carpet diem

In a project inspired by Siggi Eggertsson ( http://www.vanillusaft.com/ ), we were asked to create a carpet design for the fashion brand Mulberry as if it was to be used in a flagship store and for various vinyls around the store. Below is Eggertsson's own design and that is pretty much all we were given to go on...



This was was really meant to be an introduction into using the program Illustrator, just like creating our animations was an exercise in getting to know After Effects (or iStop). Given Illustrators knack for drawing shapes and repeating them to form patterns I began experimenting overlapping shapes and altering the opacity/blend modes, nothing too fancy. Below are two outlined practice examples and the coloured version is what I decided to call it quits with...




colours sampled from the Mulberry website and products:




The main inspiration behind my coloured design (although it looks like a poncho) are these traditional Indian flower arrangements called Pookalam, created over 10 days in honour of their beloved King, Mahabali. On the first day, the design is sketched out onto the floor and over the following 9 a new tier of flowers/colour is added to the design until finished. The intricate patterns are to attract the attention of the spirit of their King, much like Los Dios De Muertos where homage is paid to the dead over a two day festival.

The only problem I found was, in my own designs the patterns lose their unique appeal. A 2D image on screen and crisp colours dont have the same affect as seeing these flower arrangements in 3D. I think in the next couple of briefs I need to remember to include my passion for interactivity and tangibility and produce something 3D whether its a toy or sculpture :)




These then reminded me of a piece of work an old tutor of mine created in Manchester ( http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/community/manchester_city_council/council_entertainment/s/1054637_carpet_of_flowers ). Jo Vickers took thousands of flowers and arranged them on the ugly giant concrete walls in Picadilly Gardens as well as over the entire floor of Albert Square outside of the Town Hall.



Initially I was looking at traditional patterns and fabrics commonly associated with stately homes, then moving onto needlepoint floral patterns but they reminded me too much of all the filagree stock vectors which are readily available. Although my design above isn't anything fancy nor technical, patterns etc are something I havent tried creating before in Illustrator. We've recently purchased a new rug for the home which made me think less about carpet designs (which are often very dull) and instead about rugs like the B&Q ones below.