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!

My final degree show snaps

These are some of the posters and boards around leeds advertising our show, the one on the right is just outside our college, and it's quite funny spotting the other posters when you're out and about in Leeds! 

Selection of co-ordinating fabric designs 

Supporting folder work (10 in total!) 

Design visualisations and paragraph explaining my concept

So that's my degree show at Leeds College of Art all finished and packed up! We've now loaded our work into the vans and they will be making their way down to London for Monday where we will be on display at New Designers. 

Artsthread

My Artsthread graduate portfolio is finally live and available to view online, you can check it out at artsthread.com/p/louisedormer!

When we were introduced to the Artsthread concept, we were told that in a few weeks the website will change so that we can upload more than 4 projects onto the site, which will be brilliant as I would love to be able to keep updating with new projects, aswell as some second year projects!

Degree Show

With our degree show up and running, I thought I'd share the official details! I've just seen snippets of everyones work, and it's all looking amazing so I can't wait for a proper look around!

It's at Leeds College of Art - Blenheim Walk campus and is running from the 16th until 21st of June! 

Michael Anderson graffiti wallpaper

I really love monochrome design, whilst researching for some inspiring monochrome wallpapers for my degree show, I stumbled across this design by Michael Anderson. After years of collecting around 40,000 graffiti tag style stickers from the streets and subways of New York, his stickers were used to create a wallpaper used in the Ace Hotel. 

It reminded me of another graffiti inspired design that I saw on display back in 2010 in the Leeds City Art Gallery; a rug based on graffiti and street art characters by Ursel Arndt.