Last week we went up to the Fashion and Textiles museum in London to visit the Kaffee Fassett Power of Pattern exhibition to inspire our upcoming pattern crazy project!
The exhibition explored the incredible works of artist Kaffee Fassett and other collective textile designers as well as the incredible quilts and works inspired by some of the pieces/patterns of these artists.
I absoloutley loved the bright colours, styles, patterns and shapes within the works of different artists'. Since my first Liberty's pattern project at FCOT, which I particularly enjoyed, I have been consistantley inspired and passionate about patterns within textiles and fashion and can't wait to curate a final garment in my very own pattern designs for this next upcoming project!
Throughout this exhibition, I was particularly intested in seeing how the pattern is taken from initial painting/experiment, through then exploring different repeats, placements and colours to curate a final outcome!
Here I want to talk about a few of my favourite patterns, designs, quilts and artworks that I saw in the exhibition and how they inspired me...
I really loved the pastel-like colours in this quilt as well as the ways in which pattern has been expressed through repeats of different shapes, motifs and colours.
It's really creative how things like the flowers have been created simply through arranged repeats of hexagon shapes and how the artist has contrasted patterened-prited fabric with more plain, subtle colours and arrangements.
Another thing I really liked about this quilt is the swirly, marble-like effect in behind the heagon-like flowers - I think it gave a whole new element of texture & intrigue to the piece which I loved!
Here I'd seen a physical garment piece, decorated with different patterns and embellishments which made it absoloutley beautiful to look at! What particularly inspired me about this piece was the fact that actually, the basic garment design/silhouette of a kimono-like jacket dress, is actually quite a basic form, silhouette, however, with the pattern detailing, you can hardly notice this as the pattern serves as the main focal point of detail, elevating a basic garment design into something spectacular!
This gorgeous quilt almost looks like an optical illusion to me in the way that the repeats are so striking, streamlined and colourful that they almost stick right out at you! Its also incredible the work, time and effort that must go into making these quilts because they are so intricate and striking - with this one, I could barley tell it was a fabricated quilt over something like the original painting beacuse of how much attention to detail must have gone into the making and fabric-sourcing and colour selection, etc!
This piece was actually one of my absoloute favourites, made by Sophie Standing, a 'British-born artist who has lived in Africa for over 20 years.' When I looked very closely, I could see all the intricate stitching, embroidery and embellishment worked-into the fabric to curate the imagery. However, this for me was another astonishing artwork piece where I could hardly even tell it was fabricated or had been stitched-into, as, on the serface, it looked so much like a detailed and intricate, well-thought out painting.
The stitching and textiles work has obviously been so well-done that it blends-in with the imagery itself.
Overall, I really enjoyed this pattern exhibition and have so many ideas and inspirations to now take foward with me into the next project brief to create something really spectacular and outside-of the box!
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