Sula

QN: what do you think your interior reveals about you?
A: that my nurture (being brought up in asia and having a messy family dynamic) has affected me more than my nature (where i am supposed to from/family history etc...)

QN:Things you wouldn't know about you from your interior?


A: I'm English, Scottish, Italian and Dutch (all equal parts), but i was born in Saudi Arabia

- i got kicked out of school when i was 17 for never turning up (although i was allowed to take my final exams, which i aced :)

- my favourite food is Chilli, or if im ill, Cottage Pie. I absolutely hate the smell of bacon (and yes, i suppose i am technically Jewish)

- when i was little, the first thing i ever wanted to be was an architect.

 QN: do you ever have visitors?
yes lots.

QN: what would you like people to think about your interior?
A: I give a shit, but i'm in no way done... there's more to come.

 What I know about Sula from her interior..

She is very well travelled and has a rich cultural background, I think this shows from the fabrics draped around. She has quite a
hippy nature, I think this also shows through the use of cloth.
It doesn't show how creative she is, she loves to make thins I expected there to be origami dotted around. She hasn't lived here very long and she is renting I don't think she is settling for ever here as everything looks as if it is temporary. I find it intriguing that she covers things in fabric some appears it is for decoration but the black cloth on the wardrobe seems as if it is instead of a door, I am unsure why she bothered at all.

SULA
















m English, Scottish, Italian and Dutch (all equal parts), but i was born in Saudi Arabia

- i got kicked out of school when i was 17 for never turning up (although i was allowed to take my final exams, which i aced :)

- my favourite food is Chilli, or if im ill, Cottage Pie. I absolutely hate the smell of bacon (and yes, i suppose i am technically Jewish)

- when i was little, the first thing i ever wanted to be was an architect.

Exsquisite Corpse

A floral castle applauds the irresistable corkscrew
And the obnoxious face pelts malifluous coffee
The frosted bulb swirls up into a crisp epiphany
An obsolite tower runs towards the giggling saucepan
Whilst the floral hand caresses the shattered frame

Jenny

The Paradoxical Relationship Between Fantasy and Reality in Freudian Theory

Lawrence Josephs, Ph.D.

The relationship between fantasy and reality in Freudian theory is a complementary yet paradoxical one. On the one hand, fantasy has been construed as a vehicle for self-deception, standing in contradistinction to the objective appreciation of external reality. Fantasy can serve as a substitute for external reality that denies, remodels, and replaces an objective perception of external reality when that reality proves to be unacceptable. On the other hand, fantasy has been understood as constituting a symbolic description of external reality which represents actual events. In this model, fantasy, through concrete symbolization, reflects a mode of apprehending external reality through the use of imagery and metaphor.

The question arises as to how fantasy can represent both a self-deception and a valid metaphorical description of reality. Freud formulated the resolution of this paradox in his theory of mental life as a compromise formation between the conflicting forces within the

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Freddie Robins

My tutor Mah tipped me off about this designer I love her designs playful and provocative a way of turning craft into art.

Freddie Robins

Comfort Creatures	Knitted Homes of Crime	Banner

Statement:

My awareness of textiles came through “Janie”, a rag doll made for me by my Aunt. Janie’s orange wool hair was a great comfort to me, I would tickle my nose with it. Her hair would gradually wear out and my Godmother would give her a new lot, always wool, always orange.My Godmother became my greatest inspiration.  She was always making things, not frumpy, lumpy things that you hid in your wardrobe, but fashionable, desirable toys and clothes.  She was a free spirit.  She lived alone, was unmarried and just got on with her own thing.  I associated textiles with her and therefore with freedom. I loved the “Clangers”, they were knitted.  My Godmother taught me to knit, it was difficult, she was left handed.  I loved  knitting. I was further inspired by the knitwear designer, Patricia Roberts.  She did not rely upon traditional textile images, wholesome flowers, but turned instead to the contemporary urban world for inspiration.  She was bold.  I entered a knitwear design competition in a craft magazine.  I won.  I was academic but I was also creative.  I knew which path I would follow, the one that represented individuality.

