Surface Pattern and Textiles | Swansea College of Art 2023

ALANIS HOOD

BA(HONS)

Alanis’s project is focussed on her natural and architectural surroundings. She seeks to combine nature with architectural elements, forms, and ornamentation. By looking back through historical eras, where pattern and ornament has been created for interiors, Alanis has taken inspiration from architectural antiques like gates and frames to include within her decorative designs for wallpaper and fabric collections.

For this project, Alanis has used processes which she enjoys such as screen print, digital print, and embroidery to create different elements within her designs. Alanis has worked with a combination of hand rendered and digital repeats, showing her ability to adapt to different techniques. Using these processes, Alanis has explored different fabrics, experimenting with a variety of palettes and textures.

https://alanishood01.wixsite.com/alanisdesigns alanishood01@gmail.com @alanisdesigns_

ANNA EYNON

BA(HONS)

Anna’s interior collection celebrates the abundance of beauty found within the rainforest. She explores this through tactile driven outcomes that mimic the natural textures we would find in the rainforest so that one can ‘feel’ the flora and fauna within it.

Her interests stem from nature, with biophilia being a key concept within all of her practice. The natural world is one of her main sources of joy and inspiration and there is nothing she is drawn to more when it comes to creating art.

Nature has positive benefits on our mental health and her aim is for others to feel the same way that she feels when being immersed within nature. This collection showcases her skills for painting and aims to bring the outdoors in through realistic imagery and colour so that we can enjoy the power of nature from the inside of our homes.

https://annastextiles.wixsite.com/surfacepattern

DELA BALL BA(HONS)

Dela is a multidisciplinary textile designer whose work is explorative of the boundaries between the body and printed textiles for fashion, visualised through her image making ability.

The designs are highly symbolic and adopt the role of being her ‘talismans’ for life after university. Composed in challenging and surreal ways, Dela’s designs are inspired by transformation, encouragement, metamorphosis, and draw on the power of symbolism within nature. Considering colour, and its evocative ability, Dela’s work adopts a maximalist aesthetic that radiates complexity and intrigue.

Dela consistently refers to her projects as therapeutic endeavours, where the creative process is of equal significance as the final outcomes. Her supporting body of work shows development in technique, her visual language, and ability as an emerging textile designer. Dela’s project symbolises her transformation throughout her degree, where she can reflect on her achievements, and be reminded of her auspicious beginning as a graduate.

https://delab013.wixsite.com/delaballportfolio Dela.ball015@gmail.com @adoodleofdela

ELEISHA PRICE

BA(HONS)

Eleisha’s design style is characterised by her innate curiosity to seek something unique and intriguing from the natural world. Her project, “Vibrant Breath” illustrates a collection of characters with individual personalities that aim to inspire children of 5-11 years of age. Exploring a sense of place, her subjects draw on her childhood background of growing up on a Welsh farm with wild pastures and forests, expansive bodies of water and an ever-growing family of farm animals.

Her key goal is to dive into a future of sustainable practice through means of craftivism; to open opportunities to aspiring designers through showcasing personal experiences and discoveries on a range of textiles and interior surfaces. Her works to date embody detailed illustrations of gardens, heritage sites, wildlife and family history - commonly inspired by conserving memories - with use of her skills in mixed, traditional media and digital painting. Key outcomes showcased in her portfolio include wallpapers and accessories, with an aim to bring functionality and accessibility into ordinarily conceived products.

ELLIE HARRIS

BA(HONS)

Female! Liberty! Fashion! showcases Ellie’s personal interest for music and fashion. The narrative behind her collection comes from female achievement and empowerment over the last 120 years. She has been inspired the Suffragette movement and has interpreted this through drawing of jewellery and memorabilia from that era. Ellie will also bring in her own primary photography from festivals to use in her designs.

Her collection is trend driven. This is the specialist area she would like to be employed in after study. Using /Summer 2024 trends for womenswear Spring, she considers colour, pattern & fashion fabrics. Ellie’s project showcases her developed digital skills in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Ellie is versatile within her work so she can adapt her ways of working to any project. Projects influences have come from a variety of personal interests and everyday inspirations. The supporting body of work demonstrates an enquiring mind for research and experimentation with pattern.

https://ellziharris.wixsite.com/elzidesigns elinorharris@hotmail.com @elzidesigns

EMILY PARKINS

BA(HONS)

Emily’s project celebrates the natural beauty of butterflies. Her aim is to create digitally glitched, abstract design pieces inspired by butterfly patterns and characteristics. Her designs explore meaning and connection to butterflies, through the way they protect themselves from predators. The materials used will complement the light and delicacy of butterfly wings. Emily was inspired to choose this theme through her love of nature and the outdoors. Her aim is to translate the delicacy, beauty, and intricacy of butterflies into modern activewear.

