Intentions Unit Evaluation

This unit has been all about experimenting and going out of my comfort zone. Where last year I played it safe, this year I feel I have been more willing to try new things. A lot of this has had to do with confidence, and as I have started to feel more assured of my work, I have been more prepared to take risks. This has included doing processes which are time-consuming, like felting, but which create exciting results.
 

I started the project by focusing on intricate line drawing which I enjoy doing, but have relied upon heavily in previous projects. Whilst drawing remains intrinsic to my practice, I soon realised that in order to challenge my work and create more interesting samples, I needed to try new techniques. My initial focus on paper cutting led me to look at maps, which informed both aspects of the ‘Floral Geometry’ brief, the angular lines suggesting geometry, whilst the curved ones made me think of fungi and lichen.
 

It took me a few weeks to engage with this unit at the start of term. The varied nature of my summer work made it hard for me to decide what I wanted to focus on. However, I engaged thoroughly with drawing sessions, workshop activities and group tutorials throughout the unit. These motivated my work, particularly the dye workshops, which encouraged me to dye my own materials, and concentrate on using natural fibres. I realised from doing this that getting the exact shades you need can be a lengthy process. In the future, I will focus on developing my colour palette early in the project, so that I can spend time at the start experimenting with dyes, trying to achieve the right colours. I have also learned to create a concise colour palette. I had too many colours for this project, which I think has created a slightly sporadic effect in my final samples.
 

The weekly tutorials were extremely beneficial. I often find that I become very introspective, so having to get my work out and discuss it each week reminded me what I had been working on and allowed me to discuss my ideas out loud. Just getting other opinions has been interesting as well, and has made me think more about how others will view my work.
 

If I had organised my time more efficiently, I would like to have done more research into natural fibres and materials. Although I dyed natural materials and wool, I would like to investigate sustainable materials more and make this a fundamental part of my designs. For my digital prints, I had to use synthetic fabrics to sublimation print them, as I ran out of time to get them digitally printed onto a natural fibre. This is something I will plan to avoid in the future.
 

Perhaps the most important thing, which I learned nearer the end of the project, is the importance of context. This was lacking in the early stages, which explains why I found it hard to begin sampling. The group feedback sessions have helped with these, and from the discussion in the final tutorial, I realised that my work was more fashion-based than interior, which I had previously been focusing on. This renewed sense of direction gave me loads of ideas to develop in the last week, such as creating leather fastenings. These mock ups are extremely rudimentary, but having never worked with leather before, my aim was to create some basic samples to inform future design ideas. Next unit, I will really spend time at the start developing my context, so that I can make more informed material and process choices earlier on.
 

Reflecting on this unit, I feel that I took a while to focus, but that by experimenting and taking risks, I have manage to get to a place where I feel more aware of context and the importance of careful planning. Additionally, I am really excited about the things I can take forward into the next unit, such as a newfound interest in designing for fashion, particularly menswear.