Textile Designs

Textile Design

During college I found out I enjoyed work with textile prints and in graduate school I refined my own process of making them. I also focused my thesis (see Academia section) on digital textile prints using original research. I was also in charge of printing student work on our Mutoh fabric printer and steaming the final designs. I learned about how fabric is printed and also how to care for them during my graduate assistantship.

My inspiration for my textiles comes from multiple sources such as the LGBTQIA+ community, mythology/spirituality, and pop culture. I also enjoy the digitization of traditional dyeing techniques such as marbling, shibori, and tie dyeing.

For my print designs I work mainly with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop while using a tablet to do my hand rendered print assets. I draw everything that is found in my prints and I want to have a good amount of details in each one.

I also love working with unique color palettes for my original prints and I use the Pantone system when developing them. When using color I like to experiment with color harmony to create interesting stories. My color palettes for my original prints are not conventional and lean towards eclecticism.

"Mon Petit Chou"

I encountered a print while studying abroad in Paris during graduate school. The print was based off of a sketch done by the couture designer's daughter of artichokes. I knew that I wanted to bring the print back to life and recolor it in a palette that I would personally wear. I took several photos of the original mens "swimming suit" and started rendering it in illustrator. I made several changes to help modernize it and had it printed via Spoonflower. I went through several print strike offs before settling on the final design and making it in a shirt.

"Urban Stripes"

I like to experiment with traditional prints such as plaids and stripes to create unique designs. This combination was inspired by city street and electrical grid lines. The color palette was attributed to San Francisco where water meets pavement. These prints were developed in graduate school and I wore the final design during my study abroad.