Starting a collaborative project made me feel skeptical of what was to come within the following weeks, due to being such a big group. However I was surprised to find, despite our group being one of the biggest, we were a very successful team. We were designing and advertising a collection for Comme des Garçons.
After we organised our roles, we created a mind map using the quote we chose. I think working in a group really helped us to project our ideas further and create an innovative concept. This was because we were able to discuss freely and no one was left out. Everyone had very good ideas, but we were comfortable with each other to dismiss any ideas that we thought weren't going to work well. Ideas that didn't work well, or want to take forward was religion. This was because we felt it was a common concept to use and did not reflect the style of Comme des Garçons.
Eventually we came to our final muse, which was an onion, because we were playing around with the word 'layers'. Myself and the group really liked the idea because onions fit into the style of Comme des Garçons. This included the shape, because I thought it resembled the 'Lumps and Bumps' collection Rei Kawakubo produced. In addition onions were appropriately linked to the part of the quote: '...real conditions of their lives and their relations with their fellow men'. We thought men layer their true feelings with hardened emotions, which was why I thought onions contrast this idea because they can make you cry.
After out mind map, we created a concept board using images from books, containing close ups of onions and abstract pictures which resembled specific parts, and surface design techniques, lighting and mood.
As a designer, myself and my team studied actual onions, sketching and photocopying parts to create silhouettes for our initial designs. Photocopying certain parts of the onion skin was beneficial because I was able to experiment with different shapes. I think working with a main and strong physical muse made it easier for me to home in specific shapes and expand on experimentation. I would have liked to experiment with the shape more if we had more time on the project, although working in a group meant we concluded with enough experimentation and development.
Despite being a designer, I developed a couple of knit ideas which mimicked the shape of onion cells and onion roots. I enjoyed using knit in the designs because it tied into the layering idea, especially as the designs were intended to show was underneath. In general, I like using knit because it is an interesting way to create textured patterns, although I want to concentrate on silhouettes as I want to go into fashion design. I want to collaborate silhuette design with knit when practical, because i don't want to specifically design knit in the future.
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