Contextual studies essay
Conceptualising my work
Name: Laura Rose Samson
Tutor: Bill
Word count: 420
The designer I have been inspired by is Sandra Backlund she is a modern fashion designer who uses heavy knit, wood, hair and sometimes paper to create unusual, eye-catching and detailed clothes. Sandra’s work shows her flair for creating and designing new pieces based on shape and texture. She approaches her designs more like a sculptor than a tailor. The specific piece I have chosen is from her ‘Ink Blot Collection’ for which she won the top prize at the International Fashion Festival in 2007. The collection was based on Rorshach’ inkblot test: a psychological evaluation that uses symmetrical ‘inkblot’ patterns on white cards.
It is constructed from 3D cones that appear to be folded ‘origami’ style to form an amazing symmetrical top with over the top sleeves that extend upward and outwards. The garment looks like armour and transforms the human body and, like many of her designs, is disturbing as well as pleasing. Through her designs I think Sandra is trying to communicate her ideas about human form and how materials and shapes can be used to reflect or distort. Some pieces look like parts of the human body or shapes from nature: blood vessels (‘Don’t Walk’ collection) spine, walls of the intestine, rib cage, the structure of plants, mushrooms etc.
Her pieces are all hand made and are beautifully crafted. What interests me most about Sandra’s designs is the way that she creates such unusual shapes and takes inspiration from the world around her; the human form, nature and patterns that she finds pleasing, ‘the inkblot test.’ She is obsessional about creating a shape to reflect something that has inspired her as well as sometimes letting the material she is working with dictate the outcome. She has a knowledge about how materials, wool, paper behave and can been manipulated, crafted into intricate and awesome works of art. This really interests me and I aspire to be able to work with different materials to develop designs that have unusual shapes and intricate detailing. I am fascinated by shapes and patterns. For my design I drew a number of patterns and images onto squared paper and coloured them using water colour. I made different sized cone spikes and placed them randomly over the shoulder, I also made a fringe; both look like they are ‘growing’ out of the piece and added texture and interest. I think it looks striking, edgy and different.
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