OUAN503 - Feathr

This is a brief I heard about quite close to the end of the module deadline, but really grabbed my attention because of my unfamiliarity with the approaches and type of brief responses it was asking for. I've seen the work of some printed textiles students at exhibitions, end of year shows and so forth and I really admire the ability to design visually stunning patterns and repeats that also have a function in the form of decoration for example. I started this brief with a personal acknowledgement of the difficulties I might face, I mean at this stage I didn't even know how to produce a repeat pattern.

The competition has been released by a company called 'Feathr'. The companies main activity is producing modern, designer wallpapers in a fashion that I haven't seen before. They produce wallpapers that almost act as art hanging on a wall. Wallpaper traditionally is comprised of pattern anyway but the way some of the work they sell contains abstract brush strokes and detailed conversational pattern struck me as really quite original and also appealing. The competition brief itself ties in with their brand and what they do, they want artwork from its entrants to be presented as wallpaper and the winning design(s) will be sold from their online shop. They suggested in the brief that their motivation for the competition is that they're surrounded by under-exposed artistic talent and that their aim is to unearth it and give it a new canvas. They recommended that as designers and artists undertaking the brief we think about the customer. Stylish homeowners and people who like to decorate their homes or even collect art, want something unique on their walls. They want something they love and something that they can talk about, a point of conversation. 'Feathr' also provided us with some themes to work from as a starting point if we needed some form of inspiration and decide on a mood for the work, although they're not mandatory. The themes are;

• Pop Modern
• natural world
• romantic
• figurative

 "Design specs & tips. Create an artwork that can be used as a repeating design for a 50cm x 10m wallpaper roll. The roll width is 50 cm. This is the horizontal repeat of the artwork. The roll length is 10m, so your vertical repeat has no other limitations than looking good on a wall. N.B. For ease when hanging, we recommend keeping the vertical repeat to under 100cm. Repeats can be: straight matches, offset matches (half, quarter or third drop) or mirrors. N.B. For ease when hanging, we recommend free matches. Artwork sizes & specs. For initial artwork please submit one tile of the repeat at www.feathr.com/submit."