Ella S Robinson

To give us a sense of you as a designer, what is your major and why?

As a weave major, I’m drawn to both the complexity and the simplicity of weaving. There's something fascinating about being able to go between a mechanical jacquard loom to weaving between two branches, and exploring everything else in between. Weave has such strong cultural tradition and it’s incredible to practise a discipline that has been around for hundreds of years. Woven design to me is an exploration into structure, the beautiful way yarns and colours transform as they wrap around each other.

 

“If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too" or so says Dr Seuss. How do you get started on a new project?

When I start a project, I tend to already have a clear idea in mind. Often I’ll read the brief a few time and strategies how to get the best possible outcome for both myself and the intended customer. For research, I’ll often look at books for a fresh perspective, then move onto looking at inspiration from other disciplines such as photography and fine art. From here, I’ll create textures and motifs in ink with a bit of colour collage mixed in. This is where the real playing and exploring begins, which comes from my mantra that you have to create a few bad designs before you get to the good ones. It’s often during these exploration sessions I’ll have a moment of clarity and find the best idea to develop.

 

Why textile design? (Or maybe by the end of the course, why not...!)

Textile design is the perfect design for an indecisive person, every day there’s the opportunity to do something different. With each new brief, I aim to try something different and push my skill set in a direction I’ve never been before. Textiles are such a fundamental part of human existence, everyone on the planet uses textiles to express their identity whether consciously or subconsciously, there's something really powerful in that.