CONTENTS
6 HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK
8 INTRODUCTION
11 WHAT IS TEXTILE DESIGN?
12 WHAT DOES A TEXTILE DESIGNER DO?
18 WHAT ARE THE OCCUPATIONS?
28 CASE STUDY – REIKO SUDO
30 INTERVIEW – DONNA WILSON RESEARCH FOR TEXTILES
34 WHAT DO DESIGNERS RESEARCH?
36 WHAT IS PRIMARY RESEARCH?
44 WHAT IS SECONDARY RESEARCH?
46 CASE STUDY – BECKY EARLEY
48 INTERVIEW – J.R. CAMPBELL THE TOOLKIT
52 TOOLS FOR PRIMARY RESEARCH
58 TOOLS FOR SECONDARY RESEARCH
64 CASE STUDY – MAGGIE ORTH
66 INTERVIEW – LINDA FLORENCE
70 DESIGN BRIEFS
72 GENERATING A THEME
74 METHODS TO EXPLORE THE THEME
84 CASE STUDY – MANISH ARORA
86 INTERVIEW – JOHANNA BASFORD OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS
92 COLOUR
100 SURFACE
106 STRUCTURE
112 TEXTURE
120 PATTERN
130 CASE STUDY – YINKA SHONIBARE
132 INTERVIEW – TIM GRESHAM TECHNIQUES FOR OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING
136 DRAWING TECHNIQUES
144 MIXED MEDIA
148 SCALE AND DIMENSIONS
152 CASE STUDY – MISSONI
154 INTERVIEW – JAMES DONALD APPENDIX – HOW TO PRESENT YOUR RESEARCH
158 VISUAL PRESENTATION
164 CAD PRESENTATION
166 VERBAL PRESENTATION
168 CONCLUSION
170 GLOSSARY
172 USEFUL RESOURCES
174 INDEX
176 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND PICTURE CREDITS
177 WORKING WITH ETHICS
INTRODUCTION
Textile design is an extensive subject that covers a wealth of design contexts, from wallpaper to clothing. Due to this breadth, textile design overlaps, links, and drives and innovates many other areas of design practice, including fashion, jewellery and architecture.
The creative journey – from concept to final design – always begins with a process of researching and gathering ideas. Many of the methods used to do this are similar to those used within other creative disciplines, but the textile designer views and analyzes the world around them through a very specific lens.
In order to produce inspirational textile outcomes, an understanding of the research and ideas-gathering stage is essential. This book aims to introduce the fundamental techniques required for this crucial part of the textile design process.
Throughout the book, visual examples and a number of short exercises help to fully equip the reader for their own creative experimentation. We hope you will find the book both informative and inspiring, as well as a helpful companion throughout your creative research and design practice.
WHAT IS TEXTILE DESIGN?
The research techniques used in textiles are similar to those used in other creative disciplines – fashion, graphics, jewellery and product design, for example. But when working with textiles, we need to explore the world around us through a different visual lens. To help us understand this, this chapter will look at textile design as a discipline and at how it differs from other creative subjects. We’ll look at what textile designers do and why research is important to them.
We’ll look at the role of the designer and their responsibilities. Further on, we will explore the different occupations available to a graduate in textile design and find out what we mean when we talk about the textile industry today. Overall, this chapter will introduce you to textile design and will demonstrate how textile research is ultimately personal to one’s own creative interests and individual specialized areas of practice.