Further Links Contact Us Search Help

Syllabus | Exams | Assessment | Glossary | Site reviews | Careers

Textiles and Design

Home > Textiles and Design > Design > Contemporary designers: Sourcing the muse

Design

---

Contemporary designers: Sourcing the muse

(muse = artist's inspiration)

In the Area of Study: Design, you will learn about changing trends in society that influence sources of inspiration for designers. This tutorial focuses on a select group of Australian fashion designers who created a new work, having been inspired by specific objects from the Powerhouse Museum 's outstanding dress and textile collection. It will lead you along their journey as they follow the design process, from inspiration to creation. This tutorial also links to the Electronic Swatchbook, a Powerhouse Museum innovation.

In order to de-mystify the design process to the general viewing public, the Powerhouse Museum, in conjunction with eight of Australia 's new generation fashion designers, embarked on a project that would lead them from inspiration, through design and manufacture, to the creation of a new piece.

Visit the web site http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/sourcingthemuse . Select Project overview from the left-hand navigation bar to discover the background and planning that took place in preparing for this project. Consider the curator's ideas, aspirations and reasons for pursuing this project.

Activity 1

Answer the following questions:

1. List the eight designers selected for this project.
2. Why were these particular designers selected?
3. What makes the Powerhouse Museum's dress and textile collection so outstanding?
4. List the types of items held in the collection.
5. What aspects of the collection were the designers most attracted to?

Activity 2

Select one of the designers featured in the Sourcing the Muse exhibition.

Create an exhibition record book on your chosen designer, which will include the following aspects:

• Designer's background: Where and when did their designing career begin? What were the major influences in their success?
• Design created for Sourcing the Muse: Make a labelled sketch of the design.
• Design concept: what special features did the designer take from the inspiration piece and apply to their design?
• Garment/s from the collection that inspired the designer: sketch and label the designers inspiration pieces.
• Interview with the designer: What other insights have you learnt about the designer or their work?

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from a variety of sources, and often when the designer is least expecting it. Being aware of this, an astute designer will make note of things that catch their eye, and act upon inspirations by incorporating them into their designs.

Many designers are not only interested in garment production, but also the design of the fabric itself, and choose to create their designs from the fabric up.

Swatch books, which contain many small samples or swatches of fabrics, are used to preserve and record fabric designs, and have been around for at least 300 years.

The Powerhouse Museum has several swatchbooks, containing many thousands of swatches, however accessing them has always proved difficult. A recent innovation in this field has been the introduction of the Electronic Swatchbook, developed by the Powerhouse Museum, which can be accessed via the Internet. Importantly, the fabrics in the Electronic Swatchbook are in the public domain in Australia, meaning that they can be freely copied.

Activity 3

Visit htttp://www.powerhousemuseum.com/electronicswatchbook/ , examine a variety of swatches, then select one and print it out. If you are only able to print in black and white, take note of the colours of the swatch, and record this information next to the print.

Using your swatch as inspiration, make a labelled sketch of a garment that is suitable to be made from your chosen fabric and justify your selection.