Sara Elias
A versatile designer with a passion for utilising innovative technologies to reimagine traditional craft.
A versatile designer with a passion for utilising innovative technologies to reimagine traditional craft.
Final Project
Cynefin (kuh-nev-in) has no direct English translation but can be loosely translated as meaning ‘habitat’, but artist Kyffin Williams believes its meaning is much more complex. He said, “It describes a relationship: the place of your birth and upbringing, the environment in which you live and to which you are naturally acclimatised”.
This project draws inspiration from my upbringing in Wales. Having been raised within a bilingual household of Welsh and English this project interweaves traditional Welsh craft with my personal memories of growing up in Wales.
In the process of my work, I was inspired by the beauty of the traditional craftsmanship of Welsh ceramics, love spoons and blankets. Their design and the process of their creation heavily influenced how I approached making my collection.
Through the use of modern techniques including jacquard and laser cutting, I embed techniques and imagery from the traditional artefacts while using these digital processes to pay homage to the craft while reimagining it for a contemporary audience.
Much of my association with my Welsh heritage is derived from my upbringing in a Welsh-speaking family. In my grandparent’s house in South Wales, Welsh was the primary language spoken day to day and much of the visual imagery takes inspiration from artefacts within the house including wool blankets, the family dresser, ceramics, as well as memories of spending time in their garden.
Block Printing
In reference to traditional welsh love spoon carving, I wanted to honour this technique but carve wood using a laser cutter instead. I designed my own woodblock prints which I then laser cut onto wood and hand printed onto fabric for cushions.
These are my prototypes, I experimented with laser etching onto wood and acrylic to create block print stamps.
Testing stamps on paper and on fabric.
I then decided on my final laser designs and hand printed this onto fabric.
Embossing
Inspired by the etching process on traditional welsh ceramics, I wanted to see how I could incorporate this with different materials. For this piece, I designed a repeat print which I etched into an acrylic tile using the laser, which I then embossed onto leather for a contemporary wall panel piece.
Weaving
My blankets are inspired by traditionally woven welsh blankets which I reimagined in a contemporary geometric style woven with jacquard, a digital weave.
Carving
Inspired by traditional welsh wood carving, I created a wood cut screen piece using the laser cutter with a motif taking inspiration from memories of tomato picking with my grandfather in his garden.
Vitra x Alexander Girard, Competition Winner in partnership with Loughborough University.
During my placement year I worked at TJX Europe (TK Maxx and Homesense) on their Buying and Merchandising programme. Within this, I spent part of the year as an Allocation Analyst responsible for developing and implementing shipping strategies to curate the best mix in stores across Germany, Poland, Austria and The Netherlands. During the second part in Buying, I had the opportunity to meet with retailers from across the globe, research trends and develop collections for product events in store.
During the summer of my placement year, I also spent time at Pattern Textiles London as a Studio Assistant. My role included hand painting and drawing artwork for prints for fashion collections.
This year, alongside my degree, I have also been a marketing assistant at Lboro Vintage, creating content for social media to promote the brand.