Freya Burton - BA (Hons) Fashion
Force of Nature
My graduate collection has been an investigation into my love of the natural world which stems from my upbringing in the countryside where I spent my formative years developing my fascination and appreciation for the natural world. My designs are predominately inspired by the animal bones I have collected from my rural area. I am attracted by the various irregular forms, structures, and symmetry of the bones. The shapes of the bones with their contours and negative spaces are the things that I am particularly interested in capturing in my work. The inspiration from the biomorphic shapes also manifests through the textile development, because of the contours and repetition found within both the bone and textile design. I am also inspired by the work of Ernst Haeckel who documented and illustrated the intricacies of natural organisms, many of his meticulous studies have an appealing sense of movement in their repeated forms. I have also developed print designs from the Chladni Figures which were discovered by Ernst Chladni, the figures depict nodal lines formed on a vibrating plate at different frequencies, from which I have created repeat patterns.
My practice is very process based and I find making and forming a 3D sculptural garment to fit the figure a very interesting and sometimes challenging creative process, I have learnt a lot about creating patterns from two-dimensional paper and fabric to create 3D forms. I predominantly explored pattern cutting through working on the stand. I began with printing out bone shapes and draping them on the mannequin. Then moved to taking flat pieces of calico and draping with them, figuring out how to produce my desired end result meant working from the mannequin and making several toiles to achieve the final result.
