Rhiannon Furness

These fashion designs are produced by graduates at Central Saint Martins. The pieces on the left have textures and shapes similar to coral reefs. The designer is Matty Bovan and concept is not listed but there are clear links between the designers work and my research. The use of different materials and techniques layered together to create a complex outcome show how different elements of textile design can be brought together for use in fashion. The collection on the right is by CSM graduate Masha Popova (Show Studio, 2020) and the concept does not link to my project but the shapes and textures within the designs reflect the imagery I've found during my research of underwater ecosystems.  

Mixed-media or Multi-media textiles involved using a range of materials and processes within a single design. This can include the use of multiple techniques to manipulate a single material as seen above in The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff. It can also involve to use of several materials as seen in Jessica Grady's work, where she uses an array of found and recycled materials to create 3D motifs on fabric.  

The above textiles are created by a German interiors company called Effi Home Couture. The company specialises in biophilic textile design using cotton, paper, wool, leaves, leather, feathers and organics (Effi, no date). Biophilia is defined a s; " a hypothetical human tendency to interact or be closely associated with other forms of life in nature  :  a desire or tendency to commune with nature" (Marriam Wester, no date). Biophilic design integrates nature with human living, within architecture, interior design etc. This relates closely with my research of natural materials and their use within textile design.  

Integrating  digital practices into textile design can include: Digitally manipulated imagery Digital embroidery Digital Printing Laser cutting/engraving Projecting Digital designing software for weaving etc. Although digital practices can be used on natural materials (engraving wood, digital printing onto natural fabrics etc.) for this project it seems to be a good way to incorporate found materials that need to be repurposed such as plastics and synthetic fabric remnants. Mixed media pieces can be manipulated digitally to create interesting, textural prints. On the left above are two digital designs by Patrick Morrissey. They appear to be distorted colours. The texture created is reminiscent of tree bark or rippled water.  On the right are three designs by Lauren Elizabeth Krischer from her Polarity series. You can see how she's layered drawings, textures and photographed objects, and the manipulated colours and composition to create very visually stimulating designs. These ...

Found materials for me can include both natural and manmade materials, but here I'm presenting materials that don't occur naturally; paper, plastics, synthetic materials and manufactured materials. Materials rescued from landfill, items collected from the ground and retrieved from ecosystems such as woodland, beaches and coral reefs.  Recycled materials can include paper that has been broken down and reformed to create clean sheets, fabrics that are shredded back to fibres that are re-spun to make new fabrics and plastics that are cleaned and melted down to use again.  Repurposed materials are turned from one thing and used to create something new. Unwanted clothes become blankets and bags, and chipped crockery is used to create mosaics. There are many ways to reduce and reuse waste, and each method prevents litter ending up spoiling our precious ecosystems.  

Natural materials are viewed as being more sustainable and environmentally friendly, but as with most things, all materials are only sustainable if used in moderation. The great thing about natural materials is they are not toxic to the environment (unless chemical bleaches, dyes, etc. have been used). But excessive farming and harvesting can cause problems. For instance cotton is a great natural fibre, it is versatile, durable, breathable and biodegradable, but it requires ALOT of water in order to grow cotton plants. The vast amount of cotton used within the fast fashion industry has pushed cotton production to the point that the fourth largest lake in the world has been completely dried up. The rivers that fed the inland sea had been diverted in order to supply cotton farms with the necessary water. The loss of this body of water destroyed the local fishing communities and released salt and pesticides into the atmosphere which poisoned farm land (Hoskins, 2014).  So even when us...

The history of printing (graphic communication by multiplied impressions) goes back a long time, even earlier than 3000 BC (Prepressure, no date). Textile printing can be seen on fabrics dating back to the 4th and 5th Centuries BC. The earliest method of printing is block printing (also known as relief printing) where dye is pressed onto a fabric from a carved material. The materials used for this process have changed over time, wood and copper were the popular choices but now there are many other options including linoleum and rubber (Magic Textiles, 2016).  "Then in the 18 th  Century the technique of roller or cylinder printing came about, this is the process by which the fabric is carried along a rotating central cylinder and pressed by a series of rollers, each of which is engraved with the design. Each roller is fed a different colour through feed rollers, and some roller printing machines were even able to print 6 colours at once, making them much faster than the block ...

 Weaving is one of the oldest surviving crafts. The process involves entwining a set of vertical threads (the warp) with a set of horizontal ones (the weft). The practice is almost a part of human nature as, even before the process evolved to how we know it now, the underlying principles were used in the creation of everyday necessities such as shelters and baskets. The materials used in those early days included twigs and leaves to create ridged objects. When humans found out how to create thread from natural fibres the art of weaving became more widely used to create various practical items. Many households wove their own fabrics for use by the family. The process evolved and machinery was created to make the production of fabric more efficient and less time consuming than simple looms. The inventions of the "Flying Shuttle" (1733) and "Spinning Jenny" (1765) to revolutionise the art coincided with chemical bleaches and dyes being more widely used. This meant the ...

 Jessica Grady is an embroidery artist who uses traditional embroidery methods alongside the use of embellishments. Her embellishments are created using recycled materials including dyed plastics, painted washers and various packaging. Grady's work is an exploration of colour, texture and pattern, and showcases her passion for unconventional and recycled materials (Grady, no date.) The plastics and materials left/washed up on beaches can be collected and used in a similar way. Plastic bottles and similar plastic packaging can by dyed or used as is to create 'sequins'. Plastic bags, abandoned clothes/towels, nets and other soft materials can be used to create yarns or patches. Straws and bottle tops can become beads. There are endless possibilities for these found objects and they can be combined with nature objects found on the beach such as shells, stones and driftwood.