German Textile Design

This is my German textile that I designed. For this project we were to research our families heritage and then come up with a design using multiple elements such as pictures to represent it to the fullest. My families heritage is mostly German so I decided to take some pictures such as beer, Oktoberfest banners and castle stone and brought them together to create an over all well constructed textile. I believe that through this project, my photoshop skills did become stronger and more developed being that I had to work with layers and distortion of images. I really believe that i did a good Job bringing two images modules together (beer mug and Oktoberfest) and incorporating the German crest into the background so that the eye flows evenly from one module to another, much like you would have to do in a house. The rooms should somewhat flow together.

The following is the Designer's concept statement that I wrote for this.

Concept Statement

The German heritage along with its traditions and cultural customs and beliefs is very much practiced, appreciated and honored through out both sides of my family. I am almost all German with just a little Swedish in me and I have taken it upon myself to research a bit about the German culture. I love everything about the German heritage and Germany it self, the activities, scenery and of course the history are so amazing! Germans have very active life styles and personalities. We love to engage in get to-gethers and hold social events with lively music and games. The festivities, food and traditions, like the Oktoberfest and summer and winter solstice are just a few of the festivities that many people from all around the world travel to Germany to take part in.

In my block, you see that I have used the traditional German hawk crest, the famous castle stone from the castle of Neuschwanstein, beer mugs, the German flag and lastly, the famous title and ever changing logo of Oktoberfest. I feel that all of these parts in my block summarize and make up a good representation of my German heritage. I love parties and socializing with friends and family and believe in having a good time, which coincidently the beer mugs and Oktoberfest banner represent. I also love to travel and learn about the history of new places which I believe the flag, stone and hawk represent.

In developing ideas, concepts and the block itself, you have to think about how you can develop a pattern that represents yourself within the culture. You then start to play around with what ideas and patterns you want to show up more and what ones you want to show up less. Keeping this in mind will help you develop a solid patterned block.

Sketch 3

This is a sketch of furniture that I drew using the one point perspective box. In design it is said that you are able to draw everything in a box and this will help you as a growing designer to master the tool of quick sketching while still staying within the perspective. I think that I have a good grasp on drawing with the box.

Sketch 2

This is another sketch that I did again playing with one point perspective and having the vanishing point in a different place. Instead of having the vanishing point right in the middle of the paper I placed it to the left. I think that I did a good job showing the over all shape and type of entertainment center and all its features. I also think that the accessories again open the client to see all the possibilities that you have as far as decorating goes. I love this sketch!

Sketch 1

This is one of my first sketches that I did using my one point perspective. Since I didn't know much about one point perspective at the beginning, I now notice things that I did wrong having now a good grasp on one point perspective. For example, the side tables that sit next to the sofa are not drawn using this perspective. The left one should in fact be turned the other way looking like right one where it points towards the couch. The direction of all your furnature in a room depend upon where that one vanishing point is. You can ALWAYS connect everything back to a vanishing point. I do however think that I have a good use of accessories in this sketch, showing the room potential for accesorie placement.

Summer's Wave

This is my pattern assignment where we were supposed to take images and distort them so that you are unable to recognize what they originally were. While distorting images and putting them into a pattern of choice, you were also to try and keep a good composition and even flow through out the pattern. This assignment was hard in the sense that you had to figure out a way to find pictures and images that were all of relevance to each other and then figure how to make them flow nicely while they were distorted and such. I think that I did a really good job picking out pictures that were all of relevance and also pictures that had inspiring colors and shapes. I learned that it takes time and patients to make something look aesthetically pleasing and flow well.