Weekend Adventures

On Saturday I went over to the Danish Museum of Art and Craft to check out the textile and dress collection. I was told by my professor that there are a lot of Marie Gudme Leth's work and was excited to see it in person as opposed to in a book. I was disappointed to find out when I arrived that the collection was closed for renovation. :( Other than that the museum was small yet nice.

I was immediately drawn to the energy and movement in Danish ceramist Michael Geertsen's work. His pieces were bold in color and had a lovely rhythm to them . They reminded me of my sophomore 3D studio in which we composed sculptures out of found objects using line, plane, and volume. Why didn't I think of using tableware? I wonder what Lenny, my 3D professor would say about this.



I only got to see one of Marie Gudme Leth's textiles but it was worth the trip anyways, it was even more lovely in person!




This particular textile by Arne Jacobsen really caught my eye not only because of the bright colors but the slightly irregular line patternsthat produced a great movement to the piece.



I was ecstatic to see these initial collages for Poul Henningsen's Artichoke Lamp. I love seeing the process and thinking that is behind art and design, not to mention that I love to collage! These were made with pencil, colored acrylics, wrapping paper, stationary and parchment paper.



After my visit to the museum and lots of downpouring I later met up with two fellow textile friends Ashley and Holly and we splurged a bit and had dinner by the canal.



My seafood salad, and strawberry lime cider were perfect!



Holly and Ashley at dinner, cheers or as the Danish say Skål!

Look for an update tomorrow with more progress of my final piece plus photos from Sunday!

It has been raining an awful lot since I have gotten here so yesterday while it was still sunny out I took a walk around my neighborhood. I finally made it before closing time to a small thrift store that I have had my eye on since last weekend. I have had my eyes peeled for thrift stores ever since we got here and have so far found 3 in my neighborhood (one which I have still visited because it is closed until the 31st for Danish holiday), one near the DIS building in downtown Copenhagen, and one by the Design School. I would have to say that out of all of them so far this one was by far the best! I picked up a vintage striped taupe button down shirt with a scooped peterpan collar for around $4 and this vintage apron for around $2.



I am in love with the pockets and the color palette. Perhaps I can use this as some color inspiration for my final piece.
As I was walking around the neighborhood I snapped a photo of a dog waiting patiently outside of my local netto, which is a grocery store.



I also walked down by the canal but these rain clouds were looming over my head for quite some time before it began to downpour.



I peeked into this boat and thought it was just too perfect. I can imagine myself sitting there reading a book with a glass of wine or chit chatting with some friends.



Here is the front of the boat

I was quite excited while going through my list of blogs that I read daily to find myself and my blog mentioned on Design*Sponge. Grace has always had such a great enthusiasm for student design work and I am delighted to be featured!



Thanks Grace!

Today in class we did a simple yet helpful exercise in playing with color overlapping. The exercise was beneficial since we are only going to be allowed 2 screens for our final print. All though this does in fact restrict us, it has in fact made all of us become more creative with the process of figuring out the possibilities that we can use to achieve the final look that we want.



After lunch we all hopped on the metro to a huge design showroom at Bella Center which is located in the more suburban area of Copenhagen. I had been there before since my hostel the first day I arrived was located near the metro stop. I remember heading out of the city and wondering where I was going and then smiling when I saw this building when I got off the metro.



Our main focus at Bella Center was to interact with the textiles at the Kravdrat showroom.



We were also there to collect inspiration for our four colorways that we will have to have for our final piece.



Malene discussed various fabrics such as Tord Boontje's designs, and newer technologies being used such as incorporating laser cutting, and certain burnout techniques using two different types of polyester that left even Joy, the textile engineer stumped.



Unfortunately at the moment most of Europe is on holday, which meant that we were just about the only people in the showroom. These whimsical skirt-like lamps really caught my eye, although the photo doesn't convey how playful they seemed.



I can't finish this entry without a photo of my newly organized and refreshed mood board for my presentation tomorrow.



and last but not least, I couldn't resist taking a photo of these cherries and snap peas that I bought right outside the design school to go with my lunch

Today I started focusing on my final piece. After playing around in illustrator long last night after class with my wheel motif I have decided to integrate it into my final pattern that I will be printing. I made a lot of variations, none of which I am satisfied with but after a full day of more playing and getting inspired by the textile book that our professors have brought in, I think I now know the direction that I am going to take. Unfortunately, there are no photos of today! I realized that my battery was dead right after I arrived to class.

In a few minutes I will be leaving with Ashley a fellow classmate to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art which is located in Denmark on the North Zealand coast. My professors were nice enough to help us with directions since it is about a 35 minute train ride out of the city. Everyone that I know that has gone has come back raving that I must go, so I am quite excited. The museum is open late tonight until 11 and the weather is finally pulling through. It has not rained once today! Of course we finally have a sunny day the day after I broke down and bought a pair of rainboots. My feet were tired of always being cold and wet.

I will leave you with some photos of my trip!

I was extremely excited to see what the interior of the Ivanna Helsinki stored looked like, it did not disappoint!


I snuck a photo in at the Marimekko store, so many beautiful colors! We later all went a bit crazy at the Marikmekko outlet shop, more on that later.


Beautiful lighting fixtures at the Myyrmaki Church

Patterns, patterns, patterns and science!

