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SUMMER
HORIZON
Taking inspiration from a master painting from the Mughal Era in North of India and abstracting its visual qualities, summer horizon is a pillow design for residential application that pays tribute to India's rich cultural heritage.
OVERVIEW
"Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait"painted by Chitarman, recto: dated 1627–28 (source: The Met) is a Mughal miniature painting that portrays power and beauty through its use of color and symbolism. How may we work with the richness of existing cultural examples? And, how can designers help preserve overlooked art forms? Summer Horizon unites different time periods bringing the opulent artwork of the Mughal Era into a modern day application, combining it with today’s technologies and printing capabilities.
Outcome
Textile Design
Home Accessory Design
Timeline
August '19 - December '19
My Role
Industrial Design
Design Concept
Design Research
Color Analysis
Fabrication
Advisor
Meredith Erickson
PROCESS
The design process observes a comprehensive analysis of the colors used in the master painting, and abstracts the visual language to form the basis of creating a pillow design.
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Color grid is a well-balanced composition and a visual analysis in a 6x6 grid that represent the main values of light, midtone and dark in the painting.
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Color impression - A written analysis of the original artwork
"Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait" by Chitarman, 1627–28
Image Source: Metmuseum.org
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Module design is based on essential forms, spaces, shapes and line qualities from the painting and patterns from the time period of the painting that have the same visual language (form, line quality).
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Pattern Refinement is abstract, asymmetrical, and freely composed of larger and smaller areas. Done in both grayscale and color.
PROTOTYPING
The fabric choice was driven by the feel of opulence during the mughal era, and combined with today’s technologies and printing capabilities. The refined patterns were assembled digitally and printed on cotton sateen sheets to retain the silky tactility with vivid colors. To complete the look, a color matched piping brought the faces of the pillow together with frayed ends/tassels at the corners.
OUTCOME
Summer Horizon is a pillow design for residential application. Abstracting the Mughal miniature in its portrayal of power and beauty to a visualization in color, each motif was inspired and designed from various elements within the painting. The resulting composition highlights a representation of the main subject surrounded by a radiant halo in warmer hues layered with cooler shades in the background.
REFLECTION
As I review the design direction of this project, I learnt how to complete a process of working with the richness of existing cultural examples to create design. Applying a knowledge of color relationships to product design, I experienced how a small accent of color can be a powerful inclusion.
I also realized that not everything should be digitally reproduced, sometimes it takes human handiwork to elevate the aesthetic feel. For example, the radiant halo that was made on Adobe Illustrator may have been more impactful if done by hand using painting or dyeing techniques. This could help incorporate more elements of cultural art and craft to modern day products, and aid in the preservation of overlooked art forms.
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Painting palettes are carefully selected colors from the grid, in terms of hue, value and intensity. Even a small accent of color can be a powerful inclusion.
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Full palette - A visual and emotional assessment of the most important colors used in the painting.
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Simplified palette - 6-10 hues that are essential in expressing the color impact of the painting.
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Adjacencies are strips of significant colors that are touching each other in the painting and will be used as pairings in the final design.
Color Impression: 6x6 color grid along with a written analysis of the original artwork
Cut up bar graph: Printed, cut by hand, and grouped colors into strips of textile pattern.
Product in context
Painting palettes: 13 selected colors simplified to 8 colors and 4 adjacencies
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Color Bar Graphs are bands of color of the same height, but varying in width depending on proportion of color in painting.
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Cut up bar graph - Printed, cut by hand, and grouped colors into strips of textile pattern.
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Simplified bar graph - Scanning and uploading the cut up graph on a computer, graphing only the colors for textile print.
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Module design: Finalized modules in black outline and color.
Images of the fabrication process.
OVERVIEW
"Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Pendant Set With His Portrait"painted by Chitarman, recto: dated 1627–28 (source: The Met) is a Mughal miniature painting that portrays power and beauty through its use of color and symbolism. How may we work with the richness of existing cultural examples? And, how can designers help preserve overlooked art forms? Summer Horizon unites different time periods bringing the opulent artwork of the Mughal Era into a modern day application, combining it with today’s technologies and printing capabilities.
Outcome
Textile Design
Home Accessory Design
Timeline
August '19 - December '19
My Role
Industrial Design
Design Concept
Design Research
Color Analysis
Fabrication
Advisor
Meredith Erickson
ANORA
AMBIENT NOSES
A cross-modal toolkit comprising a family of smart lighting fixtures for the home that sense dangerous gasses for those who don’t have the ability to smell.
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