Research

Research is an important part of any project, which needs to be done in good time in order for it to be worth while. In my practice, I research into ideas similar to my own as well as artists with the same style of work as mine. This is all helpful, contextual information that I can use to influence my own work.

However, usually in textiles we are researching at the same time as doing our initial drawings and sampling; as well as introducing ourselves to the materials we would want to be working and experimenting with. This unit has been different in that we were to begin with research only, with no real indication as to the materials we would be using or to what we would be making specifically; only that we were working on a rooftop project in the centre of the Northern Quarter, part of the Manchester Light Night festival and we would be supplied with a selection of sustainable materials.

The beginning of the unit had the whole class group dividing ourselves into smaller groups, in order to work on different concepts related to what we thought design was. Although this was not directly linked to the project brief, it was a different and interesting way of getting us to start thinking about what ideas we could potentially come up with, that could be brought forward through the unit. I put myself in the 'Creating Sensations' group. The key ideas here were focused on producing something that affected the audience/ made the audience feel something. We therefore began our research by exploring Pinterest for ideas related to this concept. Below are a couple of images that I personally feel recreate the 'creating sensations' idea; using light and touch.

Through my own research I found that the bigger the scale of the installation/work, the more intense the experience. Looking at the examples above, you can imagine the sensations created in those environments.

A couple of weeks into the unit, having been introduced to the kinds of materials we could use, and being shown the the ideas as to what could be made for the rooftop, this changed the way we were researching. We no longer needed to be looking so broadly. We needed to agree on an idea, which our group decided would be to make a closed environment to provide an escape from the city life, and we were keen on using the used print screens as our main building material. Our next stage of research then began with closed environments and shelters. I then also began looking at how we could create the sensations through touch, sight and sound and found a number of different ideas (a couple of examples are photographed below).

Not long after this, our research turned from looking for inspiration to finding ways of making our ideas happen. More specifically, how we would be able to connect screens together to form a closed environment. This proved to be very difficult with no one in our group with any expertise in this area. However, this is all part of the learning curve of Unit X; we used our initiative and found help in the form of the metal workshop, who proved to be very helpful; and this was something of a surprise, learning that you can go and ask in any of the workshops for help and advice (giving that you come with a realistic time frame in mind).

Having split the group towards the end of the project, this gave way for more research to be done on top of what we already had concerning our new ideas. We were still following the same concept as before, only not over complicating ourselves with the technicality of building a shelter. As a smaller group, we decided to focus more on how we can create a sensation through what we make. We focused on sight, sound and touch to influence our research and designing process.