My trip to China has used up the vast majority of the space on this WordPress site (aliceeleanor.wordpress.com) as I took so many photos! I have never been good at narrowing down and choosing a select few, but because I saw so many amazing things out there, I didn’t really want a select few! However this has used up the rest of the space on my site. So from now on I will be making updates on my university coursework and research on my fresh site: alicerosie.wordpress.com.
I hope people continue to look at this site and catch up on all of the amazing things I got up to in China, as I love to share my stories and I hope I can be an inspiration to people who want to study or travel abroad.
Neil Hubbard- ‘Making Up Things’
Last week we were lucky enough to have a talk by one of Heatherwick Studio’s architects, Neil Hubbard. I wasn’t aware of Heatherwick Studios before but I feel really privileged to have knowledge of the company now, and especially to have witnessed someone from the company itself talk about their work. I was amazed by everything that he had to tell us and I’ve been left totally in awe of all the work they have produced all around the world.
Neil Hubbard studied Design at Goldsmiths, as he had no idea what field he actually wanted to take. He knew he loved to make things, so being a designer sounded right for him. After doing an internship for Heatherwick Studios, he landed himself a job there and is now one of the main project leaders for the company, helping design London’s new red double decker bus, Singapore’s ‘The Hive’, and the ‘Cauldron’ for London’s 2012 olympic opening ceremony.
During the talk, we were introduced to a number of buildings and architectural installations. The first he spoke about was the Seed Cathedral that was up on display for 6 months in Shanghai, back in 2010. The ideas behind this were incredible and so inspiring. The building was created out of 55,000 glass objects, encasing seed-like objects. People were able to walk inside the structure and see it from a different angle. After the exhibition, the Seed Cathedral was dismantled and each of the objects were taken away and given to various Chinese and English schools. I was totally amazed by this piece of work. The amount of time and effort that went into this to make it possible is astounding. Looking at it, you wouldn’t think that it could be real, and I am inspired by the fact that a group of people had an idea that other people may have thought was impossible but with their creativity, made it happen.
The structure when assembled
Close up of each of the pods
Currently in creation in London is a retail park made out of two old train yards. The idea here was to connect the two buildings to make them flow so that people could walk around the interior. They didn’t want to completely rip down the old buildings, just develop them. So they have kept the structures, and when it is completed, the two roofs of the buildings will be touching in the centre as shown below. Another incredibly creative design!
Neil Hubbard spoke about a bridge design that would carry all the health and safety features required by law, but would also be able to move to allow people to cross the bridge, and boats to pass undersneath at the same time, therefore not stopping the flow of traffic. Inspiration for this bridge was from the beautiful old Chinese bridges that are very steep (not great for health and safety purposes) but will let boats pass underneath as well.
Heatherwick studios created a distillery for Bombay Sapphire which would attract visitors and also act as a greenhouse for the botanicals that they use in their gin. Owned by Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire only has a little section of a factory to house their distillery. It has been designed so that excess heat from the factory would be recycled and used for heating the botanical plants, as they are grown on site. The botanicals used in the gin are mostly tropical so a British climate isn’t suitable for them! A greenhouse- like structure is a perfect option for this project. This project is based in Lavistock, outside London near Basingstoke.
Other Projects:
The Vessel: A project under construction in Manhattan- A series of staircases that come together to create about 112 balcony moments. This is opened out and perfect to house many people for sightseeing.
Capetown Art Gallery: This was about ”Creating the nothing rather than the thing”. A section of a group of Silos is being cut away from the inside to create an amazing space with oval shapes left over from the cylinders.
original building to be developed
a projection of what the interior would look like on completion.
The Hive- Singapore: Created on the idea of an introverted building. No corners, no lineage like in a classroom, everybody is able to see each other. Created with concrete, the grooves in the structure look very organic and have been left as they are.
Project Betty: This project was supposed to be kept a secret, so it was code-named after Thomas Heatherwick’s dog! This project was for the Cauldron in London’s Olympic park, which would be presented during the opening ceremony in 2012. It was kept flat underneath the stadium before the night to keep it hidden. The Cauldron was made out of petals representing each country which would be fanned out horizontally, then would raise up slowly until they all met at the top, symbolising all countries together. Each petal was set alight to create the olympic torch.
Each petal fanned out and being raised
The petals altogether joined at the top to create a huge fire.
the petals after being set alight
I feel truly privileged to have been at this talk. Neil Hubbard is such an inspiring person and everything he showed us and spoke to us about incredible! He has shown me that you can create anything you want to make, you can be as creative and as over the top as you want, and you can achieve the things you want to achieve. All the ideas behind each of these pieces of work have had so much research put into them and have all come from somewhere, having been sparked from the smallest of ideas. I have found this a really useful thing to see from such a huge comany and I feel very inspired having been introduced to these incredible designs.
