Top 10 songs featuring a colour

The first entry for the year is appropriately my first entry for the colour blog. The SDC and the Colour Experience will be talking to our local radio station Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB) tomorrow at 12 noon to promote The Colour Experience Project.

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As part of the show, we’ve been asked to give our top 10 favourite tracks, so of course we couldn’t miss this opportunity to pick songs with colour in the title. This has actually caused as much enthusiasm in the office as the broadcast itself, with much debate as to what should be included in the playlist. So much so that the SDC staff were willing to share their personal favourites, a selection of which are included below:

Anonymous 1:

1. Purple Rain – Prince
2. Certain Shade of Green – Incubus
3. Paint It Black – Rolling Stones

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Anonymous 2:

1. 99 Red Balloons – Nena
2. Blue Monday – New Order
3. Ruby Through The Looking-Glass – Tori Amos

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Anonymous 3:

1. Profondo Rosso [remix] - Goblin
2. In The Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
3. Evergreen - Mostly Autumn

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Anonymous 4

1. Into the White - The Pixies
2. Green Gloves - Tha National
3. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt 1 - The Flaming Lips

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Anonymous 5 (NB all covers)

1. Fields of Gold - Maxi Priest
   
2. Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy
   
3. The Rose - Westlife

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Anonymous 6

1. Mr Blue Sky - ELO
   
2. Back in Black - AC/DC
   
3. Lilly the Pink - Scaffold

Once started, this game is additive! Why not add your selection in the comment box and the final BCB playlist will be posted tomorrow…

by AnikE

Colour: Design & Creativity - latest issue

Issue 3 of the SDC journal Colour: Design & Creativity - published online today! - contains a fascinating range of articles on colour from leading artists and scientists working in this important field.

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This issue has been published in association with CREATE (Colour Research for European Advanced Technology Employment), a group of colour professionals who have come together to promote and exchange research and knowledge through a series of conferences and training courses. Their long-term objective is to develop with artists, designers, technologists and scientists a cross-disciplinary approach to improving colour and print.

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Freely available to all, this issue includes articles by:

-Majed Chambah (France) looking at ways of restoring movie prints by digital means

-Reiner Eschbach (USA) highlighting areas of colour reproduction that can and cannot be undertaken scientifically

-Alessandro Rizzi (Italy) reporting on a study into the properties and the limits of colour matching functions when applied in a visual context
-John McCann (USA) bridging the art and science of colour, analysing the work of early photographers and the characteristics of some of the Old Master paintings

-Carinna Parraman (UK) showing how artists and scientists have investigated the optical properties of the juxtaposition of colour.

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Other contributions are by Maria Musso (Argentina) who looks at the relationship between colour and environmental protection in textiles, Victoria Watson (UK) who reveals the concepts involved in the creation of her ‘air grid’ installations (pictured above), and Simten Gundes and co-authors (Turkey) who present a historical review of the development of Turkish tile art.

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Following on from the acclaim received for both issue 1 and issue 2, it is hope the latest installment of this exclusive journal from the SDC will be as well received. Why not have a read of the journal articles yourself and then let us know what you think: www.colour-journal.org
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by CMcN

Wonderland Project - Exhibition in Belfast

The Wonderland Exhibition opened yesterday in Belfast and runs until the 6 Nov 2008 at the Ormeau Baths Gallery. We've covered the Wonderland Project a lot recently, with a full feature in the latest issue of the SDC members' magazine The Colourist. Wonderland is a visual art exhibition, events and education programme which came about by a joint belief that drastic new thinking is required to address today's environmental issues. It is the result of the three-year collaboration between INTERFACE at the University of Ulster, scientist Prof. Tony Ryan and designer Helen Storey.
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The exhibition in Belfast will focus on how the fabrics were made and the thinking behind them (read more here). Not only will visitors get a chance to see the ‘disappearing dresses’ up-close, there is also plenty opportunity to discover the driving force behind the team’s vision of a sustainable world. There are numerous workshops and masterclasses being run by the experts at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, a full listing of which is available in the related-article here and on the gallery website.
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by CMcN

New galleries & student profiles

Now the summer is (almost) over, we thought it was about time to show off some colourful designs of the students we have met over the last few months. The galleries on the SDC sites will also get updated very soon!

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SDC Colour & Textiles Award at GFW

It was an inspiration to once again be amongst all the young designers at Graduate Fashion Week this year. Here are some images of two of the graduates we met whose designs were enter for the SDC Colour & Textiles Award 2008. To find out more, read their full profiles on ColourClick.

