Origins Evaluation

My experience of the origins unit is quite unique to most of my peers. About 2 weeks ago I successfully made the move from 2nd year Fashion to 1st year Textiles in Practice, and what a crazy 2 weeks it has been. My decision to transition from Fashion to Textiles was a long thinking process; admittedly from well to the start of my first year of uni I and many doubts about my 'passion for fashion'. When I started my course I felt as though it wasn't for me, but would always push such thoughts aside and dismiss them. Then 2nd year fashion came and I thought enough was enough; too long had I longed to get back into a textiles based approach that I had been used to in foundation. I was hating my course, and with a bite of the bullet I emailed Teresa Holtom and organised a meeting.

The work I had been producing in fashion was enjoyable to a point; I love research, discovering new artists, designers, subcultures and historical scenarios has always interested me, but when it came to designing, and worse, pattern-cutting (shudder) I just couldn't work it out. In foundation I was used to creating/manipulating the fabric and letting it tell me what to do with it instead of the other way round. My project from Fashion this year was based on the idea of 'Generic Garments' in which we were asked to study 3 generic items of clothing and research the shape, fabric and historical and social context of the clothing. I happened upon a Crombie coat, a pair of Oxford Bags, a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a grandfather shirt. Through illustration, photography and dissection of the garments I studied them in and out to inform my future design decisions. This was an interesting approach, but by this point my heart was no longer in fashion design.


My first week of TIP was a bit odd; the day after my interview with Teresa I began my first day of textiles and I was met by a welcoming class and tutor. The work on illustrator was difficult at first and is still something I am working on to develop. Understanding of vectors and such is a tricky business, but I believe with more time and on line tutorials my skills will improve.

Since I have began the course I have missed 2 days of uni due to illness, but I have tried my best to get caught up on the work I have missed. The Friday drawing day i did attend was an interesting class; it pushed me out of my comfort zone to no longer think about a final over all piece but to simply enjoy the experimentation process. I understand now that it is better to be brave and take risks during the journey than to second-guess just for the sake of a final outcome. I feel I have gotten a lot freer with my drawing and I'm excited for future Fridays.

My artist research, drawings of my objects and paper folding have started to come together, as I have explored mixing of materials to illustrate some of the crystal drawings (which were my favourite).
The laser cutting induction session was an informative class as I got to understand what we were exploring a bit more. This has informed my experiments with folding paper and material selection, which I will put to use tomorrow in my laser cutting session (it was unfortunately the only one I could book). Yet the time i have had to reflect and analyse my time in Origins has been great opportunity to realise what I need to work on.