At our meeting last week, Colleen Quen shared her initial pattern studies. I was awed by how much hand work will go into these garments and was struck by how inventive and intricate these creations will be.
Colleen Quen with dress form and pattern sketch.
Colleen's pattenr sketch of the diameter of the hanging garment cage frame from which the lantern like pieces will dangle.
Colleen explaining the haning lantern like shapes. She will be creating 60 or so of these!
Fabrics from Spoonflower and from Kent State University's School of Fashion's TechStyleLAB
Colleen Quen's Emotion Piece sketch
Colleen Quen's Emotion piece concept sketch
Colleen Quen's Topography piece concept sketch
Today I drove the swatches I received from Spoonflower up to Colleen Quen. In reviewing the fabrics this is how Colleen wishes to order them. The two left images will be on cotton lawn from Spoonflower (I just put in the order for 10 yards of each). The other four designs will be ordered from TechStyleLAB at Kent State University.
This morning I had a meeting with Colleen Quen and Rick Lee to review textile designs, color, fabrics and scale. We also decided on a name for the installation: Suface & Shape: Reflections on Silicon Valley. The museum wished to modify the name to fit the grant application, so the final name is:
TECHstyle SoftWEAR: Surface & Shape
Below: I was amazed by how quickly Colleen honed in on the patterns she was draw to for each garment. She will be making one for a woman and one for a man. She selected three fabrics for each.
Below are the revisions to colors and scaling of designs after Colleen's feedback. The top row is for the woman's garment. The bottom textile row is for the man's garment. I ordered silk test swatches from
Kent State University's School of Fashion's TechStyleLAB and cotton lawn swatches from
Spoonflower .
Rick shared some great concept sketches for the installation. I am so very excited for this collaboration!
