Productive Waiting & Textile Design Inspiration from Nature

If you are a follower of my Instagram feed, you may already have seen the creative flurry happening at our house this week. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that NP and I are expecting our first child - in fact the mystery person was due last Friday! It's times liked these when I thank my lucky stars that I can fill my time with making and napping very happily. I've even been able to squeeze in some work for my Masters of design remarkably.

The Moreton Bay fig fruit seem to encapsulate the storing of memory, patiently waiting to drop from their home in the sky after a storm or strong wind. Seeds are released and awakened, just as memory can with the right triggers.

So far I have used them to naturally dye silk and wool, resulting in a beautifully soft neutral tones. Their rounded forms have been translated into bulbous felted textile pieces. The magnificent tones are the basis of a new colour palette.

And now a watercolour repeat design has emerged...

Thank you fig fruit - you are marvellous distraction.

 

Publisher Textiles Sale - Today & Tomorrow

Nabbedd myself some great cushions and printed fabric meterage at the Publisher Textiles Sale today. If you're in the area and pop by you are in for a treat!

Gaawaa Miyay: Lucy Simpson, Textile Designer

I've been talking to my design students this week about developing concepts for textile design. What is a concept? What is the purpose of a concept? Where does a concept come from?

Concept is a mysterious notion - I see it as the idea that holds the design process together. It's the starting, middle and end point. It keeps you on track and allows you to communicate your ideas creatively. It may be a few different ideas joined like a dot-to-dot puzzle. It could be a piece of inspiring music. Sometimes it is a story.

Lucy Simpson, creator of beautiful textiles that make up Gaawaa Miyay (River Daughter), is an expert at visual story telling. Each of her designs respond to memories of storytelling, people and places. She draws from her ties to the Yuwaalaraay country of Northern NSW and interprets her connection through visual narration.


Next week Lucy is holding an Open Studio Night at Addison Road Gallery, Marrickville. If you are in the area I'm sure she'd like to see you there.


In the mean time you can look to these sites:


Gaawaa Miyay
An Interview with Lucy by Craft Australia
Lucy's Collaboration with Julie Patterson at Cloth.

Image Credits: Lucy Simpson & I Ran the Wrong Way

Esther Flemming

I've been lucky enough to meet the amazing Esther Flemming - a talented up-and-coming textile designer completing an internship at our studio at Sheridan.

She recently graduated from the Textile Design Course at TAFE and we snapped her up after seeing her end of year exhibition work. Her prints are inspired by her travels - bright colours and quirky motifs make me feel like I'd quite like to be on holidays! She's applied them to beautiful sun-chairs often found at European beaches. Her background in graphic design definitely enhances her ability to conceptualise ideas and be experimental within a brief. As well as being quite talented she is just a lovely girl to work with.

If anyone is in need of some amazing prints or a talented new designer you can contact Esther here.

All images provided and owned by Esther Flemming. Thanks Esther!