Emily works with digital printing, embroidery and screen printing. These processes will be explored in her final collection through her tactile outcomes. The product range Emily has designed is for a fashion context looking at activewear to express her bright colour palette, reflecting the beautiful colours of butterfly wings and the range of fabrics used will have added detail and texture through embroidery and embellishment.

@ecpatterns

https://emily6874.wixsite.com/my-site

ISABEL KATE PORCH

BA(HONS)

Villa San Michele is an interiors collection designed by Isabel Porch, which is inspired by her visits to Capri. The villa is a museum which was once the home of famous doctor, Axel Munthe. This project is a celebration of his story, legacy, home, and the artefacts which he collected. Isabel is interested in sustainability and aims to create timeless patterns which can be treasured forever. She explores the sense of escapism and nostalgia through the perspective of her inner child’s curiosity of the world, finding magic in the house and its gardens.

Isabel uses a combination of both traditional and modern printing methods in her work. These methods include both wood block printing and digital printing, to avoid wasting water and ink in her practice. She loves the tactile and handmade quality of block printing and how every print creates a unique story and conversation about the pattern and its maker. This is an area that she hopes to bring her skills to within fashion and interior industries, to continue the story of craftsmanship through traditional and modern printing methods.

https://isseydesigns.wixsite.com/isabelporch

KATIE HORROBIN

BA(HONS)

Katie’s final project explores nature walks and National Trust journeys in Wales. On these trips, Katie discovered a vast amount of inspiration from immersing herself in both nature and literature. More specifically, medical botanical studies and entomology. This type of study was popular in the Victorian era and has led her to the connection of the National Trust with the craftsman William Morris. This collaboration has inspired Katie to create designs that pay homage to the Victorian style. Creating patterns designed for interiors, the collection revolves around a focus on wallpaper and material outcomes.

Visually, the project demonstrates vast digital and screen-printing skills that embody Katie’s passions. These outcomes interpret real life inspirations into digital and analogue brush strokes, to convey luxurious and intricate impressions. Katie views the nature in her work as a study of form, and therefore a collection of information, just like entomology. This observation sees nature as a timeless continuum, with the designs reflecting this opulent feeling.

@katie_patterndesigns

https://katiehorrobin67.wixsite.com/website

KIAH EVANS

BA(HONS)

Taking inspiration from her love of documentaries of the natural world, Kiah’s final project focuses on the importance of coral and its surrounding environments. Drawn in particular towards the corals form, textures, and vibrant colours, by combining different processes, Kiah has been able to explore and manipulate a variety of substrates. Creating material library focused on the context of interiors has allowed her to showcase these processes, providing a sensory and colour experience that captivates her audience.

During her degree Kiah has been influenced by the surrounding environment both visually and materially to bring inspiration and creativity to her projects. Whilst adopting a direct approach of image making through digital drawing, she enhances her designs through exploring practical processes. Having been drawn to the practical side of surface pattern Kiah intends on continuing her curiosity of surface innovations as a graduate and beyond.

@kiahevans.design

https://kiahevansdesign.wixsite.com/kiahevansdesign

LAUREN HOFFMAN

BA(HONS)

Over the past two years, Lauren has gained a strong passion for fungi. From the mycelium which creates mycorrhizal symbiotic connections with the trees in our woodlands, to the beauty in each individual mushroom fruiting body. Through this collection titled “Look closer, closer still”, Lauren aims to show the beauty of fungi which are native to the U.K and including exotic species, whilst educating viewers about the importance of mycology and the benefits that it can have for everyone.

This is done through producing designs which are unique, stylish and the use of a playful colour palette which is an attribute that she has become known for within her personal branding. The inclusion of microscopic imagery incorporates a new depth to the designs, which portrays the narrative of looking even closer at the things which we would usually miss when enjoying the UK landscape, along with things most of us would never see.

LUCY RALPH

BA(HONS)

Embarking on a journey of increased sustainable practice, Lucy’s final project ‘Protopia’ is a conversation around the importance of extending the life of clothing, and the environmental impact of the fibres and processes used by the fashion industry.

Her designs take inspiration from the forms and colours of bacteria and found objects that have been littered in her local environment. Lucy’s aim is to create a collaged, mutant appearance, to act as a sort of aposematism, signifying an apocalyptic future, destined due to the polluting nature of the fashion industry, and wasteful society in which we live. Through the act of stitching and working on top of pre-existing materials, Lucy aims to ‘re-write’ what fashion signifies.

