Project 7 My Theme Book

The Skin

Since I started studying textiles, I find myself turning to nature and my immediate surroundings for inspiration. During our visit to London Zoo in April, all I could think about was textiles when watching different animals. From marine to land animals, from little insects to the giants, their skin and fur were spectacular: some scaly, some slimy, some delicate soft, some hard, some cracked some smooth, beautiful shapes, colours and textures. Plants were very interesting too. I came home with loads of photographs and some quick sketches coming up with ideas to incorporate them into textiles.

Here are some of my photographs:

In nature the skin has specific functions and the function defines its form, shape, colour, and texture. When it comes to humans it has a much broader purpose: social, psychological, personal, cultural. It is an essential part of your identity. Obviously we humans clothe ourselves and that becomes our second skin/nature.

I am attracted to the skin because it provides a wide stimulating source of visual material. It can also be applied to identity issues important to individuals. I am aware it is a broad and ambiguous subject and commonly used within textiles. As a newcomer to textiles I prefer to have a good pool of visual stimuli to work from. I am hoping the work will become more definitive as I progress.

My very fist thoughts on the final piece are:

It will be formed from small but uniform shapes coming together (could be stitched, embroidered or printed).
It will have many layers, a definitive texture,
It will be delicate but strong.

My next step is sketching and developing some design ideas.

Here are some images I collected online: