Ella Robinson

Orange, Yellow and Green, 2006
Balsa wood and poly-cotton
12 x 15.5cm

Ella Robinson is a talented young artist whose work celebrates vibrant colour, pattern and unexpected textile materials. She is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, London.

Working with both found and purchased media, she creates one-off hand crafted pieces inspired by the colours of the urban environment and the charm of the coast.

Cream and Brown, 2006, polypropylene and poly-cotton (shown flat), 35.5 x 42.5cm

Cream and Brown, 2006, polypropylene and poly-cotton (shown curved), 35.5 x 42.5cm (when flat)

 Red and Blue, 2006
Balsa wood and poly-cotton (shown curved)
37 x 46.5cm (when flat)

Biography

Ella Robinson was born in Brighton (UK) in 1984, and her passion for art was first realized during experimental A-Level lessons, where numerous found materials were used to create works: ring pulls from drinks cans, large pieces of wood found in skips, scraps of materials and ribbon. She found it more exciting to work three-dimensionally with found materials, discovering their unique properties, rather than to paint or draw.

Formal study

Robinson studied Multi Media Textiles at Loughborough University, where the same principles of re-use and the embracing of the everyday were encouraged. Here too began 

Turquoise and Black Fabric Design, 2006,
Ribbon and poly-cotton
36 x 29cm

her love of marrying vibrant colors to striped imagery.

After graduation Robinson was selected by Texprint as one of the best 24 graduating textile designers in the UK, going on to exhibit in Paris and Hong Kong, and was awarded the Texprint “Colour Prize”. As a result of this, she then spent three months in Como, Italy, undertaking an internship in Product Finishing at Ratti, an international luxury textiles company.

From 2007 to 2009 she undertook a Master’s Degree at the Royal College of Art, London, where she studied Mixed Media Textiles. 
Her summer show featured the more concluded and larger-scale results of one year’s experimentation with both bought and drift wood, used in conjunction with purchased materials such as rayon thread, stranded cotton, and plastic tubing, to create vibrant and striped decorative objects and sculptural pieces.

Black and Transparent, 2006
Polypropylene and poly-cotton
15 x 18cm

Canoe Cocktail, 2009, stranded cotton and driftwood

Professional work

Since graduating, Robinson has continued to combine found wood with more traditional textile media. 

She has also launched “Driftwood Accessories”, a range of necklaces and brooches made from embroidered and wrapped wood fragments. These were previewed at The Knit and Stitch Shows (2009) in both London and Harrogate after Robinson was selected to exhibit within their Graduate Showcase.

Spinning Turtle, 2009, rayon thread and driftwood, 42.5 x 20.5 x 5cm 

Elisa Strozyk

Elisa Strozyk

by Caroline Aufort

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

When you think about designed object, lot of super famous designers and object came into your mind, but the essence of design is more about innovation of shapes and matters, then it can become part of our culture.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

That's exactly what Elisa Strozyk is making, turning wood into flexible textile : surprising and playful way to use this material ! The outcome is really fantastic, and shows us that innovation is still part of the game, using traditional material to create new forms, reconnecting us to real feelings and a new tactile experience.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

he explained the world around us is becoming immaterial, with all the way we have to communicate with people, by mail, messages, calls, using internet to live, buy, get informations of the world : a society of pictures and waves. The place for printed and matters is becoming tiny, but making it luxury and precious.

And that's what she want : "Giving importance to surfaces that are desirable to touch can reconnect us with the material world and enhance the emotional value of an object."

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

There is also a part of  earth care in her work process, as she said "Another way to save resources is working with reused or recycled objects and material waste. Also it is crucial to aim for a closer relationship between subject and object.This can be achieved through more flexibility and changeability, the possibility of growth or surprising elements. In the future we will have to deal with more waste and less resources. Therefore it is fundamental to be aware about life cycles of objects. That means to use material that is able to grow old beautifully. "

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

Born in Berlin, Strozyk studied at prominent arts colleges at a young age, ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris and KHB (Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee) in Berlin, before she received her masters in Future Textile Design from London’s Central Saint Martins in 2009.

photo courtesy of elisa strozyk

There is no doubt the young woman is particularly well-qualified when it comes to design pedigree, but it is the artistry, originality and use of symbolism, in which her works and approach display a depth and maturity beyond her years, considering she is only 28 years old, –and is already capturing hearts and minds the world over.