Live Project with The Mission Gallery
I was given the pre-brief on this live project at the start of summer, we were given the word "Heirloom" to focus our ideas on and the new exhibit at the Mission Gallery to guide us in our research. It wasn't specified to be personal, but the word "Heirloom" struck a chord with me as my great granddad had passed away earlier this year and to me that word often goes with the handing down of belongings.
In his will, my great grandad gave each of his grandchildren a handkerchief. They had no real monetary worth, but they existed holding such huge amounts of sentimental value. Almost like an object to keep the memory of him with his family, the ones who meant the most to him. I thought that was such a lovely gesture, and decided to create a series of three handkerchiefs for the project. These handkerchiefs, if chosen by the gallery staff at the end of this project, would be sold within the gallery shop to members of the public. Thinking about this I thought it would be exciting for them to be able to take away a piece of my great granddad's life with them as their own heirloom.
I based each handkerchief design on a major aspect of his life, and used his own artwork and paintings to fuel my style. I designed one on the theme of nature and birds, as he used to paint and draw birds and animals and keep these in sketchbooks which he gave to my grandma before he passed away. The second handkerchief was made with a seafarer theme in mind, to commemorate his time serving in the navy, and the third (and my favourite) design was based on gardening. This is my favourite because it is one of the clearest memories I have of him, working in his allotment and giving us all bags and bags of vegetables, especially beans, every year!
I initially thought I was going for a printed, blocky design for these handkerchiefs, but looking at his own paintings and with discussions between my tutors and myself I ended up going for a more hand painted, vintage look to give a feel of nostalgia with the product, with this I used a neutral background and soft colour scheme in the designs. This look is also more popular with my target customer of a male between the ages of 50 and 80. The collection will be titled "The Park Collection", as another nod to my great granddad, using his last name as the branding of the three handkerchiefs.
The products will be digitally printed on silk, and machine hemmed, with branded labels to go along with them, and even if they are not one of the products chosen to go into the Mission Gallery I will have felt like I have honoured my family within this project, and am very pleased with my final designs.
