Design from Without

When looking at artists who design from without, or find inspiration from the world around them, it is fascinating to see the kinds of things they come up with.  In class, we learned about Andy Goldsworthy and Lisa Hoke, who both found inspiration from the world around them.  Andy Goldsworthy was able to create ephemeral art that he knew would eventually disappear, by looking at nature and the world around him.  Lisa Hoke was able to create an art piece through finding ideas from plastic cups that she found online.
Referring back to our Stone Soup experience, it was interesting to see how, as a group, we were able to find inspiration from the world around us and from the things that we had collected for the purpose of creating.  Because we saw trees, we decided to try to use the materials we brought and the nature around us to create our own tree.  We, like Andy Goldsworthy and Lisa Hoke, were able to find our inspiration in our surroundings and the items we had.

I have also found inspiration from the world, and been able to design from without.  In high school, I designed and made a dress for my friend.  I found myself inspired by the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I also found inspiration from my friend and what I saw of her style and tastes.  I combined my inspiration from the world around me, the things I had seen, with design from within.  In thinking of what I had seen and discovered, I then thought of how I could personally use the information I had gathered to create something for here that would embody her as a person, with influence from me.  From this, I created a seemingly plain, black, open backed dress with white ribbon trim around the bottom and in the back.

Positive Memories of Design

My first memory of design goes back to when I was 6 years old.  I was also fascinated by my mom's closet, and frequently searched through it for things to dress up in.  There was one skirt, however, that caught my attention.  It was a patterned, purple, flowy skirt with an elastic band.  On my mom, the skirt reached her ankles.  I would wear the skirt as a dress because I loved the way it flowed and swished when I twirled.
Many times, I would take the skirt and arrange it in many different ways around me, by wearing it on one shoulder, tucking the skirt in on some sides, and twisting it.  I loved the way the skirt was designed.  It was long, and it was flowy to the point that when I twirled fast enough, it would float around me.  The material was silky and felt nice against my skin.
In retrospect, I think I decided to be a fashion designer because of this skirt.  Because I loved so much to arrange the skirt in different ways, I thought that I would grow up and design many more things that I would also be able to arrange.  I hoped that I could share the joy that I got from creating new things with everyone else, and I remember prancing around the house, showing off my new creations to my mom, and beaming when I was praised.
To this day, the skirt is still in my closet.  It is no long long enough to be a dress on me, but the memories that I have of it inspiring in so many ways will always be with me.  It has a couple tears now, in the fabric, but I can't bring myself to throw it away, because I have many positive memories with it.