Fakeha Naeem Textile Designer

I always try to create designs which are versatile that could be used for both apparel as well as bed linen and upholestry. I like making designs within a design sort of creating depths or levels. Like a frame within a frame composition one creates while photographing . I came across this really nice composition of bottles while searching on the web one night and it inspired me to add a lace pattern I was working on from before.Once the design was complete color ways made and the repeat pattern done I decided to map them design in different layout on apparel and bed linen. Here is what I came up with.

My first reaction when I was told that I would be required to weave with natural material was, what would that include? and then there it all lay right in front of me on a small table a roll of cane fibers, dry leaves, some putsun ( natural form of jute fibers) and I thought to myself how in the world am I going to weave through that and could I possibly shape out of that . Here are some of my initial samples of material exploration via plain weave.

Woven Yardage My weaving temptation got me to weave a larger width and length this time. I decided to weave yardages utilizing the basic weave design patterns (nothing fancy just weave a fabric to enjoy the true beautiful pattern design of the fabric and the potential a fabric holds). I decided to work with a basic weave design called the Rose Pattern Weave and a Reverse Rose Pattern Weave, using only white cotton yarn as the warps and one single cotton colored yarn Pink for the Rose Pattern Weave design and Blue cotton colored yarn for the Reverse Rose Pattern weave design as wefts. I woven about 3 yards in length and 45 inches width for the Rose Pattern Weave design pattern and 4 yards with the same width using the Reverse Rose pattern weave. I thoroughly enjoyed weaving my own personal yardages of fabrics to be used to create almost any kind of product out of it. There is no comparision to a handwoven fabric its simply just beautiful.

One of the things with lines which I find intriguing and I usually like to experiment with my designs is how it can give that extra element to a simple motif or design. How a simple composition comes to life by just adding a few random lines in a perfectly still composition which could comprise of still life, nature, figurative design etc, lines create drawings, merging from one point to another to create an image. This was one of the print I had created during my school years to explore more about lines and how they react or give balance to a drawing when submerged with still life.I later converted the set motif in a half drop to make the composition more interesting and create a flow of lines, like flow of water or subliminal wave.

There are certain era's a designer feels most close to or can relate to thinking it best depicts their art work or their thinking pattern. The simplicity of life and people of the sepia and black and white days are my favorite. During my thesis I had taken a few pictures of Jinnah House in my country which was built after 1947 for the founder of our country. The building stays in its full grandeur till today. I used the photography of this house created some digital designs for apparel using motifs such as Turkish and Blue Pottery motifs and created  compositions recently for a client when I was working freelance. Attached here are the designs that I came up with.