With a particular focus on denim, Lucy hopes to illustrate the need to utilise the pre-existing, through the act of visible repair and ‘upcycling’. Also looking at the role of synthetics in fashion, Lucy experimented with the production of biomaterials, as a lower impact alternative.

@lucytrousers

MELANIE WATKINS-PATEL

BA(HONS)

Objet Trouvé – Treasures telling stories, is based around an abundance of objects inherited from the family home. Each one has a story to tell, of the people who owned them and the places they have been. This work projects her passion for antiquity and her journey of discovery through her family history. Melanie is hoping to use her designs as a form of archive, to exhibit the talents of our ancestors and encourage us to look upon these everyday items as treasures of the future.

Melanie’s work has a strong emphasis on highly detailed drawings and paintings, digitally manipulated into pattern. She has worked on ways to reproduce the effect of stitching and lace digitally, while the finished items are embellished with hand and machine embroidery. Her main focus is interiors but with the versatility to be applied to other formats. It is her aspiration to produce a unique angle on vintage styling in her designs.

@melanie.watkins.923

https://melaniewp.wixsite.com/mwpfurrever

MIA WALE

BA(HONS)

‘Grand Escape’ is based on the fanciful urge to run into grandiose scenery when feeling overwhelmed, where one can be alone and calmed by the beautiful, therapeutic, and intriguing parts of nature as well as where it combines with architecture. Mia’s imaginative inspiration comes from a dreamscape of grand, slightly overgrown, private grounds with plenty to explore including gardens, architectural ruins, statues, fountains, and more.

Mia’s work has a delicate aesthetic, along with a colour palette reflecting those found on stately grounds she has visited as well as those in her whimsical vision.

A few processes that Mia particularly enjoys are fabric dyeing, digital embroidery, painting, and digital drawing. This final project of her undergraduate degree is focused on an interior context, that is visually portrayed in her own design handwriting.

https://miawale.wixsite.com/miyanawale

NIA GRAY

BA(HONS)

Nia has always had a strong love and passion for her country and the history within it. Growing up with a Welsh education and Welsh speaking siblings, the Welsh language became a vital part of her identity. This inspired her to dedicate her study to the Welsh language, culture, and history. Nia’s work is filled with unique and rich aspects of Welsh culture, her passion is evident throughout her work.

Nia has a particularly strong interest in the unique aspects of Welsh traditions such as love spoons, traditional outfits, and celebrations such as the Mari Lwyd. Nia pays homage to the powerful history of Wales in her designs whilst incorporating contemporary elements.

NIKITA WILD

BA(HONS)

Nikita has discovered that, throughout her duration of study, interior design is what she is passionate for, she enjoys working with textiles and designing textile interiors. Her final collection shows a number of fabric swatches and wallpaper designs for modern interiors based on research on natural forms. She has focused on florals, particularly spring florals, and explored their meaning and symbolism. By using light and shadow she has created loose freehand, gestural drawings to reveal the florals, creating designs used for screen printing.

Within this collection Nikita has used a digital embroidery machine to create pieces from her sketches. Pink, Orange and yellow are the main colours seen in the collection, the joy the colours bring to people when you see them are a true representation of the florals she has used.

@nikita.wild.designs

https://nmw1812.wixsite.com/nikitawilddesigns

OLIVIA CHRISTINE EVANS

BA(HONS)

Olivia’s exhibition ‘Botanical Beauty’ is inspired by a little robin that befriended Olivia during the lengthy lockdown of covid, The Robin still comes to visit every day. This inspired her to think about the other wildlife surrounding her home, hometown and surrounding areas in Wales. By doing this she has discovered the beauty in nature.

Olivia brings her inspiration together in a collection for a fashion context. Olivia likes to use a variety of different techniques to create her work like digital printing, digital embroidery, dyeing fabrics and then working on top of the fabric using screen-printing techniques. Olivia hopes to show others the beauty of nature in her work and get others to be inspired by the wildlife surrounding them.

@oliviacevansxdesigns

https://oliviacevansx.wixsite.com/website

REBECCA REED

BA(HONS)

Rebecca’s project is titled “In the Moment.” This project is based on her disabled brother and his journey and adventures when he was a child. The project explores children’s play through various themes. The work has interactive elements to allow the children make their own memories and stories. Rebecca has brought a personal story to this project to hopefully inspire many other people about the impact of children who are often overlooked.

