Trends

I’m just back from a great trend seminar at the Designer Forum in Nottingham.  Lynette of Nelly Rodi delivered a really useful and exciting seminar.

What surprised me, although I’m not sure why, was how closely Interiors follow  Fashion now.  Colours, fabrics and prints all over lap in a way that wouldn’t have happened just a few years ago.

I was pleased to see, also, that green will still be a big colour in A/W 10/11, particularly as I’m exhibiting, with Design Factory, again at 100% Design in September.   You may know from a previous post when I exhibited last year I had to use green to match the stand, well the same applies this year!  I wonder if I can slip in a touch of gold, as in one of the trends I’ve just seen!

The True Meaning of Art

I’ve just finished reading an interesting post on the Argoknot Blog which has got me thinking about life and my weaving.

Weaving is something that I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, well almost!  I remember vividly the day my sister came home from school with a small piece of hand weaving she had done and remember wanting to go to that same school so that I could learn to weave.  I must have been about 8 years old, maybe even younger, I know we left that house the Christmas afte my 8th birthday and that Christmas I got a small rigid heddle loom as a present.

I seem to have been weaving eversince and can’t imagine what my life would be like without it.

In the post on the Argoknot Blog Karl Paulnack talks about how the Greeks understood the meaning of music:

“The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us.”

Well that’s how I feel about weaving.  It’s  been the one constant in my life that has glued it together.  The one constant that has helped in major times of trouble.  It keeps me going when life is tough, calms me when I’m stressed, gives me purpose when I’ve lost the way.

So how can weaving be like music, well all I can say is that it has a rhythm, just like music and the better the weaver you become, the more the rhythm is aparent.  There’s a rhythm t0 the threading of each pattern, a rhythm to the treadling, whether you’ve got 6 treadles to press with your feet or one that drives a computer, a rhythm to throwing your shuttle and beating the weft into position.

I know of number of musicians who are weavers, so there must be something in this, maybe they will be able to answer that better than me, a meer music lover who can play the descant recorder and used to be able to play the piano, but it was the weaving that came first for me, not the music!

National Forest Gallery

A small group of artists from Banks Mill in Derby are exhibiting at the National Forest Gallery, a small but very nice space.  All the artists use nature as their inspiration and include Chiz Dakin of Peak Images, as award winning photographer, Mary Smith a fine artist, Valerie Dalling a photographic artist and my self.

The Gallery is housed at Conkers, an interactive experience in the heart of the National Forest.  Please go along and take a look.

Desire at 78 Derngate

I heard last week that way back in January I’d been selected to exhibit at this prestigious exhibition! Better late than never, apparently there had been a mix up an my name had been omitted from the list of those selected.
78 Derngate in Northampton was the former home of Bassett-Lowke, a Northampton businessman, and was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It is now restored to it’s former glory and the house has been transformed into a stunning combination of Regency grandeur and ultra-modern efficiency housing new facilities including:

A Dining Room; a Shop showcasing quality contemporary gifts, jewellery and crafts from modern designer makers; a Galler; Music in the Atrium; Talks; Private Functions and Corporate Hospitatlity.

‘Desire’. An inspiring and eclectic selling exhibition in collaboration with Design Factory showcasing contemporary designers/makers from the East Midlands.    April 25th – July 12th.

Design!

I love designing! Wow, that’s a very broad statement, isn’t it. But it’s true. I spent many years “designing” my weaving, embroidery, knitting, crochet, etc., but in the most part all the things I produced ended up in the loft or at the back of a cupboard, simply because the ideas or design hadn’t been thought through sufficiently and as a result I was rather disappointed with the finished article. Sometimes I didn’t even finish what I was making. I bet one or two of you have felt like this!

It has taken a while for my design skills to sink in, having taken a couple of courses in design for the penny to finally drop and realise that there really isn’t a magic formula to design. To me, it’s not a matter of being able to draw and paint, but simply collecting ideas, based round some form of inspiration, and working through these ideas, looking at colour, shape and texture. Then using the ideas to sample, sample and sample! This can apply to any form of craft, be it weaving, spinning or even dyeing. It’s the work put in before producing the actual article that makes the article special.

I’m sorry this has turned into one of those boring blogs, without pictures! You can see what I’m like, how shallow I am, if I only read blogs with picture! But I do hope it has given some of you food for thought and give a design course a go. With the right tutors everyone can design!

2009 – European Year of Creativity and Innovation

I’ve just heard that this year is European Year of Creativity and Innovation, which is really wonderful. The objectives of the year can be found here: Goals of the Year

In summery:

• Fostering creativity in all age groups via education.
• Maintaining engagement in adulthood.
• Cultural diversity as creativity.
• Expression through ICT.
• Ensuring the maths and sciences promote innovation.
• Developing innovation along with entrepreneurship.
• Innovation as a route to sustainability.
• Innovation in the public and private sectors.

I found out about it via the Arts Derbyshire Newletter, so I hope that it is being promoted widely. We, in the creative industries, find it very difficult to get across to “Joe Public” what we are about and why our products are not as cheap as on the High Street. If this engages the general public to take part in some form of creativity they may realise that we invest a huge amount of time in what we do. Lets also hope that creative engagement in schools will also generate a new level of understanding of creativity in the future.

New Online Shop for Alison Yule Textiles

I’ve decided to try an online shop, linked to my website. I’ve chosen BigCartel as a temporary shop until I get my site revamped, which I’m hoping to do soon. The reason I chose BigCartel is because it can be customised to match my website and will eventually appear seamless when I get the revamp done.
During the trial there will only be 5 products, but I will be able to upgrade if I feel it’s working. Please take a look by following this link: Alison Yule Textiles Online Shop

Back to work!

Hi all, hope you had a good Christmas.

I couldn’t wait to get back to work, it’s rather sad, but I love what I do!

Anyway, I can’t work on the swatches for the Murano Glass cushions as I’m waiting for more silk to arrive, so I’ve been working on a yarn design based on teasles and have started a design based on the work of an artist I met earlier this year at the Willington Arts Festival and at Banks Mill Open Studio. Deb Allitt’s work is really colourful which I just love. She’s given me permission to design some furnishing fabrics based on one of her paintings.

I remember that place by Deb Allitt

Teasle

Trends

I want to let you all know that I’ve been mentioned in one of the top trend

Close-up of texture, Spiro G cushions

companies websites.  Mudpie, who also have an online trend website, mpdClick Online, have featured my “Spiro G” cushions in the Home Textiles section of their report on  100% Design.

I am one of only three companies mentioned, illustrating the trend for cushions who’s designs have been inspired by nature.

Seasons Greetings

A Cold and Frosty Morning

While away for a week in Scotland we woke up to this beautiful scene.
The light in Scotland was wonderful and I shot quite a few images of the light, which has inspired me to start some designs for wall and window panels.
More next year!