Learning at the CAC (Chinese Arts Centre)

Samples for Emma to see:

The punch card is made from the book KnitMaster Volume 4. It was funny though, as the pattern in the book, advices you to punch around the holes that you are actually meant to punch to create the pattern. Which means that the pattern card comes out negative. So I was a bit confused first, when the background color became the pattern color and the second color became the main color. If that made any sense to any of you. What I did, and will do in the future though, is make sure that when I knit with this punch card, I will change the main color in the 2. feeder and the decoration color in to the first feeder. And that way I get continuous pattern, instead of a stripe. Okay I have probably bored the mug out of you now.

These samples are made for a dress that I am designing for my friend Emma. She showed me a model of a dress she wanted, I made a mock up (that will be in the previous post with the test shots for the spring collection). And then we looked out some patterns together and Emma picked this funky retro one!! (Everything in that book is retro though, but this one is screaming retro, especially with the colors I used!) I hope the grey color gives the contemporary effect for it.

Testshots and PHoto Shop playing

Dedicated for Sophie and Gareth:

The spring collection has been under construction and now me and some other creatives are planning to set up another photo shoot for the garments I have produced since January. On wednesday I had a fitting and I took test shots with 3 beautiful women who have kindly offered to model this collection for me. I have also recently set up Photo Shop in my fancy laptop (yeah I know, I didn't have it before, but in my defense I used in school! ... also I struggle with this high tech computer stuff to set it up, yes shame on me), and I just couldn't resist having a little play with the photos last night. I really enjoyed it, haven't really touched Photo Shop since I left university. The Photo Shopping of the photos might not be up to everybody's high professional standards as I tend to like playing with the contrasts and color mainly, so the ones with a critical eye, turn away now. But I tell you this much, if you do, you going to miss all the beauty that it is in these girls (and the knitwear). These photos are just tests and a little glimpse of what will be coming up in a couple of weeks.

The Black Bolero, 100 % lambswool

The Black Top with Phone Motif, 100 % Lambswool, Lambswool with acrylic blend




Blue Dress "Mock-up", 100 % Acrylic "Designed for Emma"

The Hedgehodge Top, 100 % Acrylic

The Grey Top with Cat Motif, 100 % Merino, 100 % Lambswool, Lambswool with acrylic blend




The Jumpsuit, 100 % Acrylic



Thank you for the lovely models, Gemma, Sandra and Leonore, for coming to the fitting. I am looking forward to working with you!

With Love

Valpuri

Short films are good therapy for a sunday flu

Knit and Natter from clive tonge on Vimeo.

Sunday...

Nice Sundays everyone. I haven't been updating my blog as often as I would like. I have quite a few things on my plate at the moment. All good things. I started a work placement in a beautiful knitting studio and shop called MakePiece:

http://www.makepiece.com/

I am learning new techniques with a designer and trying to learn and experience how it is for them to run this small business.

Makepiece is a label with ethics. They have their own sheep, they use domestic knitting machines (that doesn't use electric, same as me).

Tonight MakePiece will be on BBC 1 on countryfile. I am excited to watch that!

Another thing that I will start tomorrow is a workshop artist training scheme at the Chinese Arts Centre.

http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/

The current exhibition there is "The Human Error" that is about the interaction between humans and machines.

"HUMAN ERROR Trailer from Household on Vimeo.

For the exhibition at Chinese Arts Centre, Household have created works that explore the relationship between machines and their users. The smooth operation of our daily lives relies heavily on the assistance of various machines. Technology makes our life easy but frustrates us when it lets us down. The exhibition highlights our reliance on machines to complete daily tasks and emphasises the potential for human error.

The artists have a specific interest in the use of machines in mass production; photocopiers, printers and scanners, which all work to speed up and streamline our work. We easily forget how we managed without these machines before we invented them. Household will produce large scale interactive sculptures, which invite visitors to cooperate in order to make them work. The machines will overcomplicate simple tasks and require a minimum of two or more visitors to run them, encouraging human error. Visitors are encouraged to bring friends or collaborate with other people in order to complete the tasks. The collaboration necessary to operate the machines follows the ethos of Household projects.

The show will open with a week of demonstrations led by the artists. For the duration of the show, video instruction, manuals and diagrams will be left as instructions for visitors to carry out the tasks themselves. The "machines" designed by Household will be suitable for users of all ages.

To guarantee you place on the workshops, please place a booking via Eventbrite using the links below:

Human Error Machines Demonstration with Household artists
Saturday, 19 February 2011
2PM http://human-error-demonstration1.eventbrite.com"

The introduction is from the website:http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/ from the part "What's on?"

Bye for now, I will get better with this updating, that is a promise to myself!

HUMAN ERROR Trailer from Household on Vimeo.

New Samples and two new pieces.

Hello folks!
It has been quiet in this space since last time when I published the images of the collection that came out on November. I had a little bit of a Christmas break, and after that I couldn't wait to get back to my studio.

I have been working on some more summery stuff, and I have this idea of different kinds of tops with a fair isle pattern on the bottom, and lace or cable at the top. I am very into retro motifs at the moments, they are cute and cool at the same time!

Here is some samples that I made earlier this week:







Here is some texture samples that I made in December:






I also made a jumpsuit, but the first version needs some adjustments. It looked good on my friend Olivia, but I didn't have my camera on me when she tried it on. So the first images of it, are presented this more modest way. (See Emma in disguise in one of them, it was an accident, but a funny one!)




In more detail:





Here is the most recent and for me very exciting things that I am working on. The samples at the start of this post are different variations and ideas that I want to make clothes on. It is a glimpse of my next collection. I hope you find it retro and contemporary at the same time.


Close up:




Feel free to write your feedback in the box below. Not in Chinese though please ;)

For more, watch this space !!

V

Fashion Photo Shoot Collection November 2010 Purlpuri

Black Cardigan with lace and cable pattern




Black, pink and brown Cardigan with variations of lace patterns




Grey Cardigan with Black, Pink and White Fair Isle Pattern




Black Tunic with Fair Isle Pattern


Knitted Black Rose


Knitted Sequin Leggings


Knitwear by Valpuri Vihriala
Everything else knitted by hand except the Tunic and the Rose I did with my Toyota K950 single bed Knitting Machine
Designs inspired by Manchester, Elle and Vogue Knitting

Photographer and set designer: Nic Chapman

Models in Order of Appearance: Sandra
Vee
Katie

Make up: Nic Chapman

Styling: Valpuri and Nic

Special thanks goes to everyone really. The models that made everything really easy, were ready for anything and didn't complain about the horrific cold weather we had on the day of the photoshoot. Amazing stuff.

Another Special thanks goes to Nic whose advice and opinions were gold and who made me see a lot of details in the whole process that I didn't think of.

Thanks Thanks, I am excited but also utterly nervous about the feedback. Thanks.

Thanks !