Lauren Norris - Print

N0585631
Title: Into the deep

Introduction'The enchanted depths of the sea and it's strange and otherworldly creatures.
My collection will reflect the tranquil depths and fluid movement of the ocean. Capturing the shimmers
of light against its deep hues of blue and the weightlessness and elegant beauty of its exquisite sea life.

ApplicationI found that many fashion collections had themes of the ocean including Stella Mccartney, Elie Saab and
Mary Katrantzou- all of which I have been inspired by for this project. But I couldn't find any interior
collections with this theme. As am interested in going into interiors I thought this would be a gap in the
market to explore.
Some of my favourite designers such as Matthew Williamson and Timourous beasties create statement
furniture, which I think would work well with my ocean theme. I love Matthew Williamsons new
collection of marbled fabrics that are upholstered onto quirky sofas. I want to create an interior
collection for Autumn/ winter 2017 with a similar quirky but royal feel, in deep blues, greens and
oranges with dashes of gold and whites to show the reflection of light. Although the collection is based
on the sea, they will be cosy and warm in deep, dark colours. The collection will be intended to be
brought out in autumn/ winter, although interiors are less disposable then fashion so they will need to
be appropriate for all year round. They will be full of life and movement but I want them to be soft, fluid
and beautifully embellished. These will be high end and bespoke 'The haute couture of interiors. If I
have time I want to try and incorporate some Tassels and trimmings to work along side my fabric
designs.
I will be using fabrics that will be able to be upholstered e.g. upholstery velvets and cottons, but I will
also try printing on silks. I like the transparency and weightlessness of them and think they reflect the
delicate coral reefs and sea life as they move and shimmer.
Where will I get my inspirationI have found many artists that create sculptural ocean scenes using the manipulation of delicate sheer
fabrics. They have used materials such as sheer silks, carrier bags, coffee filters, paper cups and Crochet
to create aquatic, organic forms that look like coral reefs and sea creatures. I in-particularly liked the
work of fiber artist Sayuri and embroiderers Hanne Friis and Asta Masiulyte who I found on

anthropology. I am going to create some of my own sculptural still lives with my dyed samples to take
photos of and to draw from.
I have also found some beautiful images by under water photographers Stan Bysshe, Dan Holm and
Visarute Angkatavan. I am going to draw from some of these as well as going to take some of my own
photographs at an aquarium.

Design approachesI want to use techniques that will allow me to create movement and fluidity. I am going to try to acheive
this through

creative dying
Loose abstracted painting
Fluid line drawings
Marbling

I feel that to create this painterly movement and textured effect I would be best digitally printing. I
wouldnt be able to create the same detail and depth with a screen. But I am then going to take my
digital samples into the print room and loosely paint into them using metallic and coloured pigments.
This will give my prints more depth and texture which will make the collection more bespoke. I want to
mimic the movement and depth of the water. Capturing the vastness of blue, the many textures of the
sea bed and the sparadic dashes of light. I will do this with my use of colour and mark making.
I then want to embellish my collection with transparent, silver, blue, orange and gold beads (to mirror
the glistening of light) This will give my collection the high end feel I want it to have - 'The Haute couture
of interiors.

Outcome/ Product For my final collection I want to create a range of high end interior fabrics for Autumn/ Winter 2017. I
want them to capture the captivating beauty of the ocean through there depth of colour, texture and
bespoke embellishment. My collection is going to be dominated by deep blues, with dashes of beautiful
teals and corals, highlighted with expensive golds and glimmers of white. I am going to create 6-8 Fabric
designs these will be created with the intention of being upholstered onto bespoke, statement furniture.
If I have time I want to embellish into some of these adding tassels and trimmings. I also want to create
1 - 2 wallpaper designs to work along side my fabric samples. These will be made to work in the same
room as the bespoke furniture to really capture the Deep ocean theme.

