Visiting Dubai

I was fortunate to be able to visit Dubai during May and took the opportunity to visit the souks. Having toyed with the idea of using silks for some of the scarves I intended to create, the textile souks seemed like the perfect place to purchase some fabric. Exploring the souks in the blistering heat took stamina but the rewards were well worth it; the fabrics, prints and patterns were bold and exotic but I managed to seek out some plain silks at just 30 dirhums as yard (about £5) so I bought both white and a beautiful silvery grey.

Fashion and Textile Museum: Artist Textiles

After the Design Museum we stumbled upon signs to the Fashion and Textile Museum which seemed well worth a visit whilst in the vicinity. As this stage I was feeling quite uninspired/unmotivated with my college work, visiting exhibitions really helped to re-spark my enthusiasm.
The main works to view at the museum were in the exhibition 'Artist Textiles - Picasso to Warhol: There were some wonderful prints shown as large pieces of fabric, scarves and garments. I was inspired by the printed scarves in particular. I feel scarves could link nicely with my work and provide a beautiful floaty canvas (if I use silk) to show my designs.

Hello my name is Paul Smith

Trip to London:
The main reason to visit London was to see the Paul Smith exhibition 'Hello, My Name is Paul Smith' at the London Design Museum. Whilst there, the 'Designer of the Year 2014' was also showing. This exhibition show cased innovative designs from 7 categories which intend to benefit life by making it easier, safer and more stimulating. A very intriguing exhibition.



I absolutely loved the Paul Smith exhibition, it was and insightful look into his world. We were shown his office, shops, fashion shows, collaborations, the studio, his personal art collections, inside his mind and much more. I found the imitated studio space particularly inspiring, showing work in progress with a variety of books, magazines, yarns and fabrics.

Fashion in motion: Meadham Kirchhoff

The entire room full of fashion enthusiasts, the tension built as we took our seats and waited for the show to commence. The outfits were breath taking, with such an array of thrills and bows with excruciating attention to detail, bold colours and sparkling skirts reminding me of my dressing up box as a child. This was the first fashion show I had attended, although I had seen them on T.V and on the internet, I hadn't realised how much of a performance they can be. 
Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff are a design duo beased in London. The duo met whilst studying fashion at Central Saint Martins, Edward studying womenswear and Benjamin menswear. Shortly after graduating they launched a menswear label "Benjamin Kirchhoff" but have since been working as "Meadham Kirchhoff" formed in 2002.
 Included in the fashion show were garments from collections Suddenly, Last Summer (S/S2011) and A Rebours(A/W2010) featuring flowing gothic dresses overlaid with floral painted biker jackets and colourful veils.

Benjamin Kirchhoff said; ‘We are very pleased to be involved with the V&A’s Fashion in Motion series. When approaching every collection or garment we secretly hope to make something worthy of being seen in a museum, so for us it is an honour to present a show comprised of hand-picked pieces from our favourite collections."

Oriole Cullen, Fashion in Motion curator, said:

"Meadham Kirchhoff are known for creating a fantasy world in their collections through their beautifully crafted garments and focus on fine detail. Their shows always contain an element of surprise and wonder, often with a hint of darkness and we are delighted to have the opportunity to bring this experience to V&A audience"

Below are a few photos I took to capture the event:

http://www.meadhamkirchhoff.com/

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

After my meeting with Lez Brotherston I hurried to the theatre next door to join family and friends eagerly awaiting the performance to begin. The lights went down and the familiar sound of Tchaikovsky's music enveloped the auditorium, whispering into the ears of the audience as the atmosphere built. The curtains opened to reveal the prince's bedroom, the performance is captivating us from the beginning and throughout, using comedy, costumes, and of course the beautiful dancing to hold our attention. Matthew's dancers all have extensive characterisation skills to compliment their dancing. This enables them to connect to the audience on a much higher emotional level, it isn't uncommon to have a lump in your throat during a Bourne production. 

Bourne's version of the classic swan lake is probably most famous for his exchange of the female corps de ballet, with an all male cast of swans. When I was young I couldn't understand why anyone would want to change anything about the ballet, but since growing up around dance and working with innovative choreographers, gaining a wider understanding of dance, narratives and life, I couldn't see the ballet any other way.

Matthew once said "The idea of a male swan makes complete sense to me, the strength, the beauty, the enormous wingspan of these creatures suggests to me the musculature of a male dancer more readily than a ballerina in her white tutu."

I think the choreography enables the story to work with all male swans, expressing love and seduction in a way that is understandable, and leads the audience to feel empathy for the characters and their struggle to be together. Although I have seen the performance many times, my favourite scene remains to be the cygnets, each time the choreography is slightly different, but always intriguing and quite comical. I like that Matthew has chosen to incorporate this traditional section of the ballet, using his own twist and array of funny walks, bum wiggles and swan characteristics opposed to the endless pas de chats of the original. Overall the ballet is utterly breath taking, mixing just the right amount of comedy with seriousness, you find yourself believing the dancers and seeing them as beautiful swans instead of performers. I would recommend a Matthew Bourne production to anyone, even those who wouldn't usually see a dance show, for everything including the amazing sets and costumes, paired with the wonderful music, however this particular show will always be a favourite of mine, and many others who have seen it.

http://www.new-adventures.net/productions/swan_lake

Shunga at The British Museum

On Tuesday the 10th of December, the printing and painting departments of the course organised a trip to The British Museum in London to see the Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art exhibition. We met at Victoria station ready to take the tube and make our way to the museum, where we purchased our tickets and went straight into the exhibition. 

