Artist Profile:Fred Butler

Fred Butler

 This particular image is from SS13 collection of Fred Butlers. Here is a small quote from Elle Website about his work.

"Accompanied by a buzzing soundtrack (literally), eccentric accessory designer Fred Butler's SS13 collection was inspired by the humble bumble bee.

'I wanted everything to be gold!' says Butler's, and that it certainly was. Intricate patchwork rucksacks, bum-bags, gilt chain metal belts and oversized vizors were adorned with irredescent daisies.

Floral clusters were seen growing out of statement high wedges, honeycomb shaped head phones were high shine and box clutches were hexagonal.

After three seasons on schedule, Butler's off the wall, up beat accessories have secured her a cult celebritry following. We foresee her stellar cast of fans, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Beth Ditto making a bee line for the collection!"

Again, it was thanks to the theory 'curating an exhibition' peer presentations that introduced me to the work of Fred Butlers

London Based designer who has worked collobratively to create props for fashion stylists,including creating various headpieces for Lady Gaga.He has also collobrated with Photographer Tim Walker.

Alumni from University fo Brighton, studying Fashion Design, Fred Butler had emerged on the fashion scene in very recent years, and could become very well be the next big thing.

I Like her work because she is very similar to Petra Storrs in the sense of shape interest,however Tim Butlers work is also very colour orientated, which is very exciting and captivating.

Artist Profile:Petra Storrs

Petra Storrs:

Set and Costume designer

Petra storrs is a contempory designer who works on film,music videos,set,costume,and advertising design.She was brought up in oxfordshire and is now living in Hackney.

 It wasnt until today, after attending other student presentations that i was knowledgable on this artist.Her work caught my eye straight away because i feel some of her work is very similar to Oskar Schlemmers, due to the exaggerated use of shape.Moreover having previously done a workshop based on paper dress making, her work was inspirational in showing how current practisiing artists are also using materials such as paper to develope qand push their designs further.Moreover, i think her method of costume/set design is very like the work that i would like to create, it is very modern,innovative and quirky.After having visited her website, i found out that she has been in many recent newspaper articles as an upcoming designer to watch, due to her popular and unique work. She has worked with many big figures, such as Florence and the Machine,Paloma Faith and Lady Gaga, alongside exhibiting work for the V&A fashion week Anniversary show.After researching her further, i am going to include her into a project i am currently working on as inspiration. I think it will encourage me to develope shape within my work and use alternative materials to explore my ideas and help with sample making.

She has inspired me to reconsider how i work and i think she may now be a predominant influence in alot of my work.

Extract from We Heart:Lifestyle and Design Magazine.Interview with Petra Storrs

"Do you think location affects creativity?Being in London puts you in the right place at the right time,

 to take up the many work opportunites that are unique to London. It’s super competitive and every one 

is pushing, and struggling to succeed. I think after a while it can be too much though, and it’s important to

 get away from it regularly so you can miss it and come back.

     Is Britain’s creative industry too London-centric?It would be nice for it be a little more spread out. I have heard there are hot spots… Falmouth, Nottingham, Brighton, Somerset… perhaps the BBC moving out of London will have a positive effect.

The Swinging ’60s, punk, Hacienda-era Manchester… is there one period of intense British creativity that you’d like to have been a part of, and why?I think I’m more arts and crafts movement – William Morris – than Swinging ’60s, punk, or the Hacienda!

Are there any quintessential British traditions that inform your work?Most recently the tradition of Afternoon Tea, I just completed a tea project, Camellia and the Rabbit with performance artist Rachel Snider, a fantastic London-based performance artist and theatre maker. We collaborated with Rachel to design the props and costume for her solo show, developing a collection of otherworldly objects to enhance her captivating performance, as she tells stories from her life threading them together in a celebration of Afternoon Tea.It was an exciting project for me as we where able to work with lots of crafts people to get some really amazing items made, like an armour-maker in France who handmade the metal strainer outfit and giant tea spoon from steel. The show is now ready, with its first unveiling coming soon.

Quentin Tarrantino

Having recently seen the new Tarrantino film, Django Unchained,i struck up an interest in researching his method of work.

I have never previously had much interest in Tarrantino films, until seeing this one. It was insightful as i enjoyed it much more than expected, and the costumes caught my attension more than i expected also.After research into reviews, it has been said that it is one of Tarrantinos best films yet, and it was a long overdue attempt at a spaghetti western film.However i dont think it can be said that its most famous feature in being a tarrantino film is the costume, but instead the comical voilent nature of the film.

Django was set prior to the Civil war, and has context of slavery, which is bluntly and heavily portrayed within the film.Some would say that it is insensitivie but others would say that at no point it becomes an overwhelming feature of the film,but instead becomes a background feature to a comical western in the style of tarrantino.

After watching Django, i decided to watch another, Inglorious Basterds. And again i was suprised to be so interested in the context of the film, the costume work and the historical references within the film.What i like most about the film is the contrast between national army uniforms, next to the glamourous gowns worn by the female roles.