Textiles for Interiors with Kit Miles
I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to listen to a talk from the interior designer Kit Miles in February, I had high hopes to get a lot of information and advice from him because ultimately I want to progress and get a career very similar to his, and he did not disappoint!
Kit Miles is a designer who largely focuses on natural forms but combines this imagery with a futuristic element, to create dazzling bold wallpapers and fabrics with bright colours and an unreal amount of detail. His design "Biophillia" is one of my absolute favourites, it combines purples, yellows and powder blues with golds in a design that features surreal florals with dragonflies darting across almost in an animated way. The scientific botanical drawing style mixed with bright colour ways creates an entirely new, never done before design and I am in love with it!
The talk itself allowed us to learn about his journey from graduating from university to where he is now, and also let us in on how he draws and creates these fascinating designs. He said "Drawing is the act of looking." and that quote really has stuck with me throughout my current project.
I also got a one on one informal chat with him afterwards, he asked about my inspirations for my project and took a look at my designs of insects and sketches and commented on what could be improved which was great as I usually only get critiqued by tutors or peers. He then asked me to think about my inspirations in a wider sense, so instead of just "looking at bugs" I was thinking more like "who created these insect collections in museums?", "how did these insects come to exist?", "how could they have changed during evolution?", "who documented and researched evolution?", "how has Darwin impacted society?" and so forth. This has really altered my way of seeing things as a whole, because looking at the bigger picture allows you to expand on your ideas and collect a much larger variety of research and inspiration!
