My final project is titled ‘Stuff’ and is a celebration of second hand shopping and finding beauty in the unloved and unwanted. My favourite past time is browsing charity shops; car boot sales; flea markets; amenity tip shops and any outlets that sell ‘other people’s memories’. The anticipation of discovering new to me treasures provides a thrill which never happens when visiting High Street stores. Buying ‘stuff’ is not always the purpose of my visits. Experiencing the mix of haphazardly displayed wares on rickety trestle tables fills me with glee and has provided me with an extensive portfolio of visual research which has been used extensively in this project. Every  face on each one of my designs reminds me of the place where our eyes (or empty eye sockets) first met. Part of my degree course involved a placement in industry in Portugal and each Saturday I would visit the Mercado de Santa Clara in Lisbon for a visionary fix of colour and comedy in the form of plastic characters and China figurines. A few of which have made their way into several of my designs.

in keeping with the second hand theme of my project, many of my designs have been printed on found and preloved fabrics including vintage table cloths and sheets,  deadstock material and fabric found on the street. They may not have been the easiest fabrics to work with but I wanted to transform unwanted, sometimes ugly textiles into fun, colourful and wearable fabrics. The use of large and bold placement designs such as the clown prints gives the previously unloved fabrics a new identity.

the re-use of existing materials is an important factor in my work and I believe that there is no need to compromise on design if your found materials are slightly imperfect. I thrive on the challenge of saving them from land fill.