Introduction
The "If Walls Could Talk"" Project by the English Heritage was an External Project Brief that was an alternative to doing a work placement. This brief had the same amount of content as the work placement and would therefore have the same outcomes.
The Project was a national event that was taking place at 10 English Heritage Properties which would see performers located around the properties and be disguised as the surroundings. These performers would then share stoies of the property history and then step back into the wall. also the event was to launch the Myths and Legends theme for summer events.
The Project Required:
From the list given to chose 1 location - I chose Bolsover Castle as i hadn't heard of it.
3 Mood Boards from 3 different locations that includes photos, drawings, colour swatches and fabric samples.
A Minimum of 30 designs (10 for each room) to be camouflaged into the walls though after further discussion the ceilings could be used as part of the designing. Also to be designed as Unisex.
3 A3 Garment Design Boards that will have 1 full colour front and back with fabric samples and annotation.
English Heritage
Heaven Drawings
Heaven Drawings
For all of the garments on the 3 pages I used fabric samples to add some design detail. Though the brief asked for the garments to be camouflaged, it was agreed by one of the English Heritage people that the ceiling colours could be used alongside the wall colours. I used the same colour as the wall to camouflage the actor/actress into the walls. The background is the research images I found as the English Heritage didn't give us much information.
The brief also asked for the clothing to be neutral so that actors/actresses could wear them and they had to be able to get them on and off. The fabric samples are as close to my colour palette as I could get and the fastenings are from the 17th Century time period.
Final Design board explaining the fabrics that have been chosen, how the garment is constructed and a bit about why I have chosen it.
For all of the garments on the 3 pages I used fabric samples to add some design detail. Though the brief asked for the garments to be camouflaged, it was agreed by one of the English Heritage people that the ceiling colours could be used alongside the wall colours. I used the same colour as the wall to camouflage the actor/actress into the walls. The background is the research images I found as the English Heritage didn't give us much information.
Mood Boards
One of the rooms I chose to Design for in Bolsover Castle. The heaven room walls only had gold picture frames on brown walls so this became part of the colour scheme and so did the ceiling colours. I decided to draw inspiration from the ceiling especially the angel wings.
The Hell room was a dark brown and didn't have much light coming through except from the doors. I thought that this ties in the perception of hell except for the ceiling which was colourful and just like the heaven room I used it as inspiration for my design ideas.
The fountain garden was a lot more colourful than the heaven and hell rooms. All I was told was that the actor/actresses would be somewhere outside against one of the walls but didn't know which one. I got some inspiration from the garden for the figure templates and used the images I took as part of backgrounds.
One of the rooms I chose to Design for in Bolsover Castle. The heaven room walls only had gold picture frames on brown walls so this became part of the colour scheme and so did the ceiling colours. I decided to draw inspiration from the ceiling especially the angel wings.
Hell Drawings
First board for the hell drawings and used black wings to represent the theme. I used the research images as the background to make each of the boards look a little more interesting. Fabric samples have been used again and as I wanted the garments to be draped I found fabric samples that would allow me to do it. The feather fabric adds to some of the design details and so do the rest of the fabrics.
Found I had more ideas for the heaven and hell rooms than I did for the Venus statue. Everything was done on Photoshop to make colouring in the designs quicker. The brief stated that they had to be in full colour with fabric samples.
Final Board of the hell drawings, where on all of them I have camouflaged some garments completely and others I've only done a bit as I wanted to show a variety of design ideas.
First board for the hell drawings and used black wings to represent the theme. I used the research images as the background to make each of the boards look a little more interesting. Fabric samples have been used again and as I wanted the garments to be draped I found fabric samples that would allow me to do it. The feather fabric adds to some of the design details and so do the rest of the fabrics.
VenusDrawings
First board of the Venus drawings. I ended up designing 12 garments for each room so that I had a variety to choose from. Only 3 fabric samples were chosen for these designs as these were the only ones that had similar colours to my colour palette.
I tried making some of the designs colourful and not so much camouflage and others are totally camouflaged. These ones look better if they were camouflaged into the wall unlike the Heaven and Hell rooms as they were too dark.
Third final Design. I like this one as it incoporates all of the colour palette. Me and a friend went to the same place so we'd agreed that she would design for the fountain garden and I would design for the Heaven and Hell rooms.
First board of the Venus drawings. I ended up designing 12 garments for each room so that I had a variety to choose from. Only 3 fabric samples were chosen for these designs as these were the only ones that had similar colours to my colour palette.
I went to visit the castle for the primary research but the information that was given at the time didn't make a lot of sense as nobody knew of the event so it was hard to know if I took photos of the right rooms until it was clarified at the meeting. Eventually I was given some information about the rooms and the Fountain Garden but by then the work had been done so this was done on little information. In the end the event was cancelled and no final garments were made for the event.