Most of the work was produced between the 1600's and 1900's and was banned in Japan over most of the 20th century. The erotic art is very explicit and detailed, but incorporates skilled techniques resulting in some beautiful outcomes, which are said to have inspired many famous artists such as Toulouse Lautrec and Picasso.

The majority of the work was created by artists of ukiyo-e or "floating world" school, the popular work became known as shunga which means "spring pictures". For almost 300 years men and women enjoyed the work, which was often tender and humourous, often used as manuals by newly weds, or just general art of beautiful coloured prints and paintings. Explicit works were produced by iconic artists like Utamaro, Hokusai and Kunisada.

Throughout Japan, shungha has been a huge influence of modern art and the innovation of print and painting including manga, anime and tattoo art. The exhibition is very revealing to old Japanese art, including how it is bound in books and scrolls as well as the social and cultural history. Another point of interest in the exhibition was the traditional kimonos and dresses with their unique prints and designs all incredibly detailed, it would have been nice if there were more to look at.

After we had seen everything we left the museum and took to the streets of Soho in search of pubs and restaurants, overall an interesting day of art and pubs.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/shunga.aspx

Meeting Lez Brotherston

After recent college tasks requiring us to find work experience, I contacted Lez Brotherston in the hope that I may be able to spend some time with him to gain knowledge on what it is like to be a set and costume designer for large productions. I also wanted to find out how he got to the position he is in today, and if he had any advice for young aspiring designers. Lez kindly agreed to meet me for a chat before the Swan Lake matinee that I would be attending that day, in preparation I did some research in order to put together a compilation of questions to ask him. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be repeating questions he's answered many times before in interviews, so I made notes from what has already been asked;

• He has Tony awards for Swan Lake and Oliver awards
• Applied to Cenral school of speech and drama to be a stage manager, but after speaking to the stage manager of the youth theatre he helped at, then turned the place down
• He took A Levels and O Levels at the same time after deciding to be a designer
• Went to Central School of Art and Design
• Worked with Christopher Gable of Northern ballet- turned to dance theatre, working on narrative work, as theatre, opera, character and production designer
• First collaboration with Matthew Bourne in Highland Fling in 1994
• Matt and Lez believe "I don't think there are any new ideas; there are only new interpretations of old ideas" "I just think there are ideas floating out there and somehow we all latch onto them"
• Enjoys working on narrative story based work, whether it's ballet, opera or dance
• Costume/prop work at school on The Last Emperor, Highlander
• Would like to do film costume if it could be designed and made by him
• Worked with Adam Cooper
• He claims there is no secret to designing for ballet, there's about 4 things to know
• The most important thing is the idea
• Prefer designing both costume and set, opposed to working with just one or the other

On Saturday 7th we travelled over to Sadlers Wells theatre in London from Shepherds Bush, to see Swan Lake and meet Lez Brotherston. When we arrived I found my way to the stage door cafe to find Lez sitting with Etta Murfitt, Associte Director of New Adventures. Both Etta and Lez were very friendly and welcoming, which was nice as I was feeling a bit nervous about the meeting, unfortunately Etta had to be somewhere so couldn't stick around, but it meant we could crack on with the interview.

Preprepared Questions:

• What made you realise you wanted to be a designer?
• Where did your interest in theatre come from?
• Which A Levels/O Levels did you choose? Did they impact you career?
• Favourite Bourne production you've worked on?
• How do you work past mental blocks, trying to think of something new and original?
• Do you have any regrets, about career choices?
• Do you have any advice for young aspiring designers?

Responses:

•  Lez attended Youth Theatre from a young age into his late teens, this is where his interest in theatre came from, as he got older he was less interested in being on stage, but more interested in the back stage areas of the production, often assisting the stage manager, and creating sets and props.
• After realising he wanted to be a designer he took his A Levels and O Levels at the same time, do a mix of sciences and arts
• At the Central School Of Art he had a small class of 19 people, including the current designer of the west end production of War Horse, and the designer for Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time in the year below
• On his course they learnt about the cut of women's clothes opposed to just period wear, this is so it can be applied to any design.
• The next new production is always the most exciting as new designs can be created
• If you get stuck for an idea, always return to the source and reread briefs, as the answer will be there
• The idea of vampire fairies in the recent production of Sleeping Beauty came by referring back to the story and considering how it could work. The prince just appears at the end, but where does he come from? How does he know about the princess? They wanted to make the prince be around at the beginning too, so there is a connection, but then how would he survive for 100 years? Perhaps if he was bitten by a vampire, one of the fairy vampires could keep an eye out for the princess, so keeps the prince alive to save them both for a happy ending.. These were the kind of ideas Lez and Matt brainstorm at the start of a new production.
• When making models or prototypes, use as much detail as possible so that it is easily interpreted by everyone
• Lez has worked on designing and directing lord of the flies, however it is not a New Adventures production it is a Rebourne project, an educational programme to encourage young boys to dance
• When working on large productions, you get to know the dancers and performers through things such as costume fittings, this becomes quite important, in order to know about different dancers needs, e.g heel height
• Many people work on the production and on the design aspects as a team: Production manager, Props Supervisor  and Costume Supervisor, among various makers. Colin Falconer has worked closely with Lez on sets, it's useful to work with people you have worked with before as you can refer back to previous projects for aspects of design or production that you may want to repeat
• Lez no longer makes the costumes or sets, only designs, however earlier in your career you're more likely to do both
• After graduation when looking for a job, it's important to focus on your main skill, as employers will look for specialities.
• It's your own responsibility to make things happen, it's not your teachers, tutors or bosses, take the opportunities and get things done to achieve what you want to
• Employers in the industry hire on ability, not on grades, take a strong portfolio, with proof of your skills