Responses to Morocco
I was really pleased with my digital designs and I wanted to take them on a bit further. I had heard many people talking about light and how they had been inspired by all the wonderful decorative lamps and how the patterns cast beautiful light and shadows. The images below are a few examples of these types of lamps.
I decided to create something like this myself, and I wanted to try something more three dimensional for once as well as it is different from the types of things I have done recently. I looked back on my digital designs and noticed how the original was created by light and shadows, so I decided to take a section of my pattern and use it in my own little light box. This was quite time consuming to create as I wanted to get the measurements precise, and cutting the pattern was difficult.
Cutting out the pattern
All four panels ready to be stuck together!
I used simple sketchbook paper for this as it was a decent thickness to create a sturdy(ish) piece of work, but also easy enough to cut. I stuck the panels together using simple cellotape! But I then painted a layer of PVA glue over the finished piece to add a bit more sturdiness and secure the corners.
The light box hung up to show how the pattern creates nice shadows against the wall.
I am very pleased with this piece of work as I feel that I have incorporated my own ideas and created a piece that uses light and shadow as I wanted. I am really happy with the design and I feel that it reflects Moroccan culture as well, and even though the colours are very simple, they work together nicely and help to create an interesting piece.
Responses to Morocco
I have wanted to create a wide range of work using different techniques and resources during this project. I knew that I would need to create something digital and I really wanted to get back on board with Illustrator as I have had quite a long time away from it! When up in the Atlas foothills and the Berber villages, I took a picture that just interested me, and it was of
a shadow of a fence that had a nice pattern to it. The bright sun made a very clear and sharp shadow against my leg and I quite liked how it looked! I decided to play around with it in illustrator and I was surprised and very pleased with the results! I used image trace to get a more simplified image, then copied and flipped it creating the pattern. I also took the image into photoshop to cut out the pattern so I could play around with that. The images below show the patterns I created from this image.
My favourite! I love the subtle colours here and I think they really work with the Moroccan theme.
Black and White- Also works well but I find this one slightly harder to look at as it reminds me of an optical illusion!
I cut out the pattern from the original image and created this repeat by turning it horizontally. I am surprised how much of a difference this makes and I really like the way it looks being turned on its side.
Vertical version of the one before. I find this also works very well, it includes some of the original colour which I think makes a nice effect because it is subtle and not quite as stark as the black and white version.
Responses to Morocco
After creating my stitched pi
ece, I wanted to move onto something a little different. I was thinking about Marrakech and how it is called ‘The Pink City’, and I wanted to create a ‘Pink City’ of my own in a more abstract way. As you can see from this image, I found lots of different pink coloured fabrics of different shades and textures. I cut out shapes to resemble buildings and arranged them on a piece of fabric before ironing them down with bondaweb.
I wasn’t quite sure where to take this piece afterwards. I wanted to create the abstract city that I had in mind but I didn’t know how to do this and make it look good. I decided to reflect on some of the techniques I learnt last year in stitch, and I put a few ideas together to create my piece.
I wanted to secure the pieces of fabric I had stuck down, so I decided to do this by stitching in the words ‘The Pink City’ onto the piece with a patterned stitch from the sewing machine. The words follow some of the edges of the shapes I have stuck down, and they are not very clear to see, but I liked it this way as it looks to create lots of random lines all over the piece.
I had to include a Stork in there! They are such a symbol of Morocco and they are very common in the city so I decided to stitch in my own little Stork as you can see! I used the idea of cutting away the fabric to reveal the fabrics from underneath again to create windows in my piece. I then highlighted them with black stitches and used hand embroidery techniques to line the windows with french knots. I am really pleased with this and I think the colour works really well against the pink, although I think I made life very difficult for myself as it took me hours to complete! However I am very pleased with the result. I added bricks using free-hand embroidery to add a bit of detail and enhance the city-like effect, but I still thought that the piece was looking a bit boring. Using more techniques from last years stitching classes, I created palm trees using a thick thread on the bobbin. I really like how well this has worked and I am pleased with the effect that it has created. The green brings more colour into the piece and livens it up, and the thickness of the thread brings in some texture.
It took me a lot to get warmed up when I was creating this piece and there were many times where I felt like giving up on it! But I think that I have created an interesting piece and overall I am happy with how it has turned out.
