Barcelona - Park Güell

I've recently returned from a trip in Barcelona with a few friends from uni - to mark the end of the best 3 years of my life! We only stayed in Barcelona for a few days, so we really had to cram in as much as possible as the city is full of things to see! My favourite part of the trip was when we went to Park Güell - designed by the artist Antoni Gaudi. I fell in love with the mosaic bench that meandered around a large park area and loved the way that the mosaic had been considered, colours and styles had been grouped together, I spent along time trying to find my favourite section! I had a lovely time in Barcelona, it's a beautiful city and I would love to go back again! 

Outdoor Range

Because of the glorious weather we've had in the UK for the past few days, and the start of festival season there's alot of really cool designs on items associated with the summertime and camping! I've found Cath Kidston tents, Marimekko umbrellas and other gorgeous patterned items. They inspired me to experiment with how my own designs would look on items associated with camping and summer living!

I thought I'd put my designs from my 1960's project onto some items to see how they would work as a outdoor range.. and I'm really happy with the outcomes!

Design Visualisations

One of the biggest comments I got from my week at New Designers was that people really loved my design visualisations of my wallpapers, many even asked whose room it was that I had wallpapered as they looked quite realistic and convincing! 

With some of my designs being quite a large scale and unusual patterns, I feel that they really benefited from having these visualisations on display as it could possibly be difficult to imagen how they would repeat and look on an actual wall. Obviously the dream would be to one day have the real thing, my own design, up and papered onto a real 3d wall, instead of a photoshop visualisation to demonstrate the repeat...but they'll do for the time being!! 

Muraspec Competition

A couple of months before we finished uni for good, the company Muraspec came and set us a brief for a student competition that they run every year at different universities and art colleges.  We had to create designs, mood boards and concept boards to show off our work and then they would chose their 'winner'. This person would then go along for a placement at Muraspec and in their design studio help put it into production! I'm very excited to announce that this person was me!! At New Designers I was presented with a cheque that will go towards my accommodation as their design studio is in Kent. 

being presented with a cheque with the lovely Rachel from Muraspec 

I'm thrilled that they liked my work enough to pick me, and I'm also so excited to start a placement at a company whose work I really like and I feel that my own style and designs fit with! Muraspec are one of the biggest commercial wallpaper and wallcovering companies in the UK and provide designs for hospitals, cruise ships, hotels and even on a Calvin Klein catwalk!
Here's a few samples of the work that Muraspec produce... and you can see more on their website here, I'm personally in love with this print from the 'wow' range! 

I'll be updating my blog with my placement and how my design gets put in production.. Now time to start looking for accommodation ....!! 

Retro toy inspired repeating patterns

These are designs from a project that was based on toys and games from years gone by, from the victorian wooden soldiers to the 80's electronic robots! The Dinosaur design was shortlisted for the 2011 Wallpaper Historical Society award and displayed at both Lotherton Hall in Leeds and the Imago Gallery in London. 

My week at New Designers

I've had an extremely exciting week at New Designers where my work was displayed as part of the part 1 exhibition held at the Business Centre at Angel in Islington. My work was displayed over 2 boards, and I had a brilliant week meeting and talking with people from industry as well as other graduates, press and companies. 

As an institution, Leeds College of Art also managed to scoop 2 awards! The Tigerprint award and the Harlequin award, so well done guys! Once we had taken our work done, and said our goodbyes, everyone got a little teary and it really did feel like the end of an era. 

I realised after battling with my ridiculously heavy portfolio (it honestly felt like i was carting home bricks) on the tube, that I've really enjoyed this last week and it felt amazing to end my 3 years at Leeds on such a high.  I saw some amazing work throughout the week and now we're all going to go our separate ways now and are off onto placements, internships and jobs, so I wish the best of luck to all my fellow course mates, and everyone who was apart New Designers 2012!