Lisa Doutsas

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

My major is print and from the very beginning I knew that I was going to choose this as my major. I clicked with print right from the start. I really enjoy the process of creating motifs and pattern designs on paper or in CAD and then seeing the end result of the design printed on fabric. That's the exciting part for me!

 

Bricolage is about using and utilising what you find to hand. What tools or techniques do you find you can’t help coming back to?

I love drawing and painting and I have noticed that I always go back to painting with gouache. I just love how you can create smooth textured highlights and shadowed effects to the motif just by layering colours together and blending them with water. I also find it quite easy to control and if you make a mistake you can just go back and rework it. I also have a love for Photoshop, so after I draw or paint my motifs I like to edit and create most of my work on the computer, whether it's designing patterns or product simulations.

 

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

I originally wanted to become a graphic designer and I studied that previously. After a short while I found it wasn't creative enough for me, but with textile design I feel that although it is similar to graphic design, I am not limited when it comes to creating and expressing myself as an individual. I chose textile design as I knew it would broaden my knowledge and expand on what I already knew as a graphic designer. In turn it gives me the freedom to express myself as creatively as I wish.