Theres nothing like a bit of Self promotion!

As a designer, I am aware that the industry is very fierce and you need to be able to stand out from others.

I have used wix to create a personal website that not only showcases some of my work but also allows employers to seek out the skills I posses.

http://mollymoodesigns.wix.com/njphennah

Home page of my website

Designer profile page

Portfolio showing a range of different skills

contact page to allow others to contact myself

Within the website I have also added links to my twitter, lindekin profile, pinterest boards and this blog.

At the moment I have the website up and running and gradually over time I will add more and more images from both current and previous projects.

I am also designing my CV as this is also a vital tool for potential employers.

As self promotion is also key within the industry I am designing a business card with a twist! It is currently in the mock up stages and I am really pleased with the outcome so far. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Fashion , beauty and cancer cells.

I came across this article on creating a line of ball gowns inspired by cancer cells.

Take a look,

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2585493/A-fashion-line-inspired-disease-Theatre-professor-designs-gowns-look-like-microscopic-photos-cancer-cells.html

I feel this articles is very very interesting!

Inspiration for Photoshoot!

Searching for inspiration images for my photo shoot has been exciting!

I came across Sue Bryce - an Australian photographer who has been photographing women for over 25 years. She's says in the biography set ion of her website that she, 'wants to give women a feeling of being beautiful.  

 http://www.inbedwithsue.com/about-sue/

Sue met with Jill Brzenzinski-Conley, a 35 year old women with stage 4 incurable spread breast cancer that has now spread to her bones and invited her to take part in a high fashion style shoot in Paris.

Jill says of the experience, 'I felt like Cinderella, not a breast cancer patient, they made me feel like a supremodel'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2274504/Sue-Bryce-photography-Double-mastectomy-patient-Jill-Brzezinski-Conley-poses-stunning-fashion-shoot.html

I feel that the images taken are amazing, they depicted a woman without a care in the world. They creates a sense of empowerment.

Images taken from Daily Mail website.

Videographer Hailey Bartholomew also followed both Sue and Jill during their journey to Paris and produced a video. 

Click link for video http://vimeo.com/57648966

Bigger, brighter eyes!

 Charlotte Tilbury, has gone where no other make up artist has gone before!!

Her recent press release is a make-up box with a step by step video tutorial embed within the lid of the box. Talk about innovation!

Tilbury's first collection was released in August last year and it has been a firm favourite amongst many. In co-ordination with the release of the products, an online tutorial is also released. However this time she has combined the two together.

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/news-features/TMG10724102/Is-Charlotte-Tilburys-make-up-box-with-a-video-the-best-press-release-ever.html

Brillant Idea!!

Slowly piecing together the puzzle!

Slowly my honours project is now taking shape. 

However at the moment I am struggling to gain access to WGSN - the trend setting website used by the fashion industry,  so hopefully I will be able to produce more trend mood boards.

Here is a selection of mood / research boards I have produce so far for this project.

These following four board are based upon my retail brand - 'Anthropologie' , this section will be continued to be updated as I am forever finding out facts, figures and statistics for this brand.

So whats this space!!

Anthropologie - Current Corporate Identity.

Anthropologie - Present  Customer Profile

Anthropologie - Brand Values

Anthropologie - Philosophy

Radiant Orchid is the pantone colour of the Year 2014. Keep an eye out for an update on this section (once I have log in details for WGSN!)

Trends 2014 - Pantone colour of the year

 By researching into the founding year of Anthropologie - 1992, I wanted to find links within the brand and my theme of cells.  how thrilled I was when I came across this information.

An obvious link is the name 'Anthoropologie' , which means the behaviour of human beings, however I wanted to dig deeper and found something more clever and unusual.

Edwin G.Krebs (1918-2008) and Edmond H.Fischer (1920) were both awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and medicine in 1992. They were awarded it for the discovery  of reversible protein phosphorylation as biological mechanism.

Phosphorylation is the action of regulating protein and transmitting signals within a cell.

 So whats protein got to do with a cells I asked myself, well proteins are in-fact the building blocks within a  cell .They determine nearly every task of a cell's life, this includes cell shape, inner organisation, product manufacture and routine maintenance.

World Events of 1992 - Nobel Prize winners

So basically they both discovered how to switch the function of a cell on and off. which has later helped develop a break through within the development of cancer treatment along with other illness to.