Contextual SynopsisProject aims My aim for this project was to create a collection of 6-8 high end fabrics that could be upholstered onto
bespoke furniture. I wanted them to be bold statement pieces in deep, royal colours that mimic the
beautiful depths of the ocean. These would be printed on silks and velvets and subtly embellished to
give them an expensive, bespoke feel. I wanted to create 2 wallpapers that would work along side my
fabrics and be part of the collection that would capture my deep ocean theme. Interior collections are
not seasonal but my collection was aimed to be released in autumn / winter 2017. I wanted to create a
collection that was cosy in deep, dark colours that would appeal to someone at this time of the year but
that would also work all year round.
Inspiration/ influencesMy main inspiration for this project was Matthew Williamsons collaboration with Duresta Upholstery
that I visited at Durestas showroom. I loved his colourful, marbled fabrics upholstered onto the
traditional but quirky furniture. These statement pieces inspired me to create my own furnishing
collection and I wanted them to have the same expensive, high end feel. I took inspiration from his
choice of fabrics and his deep vibrant colours. I have noticed that statement furniture is very on trend at
the moment, increasingly popular in the media and monopolising interior magazines. I have gained lots
of my inspiration from designers on Instagram including Timorous Beasties, Anthropology, Pierre Frey, A
rum fellow and Name design studio. I love A Rum Fellows and Name design studios use of contrasting
scales on different sections of the chair. This is something that I wanted to bring into my own collection.

Fig 1- Fontaine day bed Matthew Williamson for Duresta

Fig 2 Minnelli Large sofa Matthew Williamson for Duresta

Fig 3- Pierre Frey- Instagram

Fig 4- Name design studio- Instagram

For my drawing inspiration I visited the sea life centre. I was in particularly inspired by the colour. The
vastness and variety of blues, the vibrant oranges and corals and the glimmers of whites and metallics
that were reflecting off the sea life. This has really influenced my colour palette and I feel colour has
played a big part in my project, the same colours dominating my contextual inspiration, sketchbook
work and my final samples.

Fig 5- My own image (sea life centre) Fig 6 My own image (sea life centre)

Fig 7- My own image (sea life centre) Fig 8- My own image (sea life centre)

It was hard to get primary inspiration for my ocean theme so I created some still lives from my dyed
samples, these were another source of my drawing inspiration. They were inspired by some installations
that I had seen by artists Asta Masiulyte and Hanne Friis. I also took inspiration from underwater
photographers including Stan Bysshe, Dan Holm and Visarute Angkatavan. They had captured the
weightlessness and movement of the sea life and coral reefs which is something I wanted to bring to my
own work.

Fig 9- My still life from dyed samples Fig 10- My still life from dyed samples

Fig 11 -Anthropology window display Fig 12 -Anthropology window display

Fig 13 Dan Holm photography

Fig 14 - Stan Bysshe Photography

Fig 15- Photography from Dave the diver Flickr page

Concept/ Theme developmentMy theme into the deep has developed and focused more specifically on coral reefs and the sea bed. I
became interested in the dramatic shapes and silhouettes of the reefs and the variety of textures that
they were made up of. I loved the contrasting textures of the rocks and plants and have mirrored this
effect with the range of mark making techniques I have used. Soft painterly marks against the dramatic
silhouettes of the reefs. I used variety of mark making and drawing techniques but I brought my
collection together with the repetitive use of colour.

Fig 16 My own painting of Sea bed

ProcessFor my final designs I created a collection of large scale paintings of the sea bed. Using a variety of marks
I built up layers of texture that reflect the contrasting surfaces of the coral reefs. I used sponge to create
the softness of the moss. By twisting the sponge it created a fluid effect which with metallics looked like
the water reflecting. I used loose delicate paint brush marks to give the weightless movement of the
coral and different scale dots to create a range of surface textures.

Fig 17- My own painting

Fig 18- My own painting

I decided that Digital printing was the best way to get all the detail of my paintings into my fabric
designs. It would be time consuming and expensive to re create this detail using screens. My digital
samples were all different scales focusing on the intricate detail of my coral reef paintings. These
worked really well on the velvet and silk and they had the expensive, up market feel I wanted them to
have. I in particularly liked the velvet Fabric which really picked up the vibrant colour that is seen
through out all my research. I have made these designs into repeats in CAD so that they could be placed
differently around the chairs at different scales. To give my samples the bespoke effect I wanted to
create I took them back into the print room and worked into them with metallic pigment. Metallics
dont print digitally and the gold was an important colour in my palette. This gave them another layer of
texture and even more depth.

