Tracy Kendell rcieved a BA in Fine arts and worked alot with screen printing during this time. She also has worked as a technical support at the Royal College. Tracy collects her Imagery the same way we would do, photographs, found imagery etc. She has a huge store of these images, which she can draw upon at any time. I was also delighted to hear her thoughts on organization, which she Believes isn't everything (which I find quite a comfort) saying 'Don't be neat don't be tidy' and don't work to a strict formula.
In 1996 she began looking at wallpaper design. She began looking at wallpaper for herself, as she was looking to create something for her own Kitchen. This is when she created the 'Knife, Fork and Spoon' design. On her course the other students had invited the editor of Elle decoration Ilsa Crawford in to look at there designs. Kendell says she was under prepared, no business cards, no preparation, but this was the start of her career in Wallpaper, as she was asked to have 'Knife, Fork and Spoon' appear in Marie Claire. This subsequently lead to a number of jobs. She again insists that she was very lucky and how nothing had been planned, and all the work she had created would be work she would use and buy herself.She went on to explain copyright and giving the example of letting 'Habitat' have the rights to show her design on a lamp shade only.
She showed us a number of her work, starting with 'Feather'. This design is similar to how Knife Fork and spoon works. The image of the Feather was photocopied, and then blown up to a large size, as is the same with 'Stem of Grass'. The images appear 2.15 meters tall, which means the selection of the correct imagery is essential as it will be blown up to such proportions that every detail will be vital. She selects the individual blades of grass/feathers out of a huge number of them, giving herself enough variables and choice.
Tracy Exhibits in Trade shows. In one particular show in London, the space was hung with trees and greenery, creating a set path for the viewers to be lead around, interjected in between this greenery were wallpapers, suspended from boards, allowing the viewer to touch them. She wanted to create a living space and the response was good. Burberry approached her asking to create window displays for them, but she says she couldn't physically do it at the time
Tracy uses Laser Cutting alot in her work, and enjoys playing with perspective. She likes to look at wallpaper in relation to the wall, how it interacts with it, and how it can change it. 'Stitched Text' Wallpaper is Shakespears 'Midsummer's Night Dream' written by her sister and then digitally stitched.'Sequin' Came from a window display from 'Betsy Johnson's' house, the display was of a Vintage Flapper dress covered in Sequins. So she set about creating a wallpaper completely covered in sequins. The placement of the sequin was in regular intervals and followed a pattern. She says how she could have created it on photoshop, but liked the handmade quality, and wanted that to show through. She experimented a lot with the set pattern of dots that she used to create the Sequin wallpaper, this time using shwarkovski crystals. The paper she used for the actual wallpaper was non woven paper, which is incredibly strong. The sequin wallpaper lead to her decorating a Robin day chair, coverng it completely in sequins. 9000 were used, all hand stitched. She has also done this again to the chair but with buttons. 'Jigsaw' wallpaper followed the same pattern as 'Sequin' and the Shwarkovski crystal wallpaper, using the the same pattern but iwth Jigsaw pieces. 2000 per square meter. Her digital work includes 'Stacks of Magazines' which lead to 'Stacks of books'. This was simply stacks of the afor mentioned, photographed and used as wallpaper.
When at a flea market in Paris she bought a piece of lace for 3 euros, and then exposed this image onto a white screen. 'Whistles used it for a re-fit and she earned £40,000- £50,000 for it. She has also worked with Frost French in designing there changing rooms and drew inspiration from her button wallpaper.
Her work has apperead on the front of 'Interior' magazine and has had spreads in this magazine a number of times. She has also just took on an agent to sell her work on New York. When asked 'How do you
know when something works' she replys simply with 'its the purity of it , not to complicated, simplicity works.'
I loved this lecture, and Tracy Kendells work got me really motivated with my own. At the end of the lecture she showed us what she was working on now, which involed her experimenting with paper and cutting into it to create new textures and shapes. I found this interesting as it is similar to what I am doing myself at the moment. Her work appears very time consuming and must require a tremendous amount of patiants. This shows through in her pieces, they all show how much time and effort has been put into each one, and I like to see that in any finished piece of work. I also like how she has translated 'wallpaper' to her own meaning, finding different ways to present it and attach it to walls. When speaking of her work, her audiance is not really the public, and most her her work would be unsuitable for the home. Though again this appeals to me, as shes creating it for herself, which I believe all work she be approuched like this. I find Interior design very interesting, and may look at my work and fins a way for it to apeeal to this area.
