Elisa Strozyk

Elisa Strozyk, 'Wooden Textiles' http://www.elisastrozyk.de/seite/woodtex/woodentextiles.html

Elisa Strozyk is a German born product designer who has recently created a range of 'wooden textiles' for the home. The products are made from laser cut pieces of wood which are attached to a fabric. The separation of the wooden pieces allows the product to change it's structure and to become 3D whilst supporting itself. This is the kind of technique I could use in my own practice with a view to create a similar aesthetic for fashion fabrics.

Laser Cutting

                                                                               

                                                                                                                       

Given the geometric and structural nature of my ideas, this week I decided to use the laser cutter to create some clean edged pieces to start to play with to create structures and surfaces. Another reason for using this method is that it is a fairly new technique which I have never used before. I opted to use wood and perspex as they are both hard, structural materials that mimic my inspiration and concept. I like the quality of the mirrored perspex however the wood needs to be adjusted as wood brown is not in my colour palette. Enamelling the pieces may be the solution to this problem. I cut both triangles and hexagons as mentioned previously. My next job is to try to create a tessellating surface with the pieces I have cut. 

Geometric Patterns and 3D Forms

Honeycomb, http://www.androidguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Honeycomb.jpg

Whilst researching structures within nature and artifice, it has come to my attention that most are made up from very geometric forms. Many cross sections within architecture and biological structures (such as the Eiffel Tower) create triangular negative spaces. Therefore I have decided to use triangles to start to create more samples. Other structures such as the honeycomb are made up of hexagons and so I will also be using this shape in my samples.

Resin Cubes

I wanted to replicate the microstructure of salt in a 3D form to use as embellishments within my samples. The structure of salt is very cubic in nature so I decided to use resin set in cube moulds to create oversized beads. The great thing about resin is that you can set different objects/ structures inside it, so I began by trying out a few initial ideas (as seen in left picture). These included wooden structures (made from skewers), graph paper and paper structures. I think the graph paper worked quite well and gave the cubes a subtle interest. The paper structures and the wooden structures need some refining. I could use the laser cutter to create more interesting and clean cut structures. I also experimented with bright orange beads in one of the cubes which lead me to think about creating structure in the cubes with colour. The second lot of cubes I made are created using layers of various coloured resin (which relate to my colour palette). Although the technique is not perfected (there were a few problems that I came up against which need resolving), the outcome was brilliant! The colours are bright and fresh and I gained lots of positive feedback about them. Moving forward, I will try to refine the making process and use smaller and different shaped moulds to create interesting and relevant beads to include in my samples.

Colour

The colours I have selected for my design palette derive mainly from the architectural references within my project. For example the silvers and greys. The blues come from the idea of blue prints and graph paper. However the orange comes from a the more natural influences of my project such as wild flowers and honeycomb structures. I think the colours work well together, they're all bright and fresh. They also fit with the a/w1415 colour palette which I took note of at 'Premiere Vision 2013' in September.

Microstructure: Salt

Through my initial research I have discovered that the microstructure of salt is cubic in nature. I like the geometric forms that it creates and have started to draw from the zoomed in images I have found. I have decided to try to create these forms within a textiles context to maybe use as embellishments for my fabric samples. I also visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines in Poland over the summer and noted that the natural growth/ accumulation of the salt seemed to be in clusters and this is something that I want to try to emulate in my work as well.

Studio Workings

Getting early ideas and 'workings out' up onto a wall in the new studio space really helps to realise ideas together. It also helps to figure out which ideas work well together and which ideas are probably going to be dead ends. Another positive is that your ideas are exhibited for others to see and give constructive feedback on. It keeps the creative juices flowing and furthers ideas for everyone in the studio!