So today I got really really excited about SCIENCE. The last thing that I thought I would be getting excited about while taking this course is well science. This is all thanks to my professor Joy, who is a textile engineer. When she starts talking about visual perception, color chemistry, and my personal favorite- mach bands she seriously gets our entire class excited. I may just have to sign up for the chemistry of dyes and pigments class in the spring, even though I have fulfilled all of my math and science credits! Imagine that!

Besides science, I also got excited about textiles when I realized that we need to have our final designs in by Monday and then we starts printing! Yesterday and today we played around with making all over patterns, straight repeats, 1/2 drop, and I accidentally did a 1/3 drop too. I am slowly putting together ideas on my studio wall for what my final pattern is going to be inspired by. I think its interesting to look at how my mood board changes from day to day. I don't have a photo of yesterday but here is what it looked like at the end of class today.



Here is a 1/3 drop that I was playing around with yesterday. This one was inspired by the sketches of did of the massive shoe collection at the Nordika Muset in Stockholm.



The beginning stages of a pattern based off of a necklace that I saw at the design museum in Helsinki, Finland. I believe it was made my Paula Hairaoja, but I am probably a few letters off somewhere because my google results are not producing anything jewelry related.


Still in progress and much too linear (and I can't draw perfect circles because I don't have a compass!) , I am going to try to rework this one tonight.


The rest of my photos are in a bit of disarray at the moment but can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimberly_m_lewis/

Oh dear where do I begin?! Well let's start by introducing you to my new home.


The studio!

The textile, furniture, and glass design studios are located at the Danmarks Designskole. I am very impressed by the textile design departments facilities. We were immediately introduced to our final project which will be the design and printing of a 3 meter piece of textile for interior decoration. The first day we dove right into the process getting our hands nice and dirty with dye. We started off by picking different recipes for three colors and mixing the reactive dyes. I was initially dreading this part since everything has to be precise down to the gram and involves a lot of math, but it turned out that I actually really enjoyed this part of the process. In a way it is just like cooking and is very satisfying when you achieve the exact color that you were going for. After we dove right into the printing process working with paper stencils to play with overlaps of color of the reactive dye on different qualities of fabric.


Some of my work in progress.


I quickly found out that I loved working with the heavy linen, my favorite print in the first stages so far.

After reactive dyes we spent the next few days, playing around with pigments and burnout and then learning about the aftercare of the textiles.


Here is Megumi stirring the textiles while they are boiling.

I really love how hands on and interactive we are with what we are making and watching the entire process from the mixing of the dyes or pigments to the multiple washings and steamings that must be done for the aftercare. It is interesting to follow the color as it changes throughout the entire process. It is also such a physical process that gets your whole body working, and is in a way very rhythmic and methodical which is in a way soothing.

I am back in Copenhagen! My trip to Stockholm, and Helsinki was wonderful despite the fact that I was sick the entire trip. Stockholm is still a bit blurry to me since I had a fever the entire time and was running around non stop. I will just have to use it as an excuse to visit again someday. I can not wait until Monday when I can put my photos on my laptop and onto my flickr account.

I loved Helsinki the most. It is a quite small city and I loved the food, atmosphere, designers and architecture. It had quite a different feel than any other European city I had visited due to the Russian influences. I ate lots of Finnish food including reindeer soup, Swam in a lake outside of Eliel Saarinen's house, Started off the day the way the Finns do in the hostel Sauna at 6:15 in the morning with two friends, sat by the marina with the most amazing pear cider and wrote and drew in my sketchbook while hot air balloons took off behind the cafe we were at, had Japanese tourists take photos of me while I painted at the Sibelius monument, bought two classic pieces for my wardrobe, a Vuokko hat, and Marimekko skirt, and well I could go on and on.

My sketchbook is filled with color palettes, drawings, paintings and writing which makes me excited since I am usually horrible at keeping a sketchbook. Most of my old sketchbooks consist of mostly scribbled writing, quick sketches and lists. Hopefully I will be able to keep up this good habit. I can't wait to start developing my ideas for my final design. I will post photos on Monday when I can pick up my powercord at the DIS office!

I am currently in Helsinki! I am hanging out in a Mac store next to the Tennis Palace museum that we just went into. So far I am in love with Finland and wish that I didn't have to leave so soon. According to the ups website my powercord has been in Copenhagen since Monday so expect updates on my adventures soon!

Tomorrow I leave for Stockholm and then Helsinki at 6 am in the morniing! When get back expect an update since my powercord will have finally arrived!

Unfortunately I have not been writing because I am having some computer difficulties. My powercord for my powerbook broke the first day! A new one is coming in the mail soon ! I am loving my textile studio! Today we jumped right in and started printing. Tomorrow (Yes we are having class on a saturday!) we are going to focus on finishing the prints. Lots of steaming, washing and rinsing. I have been taking a lot of photos so when I get my powercord I will put them up.

Iceland!

Hello from Iceland! I landed at about 11:20 PM and the sun was just setting. Now I am waiting to get on my next flight and fly to Copenhagen! I am actually going to be going on the same plane but sitting in a different seat! Speaking of seats I got to sit in a window seat which was very exciting for me. Probably a bit too exciting, and I believe I have a window seat on the next flight also. On all of my flights to Peru I was stuck in the middle aisle middle seat so it is was a nice surprise!

I received a call from my friend Emily right as I was checking in my bags. Apparently she slept through her alarm and missed her flight. I was supposed to meet her at the airport at Copenhagen and we were going to wander around the city together. It looks like I will be all alone! I have already met a fellow DIS student who is doing the architecture program so maybe I will walk around with him.