Locating - Live Brief - Wallace#Sewell

As a new project unfolds, the  unknown aspect of how my work will develop, alongside all the new ideas and inspirations I'll discover, is always an exciting time. For my Locating Unit, I have the incredible opportunity to work with Wallace#Sewell and understand how weave can play a part in the creative industry. 

After graduating from The Royal College of Art in 1990, Harriet Wallace-Jones and Emma Sewell established the highly individual textile design studio. Designing innovative woven fabrics exploiting techniques, the brand thrives from creating textiles for fashion and furnishings, with a positive and confident use of colour. 

From visiting their design studio, it is apparent that they are often inspired by paintings; working both from the colours and compositions of the work. To me, this is very important to remember when I am producing my collection as it seems a simple yet vital stage to the process. I am normally used to having a wide variety of research and images to respond to and develop my ideas from, however I think it will be a challenge for me to work from/with only one image. I am intrigued to see if I struggle with this or prefer it as a starting point. 

Whilst I was in London, I also wanted to take the opportunity to do some research and therefore paid a visit to the incredibly inspirational store, Liberty. I spent a long time in the scarf room and was overwhelmed by the selection, however a designer that caught my eye was Jo Gordon. I knew that by the end of the project, my collection should be individual and compliment the existing fabrics by Wallace#Sewell, but not mimic their work. I felt a strong statement within their fabrics were the block-like shapes and solid colour and I knew straight away that this was something I wanted to try and incorporate into my own work. The scarves by Jo Gordon also followed this idea and I'm hoping to further research into her as an artist, to learn more about her designs. 

At this moment in time, I am unsure on what yarn types I will use for my collection. I have only recently learned how important the choice of yarn and the finishing of your fabric is to allow it to reach the final state you desire. ie. steaming, washing etc. After feeling a lot of the fabrics at Wallace#Sewell, I need to make this a priority when designing and spend a lot of time choosing my yarns.