Hannah Paren - MA/MSc Textiles
Growth
As a textile artist and designer, I use exuberant colour within hand and digital embroidery processes. My MA Textiles practice has led me on a journey to push embroideries boundaries and create a 3D soft sculpture plant-scapes of fantastical foliage. Bridging art, craft and design my work acts as a form of healing and growth informed by my previous career as a Nurse. I create colourful, stylized botanical textile foliage installations providing a restorative and FUN-ctional use for both the designer and viewer, enabling the work to thrive where real plants can’t.
Inspired by the work of Kaffe Fassett, my growing houseplant collection and using a material led design process, I digitize my hand painted designs on the Ethos Software and then have the digital embroidery machine stitch my design at 1000 stitches a minute. I then manipulate the fabric designs and my embroideries into plantscapes which is on display at on the second floor of the Benzie Vertical Gallery.
Research conducted during my Colour, Material & Finish module into chromatherapy principles and psychological and physiological influences of colour led me to find a link to my current works and my previous profession as a Nurse. As a designer processing grief, I want to create a fun yet restorative piece for the viewer to immerse themselves in. My signature colour palette has been created through intertwining creativity and mindfulness and this work is an example how we can sustain a positive state of wellbeing through biophilic inspired design using vibrant, abstracted and stylised foliage indoors.
The modularity and materiality of my designs mean they can be deconstructed and repurposed with longevity in mind, a concept I am still exploring in my current work.
In addition to this I have been exploring surface pattern design using photos of the 3D embroidered works and digitally printing them on a range of fabric with interior and fashion contexts in mind.
The year so far has been of considerable personal and professional transformation. I look forward to revealing my final project Growth in September.