A hormone signal will act on a protein within or on a cell and this will then send further series of signals which will then tell the cell to produce by diving. However a mutation (a gene which maybe lost or damaged) can occur and this can result in either too much protein being produced or not enough is made.

It can take a long time before mutations happen for a cell to become cancerous and this is why most types of cancers are more common in the elderly.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/cells/how-cancer-starts

This Video by Cancer research Uk explains how this process works .http://youtu.be/m5_yo6uEeEc

The discovery by Krebs & Fischer has lead to scientists being enable to develop cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and others as they understand now how to switch the off the functions of a cell.

This has certainly been on hard lesson to learn as I do not understand cell biology at all, but through the help from both friends and family I have managed to piece together a general understanding of this development.

Any way this is another step forward into piecing together the jigsaw pieces within my honours project.

Thank you Krebs & Fischer for your discovery!!

inspirations = paintings, paintings and more paintings

Now the fun part has started!

I have begun to research into cancer cells, their form, texture, patterns and colour combinations in preparation to my visit to the cancer research lab in Manchester next week.

I am working in a small A5 sketchbook at the moment to collect my findings. This sketchbook will record research, statistics, anything that I am inspired by within this project and also my own experiments and samples that I have created.

Below are a series of images that I have already created which have been inspired by cancer cells.

Hope you enjoy them!

My inspirations!

Prostrate cancer cells 

Corpora Amylacea - (prostrate cancer)

Esophageal cancer cells

(l) abdominal cells and DNA filtering

More esophageal cancer

More esophageal cancer

Cancer cells as art!

Cell No 4 - Angela Canada Hopkins

Furthering my research into cancer cells and their forms, I came across an artist - Angela Canada Hopkins.

Hopkins, like myself lost her father in June 2001 to cancer and she too decided to channel her emotions through art and design.

'Cancer is a difficult subject to tackle, but when it touched my life, I took inspiration from the challenge.

After my father died from cancer in June 2001, I decided the best way to overcome my new "enemy" was by embracing it through art.  I initially painted the disease by deconstructing microscope slides of cancer cells and reinterpreted them.  Creating the work has deepened my understanding of the disease and changed my outlook.  Recently, my work has progressed to a more abstract style that references general characteristics of molecular patterns and shapes. '

                     

                                                            Taken from - Angela Canada Hopkins -About me section.

                                                                          http://angelacanadahopkins.com/about/

Hopkins takes slides of the microscope cells and creates her own interpretation. She wanted to make something positive and replace her negative thoughts on the subject matter.

I feel that her painting are bright and colourful, although I am aware of what they are, I feel comfort by looking at her images.

I hope to create a similar feeling as Hopkins has done through her work, and raise awareness within the viewing public, without them realising the true extent of the images content.

Hopkins images are now being used within a variety of commercial places, with recently a painting was chosen for the jacket of a novel by 'The Abundance: A Novel' .

Rich Pratcher , art director at Henry Holt and Company, who sought out Hopkins work, says 

“I thought the description of the unusual beauty in something so destructive fit harmoniously with the novel"

http://innovationews.com/social/loveland-artist-draws-inspiration-from-cancer-cells/

Details of Hopkins' website is http://angelacanadahopkins.com

Cell No 21 - Angela Canada Hopkins

Cell No 8 - Angela Canada Hopkins

Cell No 15 - Angela Canada Hopkins

All Images used with kind permission from Angela.

Breathless Breastless project!!

Through conducting my research for my honours project, I came across this remarkable group of artists.

'Breathless, Breastless Project'

A team of talented artists are working together with breast cancer survivors to create a powerful exhibition in Aberdeen  to raise awareness to the long term effects after treatment has stopped, It will also touch base on families are effected to, as I know from personal experience the devastating effect it has.


I am in touch with Louise who is the organiser within the project, and she very kindly has given me permission to share the project page.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Breathless-Breastless-Project/164445467028874?id=164445467028874&sk=info

 After viewing the work in progress so far I am so touched by the moving images produced so far.  some artists have used new technology (iPads) to create their images but none the less, they are very inspirational.

Well done Guys - this is a fantastic exhibition , it gives me an even more a reason to go and visit scotland now :)