Responses to Morocco
I’ve been really excited to get busy and stuck in with work since being back from Morocco. There were so many things that inspired me out there and I had lots of ideas for embroidery and creating patterns in response to the things I saw. The first piece I made originated from a patterned rug that I had seen in the Berber villages.
This was the particular rug that I was working from. The colours compliment each other so well and there is so much pattern going on in the single item. The image on the right is the part that grabbed me the most, with the simple diagonal lines and the diamond shapes created in-between.
I got onto the more advanced sewing machines in the stitch room as I was interested in using some of the built in patterned stitches for my first piece of work. My idea was to recreate the pattern in the image above and add pattern within the lines.
I was going to create a pattern with these stitched double lines (left) going diagonally in both directions, but after a little bit of practice I decided that the single black lines going in the opposite direction looked really nice. Another idea was to simply colour the diamond shapes in with free-hand embroidery, choosing similar colours from the original image. But I decided that there was a much more creative way to do this. I attached a different fabric onto the back before stitching the black lines, and cut out a series of diagonal shapes from the pattern to make the fabric on the back show through.
This is the finished piece that I created in response to the rug design I saw. I am really pleased with how well this has turned out, using the more advanced sewing machine helped me to create much straighter more parallel lines, producing a much neater piece of work. The colours I chose work really nicely together and I think reflect the colours from the rug that inspired me. I am also really happy with how well the fabric from the back shows through, the particular colour I chose for this fabric, and the fact that it doesn’t dominate the whole piece because of its more vivid colour. I think that my colours are evenly distributed across the piece and the colour of the original silk fabric stands out as well as I wanted it to. In hindsight, I would have done a much bigger piece as my finished item is quite small. I also would have done something to try and stop the black lines from distorting when I was stitching in the colours. As you can see, some of the lines are a bit wonky now! But I didn’t feel that this could easily be helped with what I wanted to do and I am happy with the piece even with this little issue.
My New Understanding of Material Culture and Values
A week in Morocco was a huge eye opener to this culture for me. My previous visit to Morocco was very different to this, I had ideas of what it would be like but few of them were correct. I did find the sexism very difficult to cope with at times as some men will make inappropriate contact with you as well as shouting out to you. But I feel that this is because of a lack of understanding on their part, as it is common in Morocco but we accept this behaviour a lot less easily in Britain.
I had no idea how incredibly decorated everything would be in Marrakech. Everywhere you go, walls are covered in patterns and tiles and carvings, and the ceilings are just as beautiful. We visited so many sites that were incredible to look at and the patterns they use are traditionally very Moroccan, even including images like the Storks which are common here. Decoration is evidently a very important part of Moroccan culture, and I feel like you can’t go anywhere else to find these kinds of patterns and designs.
Wandering down the souks, you can see material culture everywhere. Everything that is sold is very typical of the culture which makes me think they are very proud of their heritage. Pottery such as Tagines and teapots, covered in more beautiful design, spice shops, food stalls and clothes shops. Clothing sold is also very traditional with beautiful print and embroidery and so much colour! Hareem pants and long Moroccan style jump suits are very typical of this culture and are sold everywhere. The local attire is much like I imagined, with women in Burkas and Hijabs, and the men in patterned tunics and long trousers. Morocco gave me an incredible understanding of material culture and I feel that it has broadened my creative mind as well.
Morocco, Day 7: Last Day!
My final day in Morocco has been gloriously sunny and hot, and I’ve wanted to be outside to make the most of it as we’ll be heading back to a very cold and grey England tomorrow! My day has been spent exploring some of the souks in Marrakech, to try and find myself some nice things to bring back, for myself personally and to use in my project. I think I’ve managed the art or bartering with the locals and I have managed to get some good prices for all of the things I’ve bought! It’s great to be taking home some nice souvenirs with me from my time away and I’ve also managed to find myself some fabrics to use. It’s been an interesting day with a look deep in the centre of the maze of souks, with all the locals almost forcing us into buying their wares, including a woman who grabbed hold of my arm and wouldn’t let go so that she could put another henna design on me! Another 50 Dirham down… oh well.
Hand-carved stone turtle- I love this little thing!
A very traditional Moroccan kind of makeup. Wet your finger, rub the red of the stone and use it as a lipstick!
Moroccan Pummace stone
small Moroccan glasses, I think I’ll use these for candles!
Hand-carved cat
This is a beautiful jump suit I bought which is typically very Moroccan in style. The colours are absolutely beautiful and I absolutely love the pattern!
Hareem pants with simple black and white design, I love these!
Another pair of hareem pants, I love the design of these and especially the elephants on it
Some of my fabrics, these were my favourites because of the wonderful mix of colours and the simplicity of the lines and stripes of colour.
