Adamley Silk - live brief

After creating the design using the sea horse, I felt really inspired by the decorative feel of the animals, so I decided to consider using more animals in my designs. After researching some more I felt motivated to produce more drawings. In order to play to the target audience I decided to try and use animals that have power and strength, emphasising the essence of masculinity. I chose to work with an eagle, knowing the curve and general shape of the body would provide a strong link to a paisley shape aesthetic, then other powerful animals such as a lion, stag and a bear. I spent a long time on these drawings, knowing that I wanted to capture lots of detail within the animal, I decided that this would work well in helping disguise the animal to a certain degree, I did this because I wanted my designs to focus initially on colour and pattern, until you look closer and then notice the detail and realise that the design is formed from animals. 

So after completing my drawings I started to play around with turning them into designs, I found that some of the animals worked better than others. For example I was surprised to find that the eagle, the shape I thought would work best, was challenging to place into a pattern that didn’t seem too fragmented. Then the lion head, one which I thought might not be as successful developed into one of my favourite designs. With this design I like the idea that the pattern forms diamond shapes in a simple repeat which is what initially grabs your eye, until you look closer and notice the details. 

In terms of colours for my designs I tried to vary my range, using completely different colour pallets for each design. I wanted to experiment with a range of bright colours and pastels, whilst trying to keep a rich tone, as it is something I feel is fairly important and predominant in men’s accessories, it seems to add an element off class and sophistication which I feel would be best suited for the Adamley company.  Overall I am pleased with my final collection, I left out some designs which I preferred in terms of colour mood and style which seemed less refined and included a couple of the higher developed designs that were a little more out of my comfort zone. So overall I think it displays range and variety, and whilst I like some designs more than others I figured this would be down to personal choice