Ikea

In 2008, Ikea gave each student in my class a chair to redesign with a Welsh theme. My specific theme was Welsh literature and so I researched in such places as the National Museum and St. Fagans. It was at St. Fagans archive that I spotted the illustrator of the Mabinogion, Margaret Jones. Her drawings of which appear to be done in fine liner are very thorough giving each character their own personality. The ability to use the fine liner in a number of ways, for instance to create tone or to emphasise a line, gives her images a sense of depth and sensitivity. I particularly like her original style when it comes to creating mythical characters. They are quite monstrous in design with long hooked noses and fearsome teeth but allow the viewer to delve into their imagination.

From making some observational drawings of her work at St. Fagans I then looked at drawing characters for the story of Blodeuwedd. My most successful drawing I feel was the character Gwydion, a magician, pictured below. I achieved this drawing by sourcing imagery from fantasy and mythical books. Working with a fine liner gave me the detail I desired on the face.

Below is another illustrative drawing, this time of Blodeuwedd.

'Unrequited Love' is the title I have given my final piece depicting the story of Blodeuwedd, a welsh tale about infidelity and deceit. I had the challenge of thinking of a way of incorporating my illustrations and text manipulation with an Ikea chair. I produced a few designs in my drawing book but chose the idea of creating a scroll that weaved in and out of the chair as this allowed me to use a variety of mixed media. The end product was a heavily collaged scroll made of a variety of dyed papers, printed illustrations and 3D objects of wire and paper stitched together and woven in and out of the chair to create a sense of continuation and age. The surface of the chair has a base of green and blue covered in cracking medium then gold paint n top followed by gold leaf to give a more textured surface. The scroll compliments the chair with an overall warm brown wash and indications of colour in certain areas. To add to the delicacy of the paper scroll I entangled wire flowers around through the legs and back of the chair. I emphasised a varying scale of weaves through the chair with the scroll by differing the widths of the slats that I cut in the seat.

Working with an actual company like Ikea gave us a great opportunity to complete a real life brief. It gave us the opportunity to gain experience of what is expected of a freelance designer. In the summer of 2009 I decided to gain work experience with Ikea working alongside the Communication and Interior Design Team. I spent one week working at the store and was given the great opportunity to help put up a design showroom. This tested my textile design skills as I was expected to help choose appropriate items to fit the room, for instance cushions and pictures etc. I was also shown how the team work back stage on the computer software.