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Winner: Laura Fauvel : : Profile

Graduated: 2008

Degree: BA (Hons) Fashion (Womenswear/Textiles)

Ravensbourne (London)

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Above: Laura's designs

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Shortlisted: Louise Simmonds : : Profile

Graduated: 2008

Degree: BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Northbrook College (Sussex)

Above: Louise's designs

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SDC Supports Texprint First View
A whole host of deserving young designers received recognition as recipients of Texprint First View prizes in July. All the six prize winners are featured on ColourClick, with a full profile available of the Colour Prize winner.
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COLOUR PRIZE: Eleanor Feddon : : Profile
Degree: BA Multi-Media Design
Loughborough University

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INTERIOR FASHION: Victoria Shepherd

Degree: BA Multi-Media Textile Design

Loughborough University

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PRINT: Hannah Jeffries

Degree: BA Textile Design

Loughborough University

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WEAVE: Elizabeth Jones

Degrees: MA Woven Textile Design, RCA

BA (Hons) Textile Design

Surrey Institute of Art & Design

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BREAKING NEW GROUND: Helen Stark

Degree: BA Textile Design

University College Falmouth

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KNIT: Ella Jade

Degrees: MA Textiles, RCA

BA (Hons) Fashion & Textile Design

Liverpool John Moores University

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by CMcN

Colour in China

Colour technology has been the focus of the SDC-sponsored conference that has been taking place in Shanghai over the past few days - specifically with the focus on sustainability and best practice in the textile supply chain. (Read more about this event on the president's blog.)
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And colour with an eco-edge also features in Beijing at the moment - where visitors to the Olympics this summer can look forward to more than just history's largest sporting event. They'll also be able to glimpse the world's largest colour LED display combined with China's first photovoltaic system to be integrated into a glass curtain wall.


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This groundbreaking project applies sustainable and digital media technology to the curtain wall of a building complex near the site of the 2008 Olympics. The GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall transforms the building enveloping it into a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle. This screen will keep the resolution low, catering to arty abstract visuals, while keeping the carbon footprint low too. Some other of the world's biggest new green architectural projects are also in Beijing, including the award-winning Water Cube - it's big, it's blue (and green) and it's highly sustainably. Read more


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SDC link to LED article here
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by CMcN

Winner of SDC Colour & Textiles Award!

SDC award winner Laura Fauvel pictured with Chris Sargeant
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Laura Fauvel from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication in London was crowned the winner of this year's SDC Colour & Textiles Award at Graduate Fashion Week. The Gala Show where all the winners were announced took place a week ago today - and what a glittering event it was! SDC staff and guests mingled with the likes of top designers Zandra Rhodes and Katie Greenyer of Pentland -
a member of this year's GFW mentoring panel. But most of all it was thrilling to meet the three students whose work had been recognised at such a high level and shortlisted for our award at GFW. Along with winner Laura, congratulations also go to the other finalists Louise Simmonds (Northbrook College) and Gadon Liu (University of East London).
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The judges - David Saunders (the designer behind label David David) and Chris Sargeant (SDC vice-president fashion/design) - had a formidable task when it came to the judging process as more colleges than ever nominated students for our award. But they were unanimous when it came to choosing the winner, impressed by Laura's sophisticated designs, which were reminiscent of birds of prey and had a colour palette to match. We will be showcasing Laura's work in our magazine and in our online galleries in the not-too-distant future, so watch this space!
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We were thrilled also that two of our patron colleges had winning students also - Ria Thomas from Nottingham Trent University walked away with the Pringle of Scotland Visionary Knitwear Award; and the National Magazine ‘First Word’ Journalism Award went to Jennifer Weibking from UCCA Epsom – who had all the three shortlisted students in this category. A full list of winners will be available on the GFW website in due course.
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But it's not all about the awards. Each year the GFW exhibition itself is jam-packed with an amazing array of truly inspiring talent, with literally thousands of design portfolios on show. But more on that in subsequent posts . . .
For the moment, it's all about our winner Laura. Congratulations again!
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by CMcN

Connecting Colleges with Colour @ GFW

And so Graduate Fashion Week is upon us! It starts on Sunday and runs through to next Thursday. We are just about ready to head to London and by the time the exhibition opens, our stand will be a (colourful) shining beacon that entices people to come and find out all about the SDC. The message that we want to get across to everyone we meet at GFW this year is how the SDC can connect colleges with colour. There are lots of ways . . . come and meet us at stand D106 and find out how!



As well as sponsoring the Colour & Textiles Award at GFW, the SDC will also be running a colour perception competition for students every day at our stand (a sneak preview is given in the image above). We'll be asking whether, when starting out to create a fabric or print, do designers realise the importance that colour perception can have on that design. With a bit of creativity and knowledge about how colours interact with each other, there are ways of tricking people into seeing more colours in a design than there actually are. On the Education Day (Thursday 12th), we will also have interactive presentations at various points throughout the day to inspire budding designers. Come and visit us at Earls Court 2 at stand D106. More details about Graduate Fashion Week are available at: http://www.gfw.org.uk/
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by CMcN