Tom from "Feathr" came into Uni to talk to us about the brief and the projects they are running. It was interesting to hear that all three of the creators were previously working in advertising and they wanted to change their profession to working with creatives.
The brief is to basically rethink wallpaper as a form of artwork instead of decoration. Wallpaper is often seen as background noise and they want to recreate it to sell to an audience who enjoys good design, so it can be used as the feature of the room.
Their 8 tips:
1. Tell a story & have a concept
Great art switches your brain on and gives you a new perspective.
2. Be the talking point in the room
Decoration matches the carpet. Art blows minds and inspires love. Your wallpaper should be a conversation piece.
3. Think about scale and context
What's good on screen might not pop on the wall. How does the viewers’ experience change as they approach the wall? What do they see from 5m away? What do they see from 5cm away?
4. Play with layers and depth.
Paper might be 2D dimensional; your artwork does not have to be.
5. Subvert the medium
Wallpaper comes with a barrel of expectations and conventions – so play with them, break them, use them, upend them. Art subverts and reimagines.
6. What’s your repeat?
You don't just have to straight repeat. Think about how different repeat types change the pattern.
7. Don't fear colour
Wallpaper doesn’t need to hide in beige and blondes.
8. Vary with the repeat
Wallpaper is a repeating artform - so create small variations to maintain the interest to the eye.
What is used as existing wallpapers? (Examples from standard shops)
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As I was simply beginning to look at wallpapers on different stores online I found that the lower market prices offered limited artistic merit and creativity. However I had a visit to a shop called Graham & Brown which sell designer wallpaper, I found I was more interested in their designs but this higher quality is impacted by the price. The lower costing wallpapers seem to all be a repeat pattern of some kind which is either floral or damask.
Therefore with creating my own wallpaper I need to look at how I can show my own personality and interests as the 'artist' as the buyer of these wallpapers will be interested in the story and the person behind the wallpaper as well as the final design. So I am going to start off with mind mapping my interests and how these could link to wallpaper.
Initial ideas- Animals: "a house isn't a home without a dog"
http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/images/classifieds/2013/12/13/506826/large/quality-jet-black-french-bulldog-puppy-52ac4f5230b11.jpg
Holidays & Europe- I tend to like visiting the beach on holiday and collect photos and shells which could work as a wallpaper.
Picture of shell collections online:
http://oceansreach.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/shell-collections.3JPG.jpg
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/shell-collection-christine-page.jpg
Books & English Literature
My location will be on the design so it could be fitting to base the wallpaper from some of my favourite writers who are from the area (Brontë- Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights).
The books have a connection with the Yorkshire Moors and the town Haworth.
http://www.moviemurmurs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/photo-Les-Hauts-de-Hurlevent-Wuthering-Heights-2011-1.jpg
Baking and craft of cupcakes:
Music
I am interested in many genre's of music and it is also a creative discipline much like graphic design. At the moment due to artists such as Amy Winehouse with her old school voice and Lady Gaga with the release of Cheek to Cheek Jazz is being brought back into society as a popular music genre again. At the moment there seems to be a demand for music which is different due to the popularity of house and electronic music. Therefore musical instruments are popular, and out of all the topics of interests I think it would be most important to include music as a wallpaper.
For me personally I see Jazz as including instruments such as the saxophone and trumpet and even though all instruments are fantastic, I was brought up by my family with music tastes which include saxophone not only from older music but from groups such as Madness. One of the most famous musicals which has an incredible soundtrack is that of Chicago and that is why I have chosen to name my piece as "All That Jazz".
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Chicago_original_poster_art.jpg
"Jazz is a genre of music that originated in African-American communities during the late 19th and early 20th century."
characterised by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm. Brass and woodwind instruments and piano are particularly associated with jazz, although guitar and occasionally violin are also used; styles include Dixieland, swing, bebop, and free jazz.
Personally I see Jazz as both quite a classy and sophisticated genre but also quite fun too. This is why in the images above we can see monochrome images which look more sophisticated and colourful imagery which is influenced from the energy of the songs but also its African American roots.
My drawing:
Watercolour experiments to introduce colour:
Although I don't think the colours are bold enough to be a statement/ feature wallpaper.
Bold colour edits:
My drawing when scanned in looked much like a dark grey when in fact I wanted the fine liner to look sharply black and modern looking rather than a more rough sketchy style which I have done previously especially in the website brief for horse care in OUGD504.
I tried a few other colours with black as a background as I thought it may allow the colour to stand out more, however I'm not sure about the pink it looks too feminine.
I experimented with a few different colours and backgrounds before trying these onto the website to experiment with the different types of matching the tiles up in a repeat.
Using s smaller version of the imagery definitely doesn't work because it becomes a blur.
The pink as stated before is definitely too feminine and music should appeal to all genders.
The ones with texture don't work as a wall piece at all because they break up and I think the colours appear too harsh, therefore I think I will experiment with using black and white with different uses of tiling on the paper.
My favourite is definitely the half drop as it fills the page, as I saw some of the examples on the website had used a smaller scale for their artwork I felt it was important to use a larger scale which would therefore create impact for the wallpaper rather than being background noise. There are three different options for furniture to place with the wallpaper and I think the hat stand would work best. When asking for feedback on my design they suggested that it would look good in an office or a studio, or perhaps a character house or flat with a long hallway.
Final design (and uploading)
I had decided the half drop pattern would work best for this design:
Description in the form of a paragraph:
Recently I heard a 'busker' in Leeds Train Station playing the Saxophone. It inspired me to create artwork to celebrate traditional instruments and specifically the genre of Jazz.
I am happy with the final results as I only gave myself to complete this brief, the simplistic design of the wallpaper definitely works because it draws attention to the illustration which took me a while to complete. I think this design would work quite well for selling after speaking to some of my friends who are music lovers. I think the design could also work with different colours to suit people's personal tastes. I have really enjoyed creating artwork for this brief as it has allowed me to express one of my own interests and use illustration as it suits to brief. The only way to know whether this design will be successful or not is by the reaction online by people voting for it so I will blog the progress my design makes (hopefully).
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