Kirsty McDougall: Rare Threads & Dashing Tweeds

Kirsty McDougall: Rare Threads & Dashing Tweeds

The highlight of the trip to London was visiting Kirsty McDougall's workshop and getting more of an insight of the reality and commercial side of the weave industry. She is behind some of the most iconic woven designs to walk down the catwalk. It's new to me that freelancers are behind some of these designs and don't get the credit they truly deserve. She has designed woven pieces for designers such as Alexander McQueen, Louise Gray, Marc Jacobs and Holly Fulton. Kirsty; along with other weavers who she shares her space with, own companies such as Rare Thread (http://www.rarethread.co.uk) and Dashing Tweeds (https://www.dashingtweeds.co.uk). They're work is extremely inspiring and has made me even more excited to start weaving again!

      

Tate Modern

Whilst in London I visited The Tate Modern twice, there was fog one day so the pictures I took of the landscape were foggy; the day after the photos were clear due to no fog. I liked the contrast in the pictures so this gave me the idea for focused and unfocused for ordered opposites. The mirrored cube with the holes around it, next to other artworks in the cubed shape also gave me an idea of old and new or natural and manmade.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum gave me inspiration in the aspect of the types of patterns and the layout of patterns for my weaves, due to the construction of patterns on the arch and the natural deterioration of the pieces in the Museum. 

Giles Miller

I visited the Giles Miller studio whilst in London; they concentrate on portraying light, reflection and texture. They are "composers of materials". They create functional artworks as well as sculptural artworks. They produce and use "innovative surfaces and materials".  "The scope and scale of our output ranges from the design of individual mosaic tiles to artworks on an architectural scale". (http://gilesmiller.com/about/)

(All photos in this post were taken by me)