Graduate Collection
My Graduate Collection is named “Sinnestäuschung” meaning hallucination in German.
For my final year collection I have taken inspiration from my time in Berlin during my internship, documenting the colours, textures and structures I came across.
While living in Berlin I was struck by the mix of culture that coexisted in the city with each person capable of making the place their own.
I worked with a designer who made clubwear for the techno scene which Berlin is famous for, the clubwear we designed and developed was for a niche buyer and consisted of faux leather, straps, buckles, chains and sheer materials, all in black of course.
I wanted to apply some of the same ideas to my collection but took my own spin on it, instead taking inspiration from the hot coloured lights associated with clubbing and added in pieces of my own personal style thus creating my version of clubwear. I wanted to portray the piece of myself that I created over there.
In terms of materials, I started off by going into hardware shops, looking for something that would give off that industrial vibe. While there I picked up nylon rope, insulation and chains. Equipped with my unconventional materials I set about trying to make something out of them, surprisingly it was the rope that took on a life of its own when applied in textiles. I used a rug plan technique to create a vibrant and demanding textile, I was drawn in by its deceptive nature where it looked soft but was coarse to feel. Despite developing many other textiles during development, it was the rope fringe technique that stood out and slowly took over the whole project allowing me to do variations of it throughout and allowed my work to grow into what it is now. Alongside this technique I used laser cutting in faux leather and neoprene which came from old wetsuits, the design of which was inspired by the triangle shapes created by light installations I saw while away.
My collection is a portrayal of the pieces of myself that I found in Berlin. The lights, art and colour have accumulated and evolved into a striking, modern and deceptive collection.
Alternative Project
This project was done as part of my final year collection where we had to design an alternative collection using the textiles developed for our main project.
For my alternative project I looked at adaptive apparel as it is an area of particular interest for me, focusing my customer study on an individual with a certain disability that posed a set of challenges when choosing clothes. My aim with this project was to create accessible but stylish clothing while suing my own textiles.
Sleeping Flowers Project
This is my 3rd year mini collection. This work allowed me to make mistakes before embarking on my graduate collection. The process allowed me to work out problems in relation to pattern drafting and textile development on my own.
We were asked to generate our own theme for this project, I decided to use a poem I like, "The Sleeping Flowers" by Emily Dickinson as my theme. I chose the poem because of the strong imagery and the sleepy mood that Dickinson has created. From studying the poem I have extracted images to base my design concept around, I have included images of my sketchbook work and swatch development.
helena pose 1.jpg | illustration-board.jpg | sketchbook |
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sketchbook | sketchbook | sketchbook |
sketchbook | sketchbook | sketchbook |
sketchbook | green tulle flower swatch | smocking silver satin |
yoyo flower swatch | blue satin flower attempt | drape |
drape | drape | drape-board |
iris digital sketch | The Sleeping Flowers by Emily Dickinson |
Zero waste project
A collection of images from one of my Year 3 projects in which we were asked to research zero waste design. I explored a variety of techniques including up cycling, draping fabric, knitted textiles, 3D printing and using scrap fabric/materials. These are a few images of textiles I made, my design process as well as some sketchbook and photoshop images to show my thought process.
Safety pins textile | weave textile.jpg | applique textile.jpg |
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knit textile.jpg | knit textile.jpg | textile-board.jpg |
illustration-board.jpg | design-process-board.jpg | sketchbook.jpg |
drape work.jpg | drape work.jpg | mini jumper.jpg |
Lumen project
This was my first project of Year 2, we were asked to create a headpiece as part of a costume for the Lumen street theatre as part of the Samhain festival. The theme was based on the poem "Drunken Thady and the Bishop's Lady" by Michael Hogan. Here are a few images from our photoshoot of the project piece made by myself and my classmate Katerina Kennedy
Samhain website screenshot | photoshoot | photoshoot |
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photoshoot | photoshoot | completed piece |
COPE Galway commissions
This is a series of work I created as part of domestic abuse awareness campaigns for COPE Galway. This includes 2 posters and 6 designs for tote bags which are for sale in the COPE shop
1-billion-stars.jpg | cope-poster-1.jpg | tote-6.1.jpg |
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tote-5.1.jpg | tote-4.1.jpg | tote-3.1.jpg |
tote-2.1.jpg | tote-1.1.jpg |
Digital art
I have always been passionate about drawing and when I went to college I started to develop my digital skills. Here are a few images of personal projects in various styles. It is a skill I am new to but keen on developing
2 person vector art | detailed portrait | 3 girls vector art |
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flower illustration | dog sketch | purple flowers |