Fig 19 My Velvet samples

Fig 20- My Silk samples

I also wanted to embellish into some of my samples to make them even more high end and bespoke. As
they are already very bold statement pieces I decided to keep the embellishment subtle, sticking to the
colours that were already in my prints but using glass beads that would reflect the light like the sea life
does. This was very time consuming but if I had more time I would have liked to explore this idea further.

Fig 21- My embellishment

Fig 22- My embellishment

For my wallpaper designs I took some of my sketchbook work into CAD. I wanted to create a pattern
that would work alongside my fabric designs in a collection, but a lot simpler so they could work in a
room together. I did this by repeating one of my fluid line drawings of coral that I had included in some
of my fabric prints and repeating it. I wanted to create something that mimicked the vastness of blue
that I had found inspiring at the aquarium.

Fig 23- My wallpaper design

Fig 24- My wallpaper design

EvaluationOverall I feel I have managed to create a collection that meets my project aims. I have stuck to my
market of high end, bespoke interior fabrics for autumn/winter 2017 and have taken lots of inspiration
from other products of the same market level. My designs really reflect 'the tranquil depths and fluid
movement of the ocean. Capturing the shimmers of light against its deep hues of blue and the
weightlessness and elegant beauty of its exquisite sea life. Which is what i intended in my brief. I feel
that my strengths have been my strong use of colour and also my contextual research which has really
inspired my project. I feel that I probably spent too much time doing my sketchbook work which had a
negative effect on my final pieces as I didnt get as much time in the print room to experiment with
different processes. But I do feel that digital printing was the best technique to achieve the painterly
detail that I had managed to create in my paintings onto fabric. I think I was too ambitious for the time

scale and didnt have enough time to experiment with tassels and trimming as much as i would of liked
to, resulting in using trimmings that I had found on the market for my final pieces. I would of also liked
to of had more time to embellish my samples as I feel it is what added the last touch to my High end,
bespoke fabric. I experimented with natural dying throughout the project but found that I couldnt
replicate the same bold vibrant colours that I wanted my collection to have. This is something that I
would of liked to of persisted with if I had had more time as I feel it would of given them even more of a
bespoke effect and it would also be better for the environment. I think all my final samples work really
well as a collection, including the wallpaper designs, and my visualisations are really successful because
of this.

Fig 25- My Visualisation

Fig 26- My Visualisation

Fig 27- My Visualisation

Fig 28- My visualisation

Fig 1 - Fontaine day bed Matthew Williamson for Duresta http://www.duresta.com/range/fontaine/

Fig 2- Minnelli Large sofa Matthew Williamson for Duresta http://www.duresta.com/range/minnelli/

Fig 3- Pierre Frey- Instagram

Fig 4- Name design studio- Instagram

Fig 5- My own image (sea life centre)

Fig 6 My own image (sea life centre)

Fig 7- My own image (sea life centre)

Fig 8- My own image (sea life centre)

Fig 9- My still life from dyed samples

Fig 10- My still life from dyed samples

Fig 11 -Anthropology window display https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127834892023/

Fig 12 -Anthropology window display

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127834892024/

Fig 13 Dan Holm photography

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127831272937/

Fig 14 - Stan Bysshe Photography

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127831272938/

Fig 15- Photography from Dave the diver Flickr page

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28225102@N05/

Fig 16 My own painting of Sea bed

Fig 17- My own painting

Fig 18- My own painting

Fig 19 My Velvet samples

Fig 20- My Silk samples

Fig 21- My embellishment

Fig 22- My embellishment

Fig 23- My wallpaper design

Fig 24- My wallpaper design

Fig 25- My visualisation- Image from anthropology

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127835878086/

Fig 26- My visualisation- Image from anthropology

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494270127835878084/

Fig 27- My visualisation - Image from Name design studio

http://www.namedesignstudio.com/

Fig 28- My visualisation - Image from Name design studio

http://www.namedesignstudio.com/