Rebecca aims to show the importance of using story in her art and how she brings her ideas to interior design through surface pattern and textiles. She becomes inspired by stories, nature, and unique ideas by other artists, but she also hopes to inspire other artists with her work. The outcome of this project is influenced by mixed materials as she enjoys exploring in new styles and techniques.

https://reedrebecca09.wixsite.com/rebecca-reed9 Reedrebecca09@gamil.com @becreativee_design

SAFIYYAH ALTAF

BA(HONS)

Safiyyah’s project titled ‘Nostalgia of today’ reflects a meaningful engagement with the historical arts of her ancestry. By reminiscing on the foundations of Mughal art, she has interpreted the collected researched imagery of her own personal environments into a series of textile designs for interior and lifestyle contexts. History, identity and sense of place are all main focuses in this body of work where pattern is created to share a rich flowing source of inspiration.

Modern research and the sense of tradition are discovered in Safiyyah’s blend of personal artistic style with heritage arts. A unique innovative identity has been formed within the fibres of the chosen materials. Historical artefacts and the natural environment are reinterpreted to imagine ethereal florals in today’s worlds. Bringing these legacy designs into considered material focuses, produces a unique identity of contemporary culture which serves to connect through design, the notions of shared ancestorial arts for today’s viewers to engage with.

ZOE ELIZABETH WHITE

BA(HONS)

Animetric is a playful, yet sophisticated interior collection designed to appeal to young children and adults. Traditional animals have always been a big part of younger children’s interiors and fashion, however Animetric challenges this tradition through using reconceptualised geometric animals, some ordinary and others imagined. This is to teach children that it is okay to be different and to learn to accept differences.

This collection offers young children tactility, engagement, and interaction through using flock, exuberant colour, and geometric shapes where they can be encouraged to count the sides of the geometric ‘animals’, all whilst being accepting towards some of their unique appearances. The inspiration for this project stemmed from Zoe and her family fostering many younger children, which has given her an insight into their likes, dislikes, and needs. Although this collection is bold, more calming collections can be created which shows how versatile she is as a designer. Zoe is currently researching into an interior design career path and cannot wait to begin her journey.

DULANI DON TENNAKOON

MDes

(UN)CONTROL(ED) is Dulani’s love letter to herself. Dulani has allowed herself to break free from the restraints of traditional image making. Instead, she has embraced the unique way in which she works. For this project, she has been working with controlled structures and the serendipity of light. Dulani’s love for materiality and process is shown within this project it is through cyanotype, shibori and laser cutting that she has been able to create novel and interesting artwork in an unconventional manner.

Working for an interior context, Dulani likes to play with different scales within her designs. This allows her designs to be suitable for a range of products, such as wallpaper, soft furnishings, and lifestyle accessories.

@dulanidon_design

https://dulanidondesign.wixsite.com/designer

ELINOR JONES

MDes

Elinor Jones’ work is greatly inspired by nature through its beautiful forms and creatures. Recently she has found a love for incorporating other things into her work such as architectural references and landmarks. She designs primarily for an interior context but through her versatile portfolio she extends her ideas to lifestyle contexts such as stationery and giftware. Elinor’s favourite part of the design process is image making; she enjoys capturing personal moments in her painting and drawing.

This project is based on imagined travel to European countries. For many, holidays or trips haven’t been possible recently. So with a fresh and bright colour palette and picturesque paintings of the beautiful views, stunning buildings and cultures in the European countries she is drawn to, Elinor wants to create an inspirational collection of patterns that will evoke happiness, joy and fun in others whilst still also feeling personal to her.

EMMA LANDEK

MDes

Emma Landek is inspired by the ever-changing nature around us. Her work is an embodiment of nature through transition, highlighting the continuation of time whilst capturing the ephemeral. The basis of her work stems from creating imagery by hand, combining a range of drawing techniques to create intricate and eclectic designs intended for an interior context. Throughout her time on the course, Emma has developed a signature style that epitomises on her drawing abilities. Her love for colour and pattern is clear throughout each project, allowing her to adapt to each new brief.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Artists, Designers, and makers of Surface Pattern & Textiles 2023 Degree show would like to give special thanks to all staff at The University of Wales Trinity Saint David for their continued support and encouragement throughout the duration of the degree. The inspiration and guidance from those that have supported us will forever been invaluable.

PHOTOGRAPHER

Maddy Ball

mad.j.ball@outlook.com

@mbp.hotos

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Georgia Mckie

Claire Savage Onstwedder

Cath Hammerton

Kate Coode

Julia Lockheart

Lloyd James

Sharon Cooper

Daniel Butler

Agnes Olah

@agnesolahgd

Summer Davies

@cwlbreeze

www.cwlbreeze.xyz

PRINTERS Printed.com