Tonight has been incredible. We’ve had the most amazing send off from the hotel who set out a table of drinks and nibbles for us, and hired in a Moroccan band, with the 3 string guitar and metal castanet-type instruments which we have seen a bit of during our stay. They were so jolly and such good fun, really setting the atmosphere for a great evening and trying to get us all involved. We’ve also had the chance to see belly dancers tonight too and for some of us, including me it has been a first. The woman who came into dance for us was incredible and was very good at getting everyone involved with her, including the tutors!! This evening we all went for a meal, a fantastic suggestion from Sally who thought it would be nice for us all to go out and sit together which was a lovely idea. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the venue but the restaurant we visited was absolutely astonishing. It turns out that some of us had passed it on the first day and it was decorated in such a way that made us think it was a mosque! Turns out it was the lovely restaurant Dal Essalam where Alfred Hitchcock had set the scene in one of his films, ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’. We had a fantastic night watching more traditional musicians playing the same music as earlier, and more belly dancers for our entertainment. This was such a fantastic way to end our trip and I’m so glad I was able to attend such an amazing night at this incredible restaurant!
The scene as it was during the film
More patterns in the restaurant
Morocco, Day 6: Atlas Mountains
I had already decided that I wanted to go for a trip up to the Atlas Mountains before we went to Morocco, but being up on the terrace at the hotel and seeing them for myself, the enormous snow capped mountains that surround Marrakech, I knew I couldn’t leave without going to visit. The day after our guided city tour, the boys from our group all went off together to visit the mountains, see the waterfalls and climb up one of the peaks. This was all part of a tour and I really wanted to go! A group of us decided that we wanted to do the same thing but waited for the boys to get back so we could ask them if it was all worth it! They of course said yes, but many of us hadn’t come prepared to Morocco for the snowy freezing weather in the heights of the mountains, and the boys said it was very slippery. I would have been more than happy to go in my trainers! But unfortunately too many of us weren’t equipped enough so we had to pass on the mountain hike, and see them from a lower altitude.
The trip that we chose was a half day tour to the foothills which included seeing some of the Berber villages. It was a glorious day to go and visit the villages, and we were introduced to several points of interest including an Argan oil workshop. We saw several women manually shelling Argan nuts ready to go into production of all kinds of food oils and creams for skin hair and nails. We also got to see an old working flour mill and buildings made entirely of clay and straw. There were many stalls and shops on the journey which sold so many things, patterned crockery, ornaments, jewellery, trinkets and so many rug and carpet stalls, which made it a great place to go for more research and inspiration for Moroccan design. It was a very insightful visit and I’m glad I got to see some more of very traditional Moroccan culture.
Cacti on the hills
One of the women shelling the Argan fruits
Several products we got to try all made from the Argan nuts
Tea and Argan-nut butter with bread!
An old spinning stone used for crushing the nuts
Mountains in the distance
These images are a few example of the rugs that were hung out for sale on the side of the road during the journey.
Spinning stone for flour- still in use
A very old fashioned way of churning milk to make butter. The butter goes into the top and someone will stand and shake the pot for 40 minutes to create the butter.
Morocco, Day 5: School for the Blind
This morning everybody from our group joined together to visit the OAPAM school for the blind. We were there for a few hours and were greeted so warmly by the headmaster and the few school children who came to introduce themselves. Unfortunately we had been told that most of the children were on their vacation so they did not have to be in school, but a small group of the older school pupils took their own time out to come and meet us. This was such an insightful visit. Many of us felt very emotional during and afterwards because of the way we had been received, the happiness of the pupils of the school, and the fact that we felt so overwhelmed by their spirit, when they had the burden of such a terrible disability such as sight impairment and blindness. It was incredible to see these children so active, happy and acting as normal school kids would even with their disabilities. They played music, very loudly! Which created a fantastic atmosphere and got people up dancing and singing together. Ishmael probably spoke to everybody at some point, he was so confident and tried so hard to understand us and to speak to us with the language barrier that we all had. However they all did a fantastic job with their English! Much better than my French or Arabic anyway! Nadia was a beautiful young woman with quite severe sight impairment, but she got herself involved and I managed to do some origami with her too. Ana from Textiles got herself involved by bringing along her Henna kit, and she did an amazing job tattooing Nadia’s hand. The rest of us mingled and grouped together to join in with the activities that were going on and to chat with the people from the school. I feel very privileged to have gone on this visit. The children were an inspiration and it was amazing going to meet them, seeing how well they get on and how they don’t seem to let their disabilities get them down, to find out a little more about their culture and how they get about and get on with their day to day lives.
alice eleanor 