, harvested the last of the squash in case we are surprised by a frost, and noted the pace had slowed on the rain-battered raspberries. We still have courgettes and the last row or two of potatoes, plenty of beetroot, celery… and parsnips – and for those we wait for positive news of the frost before they accompany our Sunday roasts.

I’ve often returned home from the plot to capture in photographs the success of the allotment on our plates and bowls, capturing the beauty of shape and colour of our fruit and veg. Today I thought it appropriate to put together the photos as the harvest comes to a close. I realise its incomplete; no sweetcorn, no cucumbers, no carrots or peas no blackberries or swede. No disrespect – some were a success, some disappointing – but there’s always next year to make amends.

I have to thank this lot for providing me with constant inspiration for my design collection of the same name – and this really is an example of Plot to Plate.

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box of colour

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I was shown this wonderful Alice in Wonderland paint box that has been looked after for many years. It is so much nicer than much of the branded, TV themed products of today. I especially like the labeling of the names of the colours. Is sap really that green? I would have been a very happy child to have received a box of such size and potential. Note: Made in England!

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Words of Walberswick, Suffolk

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For some reason my first visit to Walberswick has been etched on my mind as a perfect summer holiday, long in length, filled with sunny days on the bridge crabbing, playing in the dunes, and on one day, huddling round a small, borrowed tv set to watch ‘The Royal Wedding’. This was in 1981, with memory’s thick rose-tinted spectacles on. I gather we stayed for a weekend!

Fast forward a few years and we have spent a fabulous week back in the small Suffolk, coastal village this summer, showing the next generation how to crab, and to play in the dunes, with no royal wedding to distract us.

One vivid memory I have of our 1981 visit was of the ferry, the ferryman and his dog. We were confused quite why he seemed to make heavy weather of it, not rowing straight across – which seemed sensible, but instead rowing high up stream, before steering for the jetty on the Southwold bank. It was a real delight to be back on the ferry this time, with knowledge of the tidal waters, and for the small fee of 90 pence, taken across the water. There is pleasure in this simple transaction. If there was a queue, you waited. If it was only you, and not the maximum cargo, he rowed for you. Now that is service!

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I doubt the signage originated from the 80s but I really liked the straight forward communications around the jetties. Around the banks of the Blyth the boats and black wooden huts featured many hand-rendered signs, some more formal than others, so I’m sharing them here, hopefully for your pleasure.

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a textile archive of a different kind

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Having worked at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, BCU at the Gosta Green site for the last few years we are moving to a brand new campus next week. There has been plenty to do packing up the workshops and studios, and during this process the course team have reflected on and recorded the space that has been home to this textile design degree for many years.

There are so many signs of demonstrations given, lectures delivered, course-work carried out and with the heavy use of the workshops comes a fabulous visual archive of the textile careers that we have helped to initiate and support along the way. We are nostalgic in many ways, but excited by the new and very clean slate that we are about to start writing history on at the Parkside building.

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scale and context

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During a beautiful adventure in the Lickey Hills, south of Birmingham at the weekend I took these photos that showed how similar the environment close to the ground was to the canopy of the much taller pine trees. It highlighted to me the experience of scale and how important the context is. I tend to record this sort of detail in my garden sketches too and so it struck a chord.

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Kate Farley – Plotting Prints at Tinsmiths

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It is a very exciting time for me. It has been about two years in the planning and preparation stages and now we are a week in to my show at Tinsmiths. For those of you unfamiliar with Tinsmiths, it is a beautiful textile and lighting shop in the lovely Herefordshire market town of Ledbury. It is a beautifully considered shop, owned by Phoebe Clive, selling a wide range of fabrics as well as home wares, crafted pieces and artists prints.

I have worked closely with Phoebe to translate my lino printed designs inspired by allotments, to become a collection of heavy weight linen, hand screen printed textiles available to buy as cushions. We have also created larger showroom pieces as curtains and upholstered chairs in preparation for selling some of the designs by the metre later in the year.

Phoebe and the team have styled my products throughout the top floor of the premises in such a way as to create a clean and fresh interior space, working with the other products and furniture pieces in the shop. My prints and drawings are set amongst other exciting colour statements in the form of ceramics & lighting with an understated aesthetic. With plenty of positive feedback at the PV as well as sales throughout the first week it’s a really exciting reward for the long journey to this point.

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Hanbury Hall delights

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My creative practice has been inspired by National Trust gardens for the last few years and as a result I’ve had a number of people suggest I visit Hanbury Hall – finally I got round to it at the weekend. Despite the poor weather it was a delight to discover all the pockets of gardens, each carefully considered, and demonstrating the wide variety of formal and informal planting the National Trust excels at.

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Armed with my sketchbook and camera I gathered plenty of inspiration for new prints and will definitely be back later in the season.

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Its also a fantastic building inside and out. I dashed around the inside and a particular wallpaper caught my attention.

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All in all, I left feeling excited about making new work again having spent so long preparing for my solo show at Tinsmiths, opening later this month… now where did I put that lino?

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