My studio practise questions conformity and notions of normality, and intersects the categorisation of art and craft.  I use knitting to explore pertinent contemporary issues of the domestic, gender and the human condition.  I find knitting to be a powerful medium for self-expression and communication because of the cultural preconceptions surrounding it. My work subverts these preconceptions and disrupts the notion of the medium being passive and benign.  My ideas are expressed through an exploration of the human form and have resulted in pieces such as “Odd Gloves” and “Odd Sweaters”.  These series question physical normality incorporating both humour and fear.  The titles are important.  I like to play on words to make visual suggestions: ”Hand of Good, Hand of God” and “Skin - a good thing to live in”.  In “Anyway” I explore value and scale through the production of a large knitted sculpture made on CAD controlled industrial machinery.

Click here to contact Freddie

Click here to view more of Freddie's work

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Donna Wilson

I came across Donna Wilson's work and really feel she manages to create another view of the world through textiles, her child-like drawings makes the space feel almost dream like and her fictional characters succeed, in my view, to show an imaginary world of acceptance and induce joy in difference. 

The Family			London Fashion Week 2008

Statement:

Donna Wilson graduated from Royal College of Art London in July 2003. During her time there she produced a range of work that included the knitted friendly creatures, the doily rug, wrapped cacti, the caterpillow and the hands on rug (a collaboration with Carmel McElroy).

Her work is playful, tactile and bright, inspired by the everyday oddities and deformities of life. She likes to think of each of her creations as a character in her very own wonderland, where scale and perception are toyed with.

“The tactile quality of my work comes from my childhood spent in the Scottish countryside.  It has had a strong influence on me both in my need for textural and organic forms. I enjoy using handcrafted techniques like felting, sewing, knitting and wrapping.  My involvement with wool and felt allows me to create a closeness and cosiness that I want people to connect with.”

For September’s London Fashion Week 2008, Donna Wilson’s much-coveted Creatures made their debut on the catwalk. Cyril Squirrel Fox and his friends were accompanied on the stage of the show by fashion designers, Steve J and Yoni P. Now sought after by fashionistas, Cyril and his friends will also take to the catwalk once again at fashion shows in Both Paris and Korea.

Click here to contact Donna

Click here to view more of Donna's work

I found link to this on the Textiles Futures Site.
http://www.equator.ac.uk/index.php/articles/629Domestic Probes/

A new and exciting way to collect user data and may provide me with inspiration for my research. I am now looking at the way we view our domestic space due to finding out Experiential Design is more product design orientated and I would find it hard gathering research and case studies.

				Domestic Probes Domestic probes are collections of provocative tasks designed to elicit inspirational information from people about their lives at home. They provide an alternative to more traditional methods of user research from the social sciences, such as questionnaire studies, focus groups, or ethnographies.

At the start of the Domestic Experience we developed a set of materials called Domestic Probes to reveal details of people's home lives - their interests, obsessions and aspirations. We were interested to learn what peoples' homes looked like; the details of their domestic routines; the sounds around their homes; the dreams they had at night.

Camera with requests Dream Recorder Photogram paper The Listening Glass Friends and family map

Probe tasks ranged from the straight-forward to the surreal. For example, on the back of a repackaged disposable camera we made requests for specific photos, which included "Who lives in your home", "Take a photo on Sunday at 3pm", "The view through your letterbox". A repackaged memo recorder became a single-use dream recorder requesting that a vivid dream be recounted. Sheets of light-sensitive photogram paper included instructions to record an impression of objects left on surfaces. A 'listening glass'- an ordinary drinking glass repackaged with a permanent marker pen - included instructions to "listen to sounds around your home" and to write what was heard directly onto the glass. In total, about a dozen iterms were developed for this study. In February 2001, we placed advertisements for volunteers in a variety of London newspapers. Having recruited twenty households from the greater London area, we visited each volunteer and gave them a pack of domestic probes. About six weeks later we collected the hundreds of returned items, notes, images and diagrams. The returns served as a rich resource providing a myriad of glimpses into peoples' domestic lives. The probe returns were organised and archived onto CD ROM, but were never systematically analysed. Used as raw data, they provided a catalyst for the development of design proposals. Ethnographic studies of probes being designed and assembled at the RCA were undertaken to develop the ethnographers' understanding of this novel approach. These studies, in turn, contributed to the development of an adapted approach to probes. Devised by ethnographers at Lancaster and Nottingham, adapted probes incorporate social science research methods and are intended to engage researchers and inhabitants in cooperative analysis of the design domain and to elicit information informing design. Probes represent both a method and an approach. Taken as a method, they suggest the use of multiple, easy-to-use tasks to make the job of collecting data more engaging. As an approach, they advocate the use of open, ambiguous, and even surreal tasks as a way of undermining the assumptions both of volunteers and researchers.