In the design studio there were mood boards and samples of wallpaper everywhere, it was a very inspirational and lively place to work. On my first day I was given the option of five different themes, which they had mood boards on to give you initial ideas. As I was told to design for flat wallpaper I chose to work on the theme minerals as I thought I could create textured prints on a flat surface.
I started by doing research in the books and magazines and created a mood board. This helped me create visual research which I then scanned in and worked into on Photoshop. For a flat wallpaper they use the measurements 52 by 53 cm. Halfway through creating my designs I got some of the designers to take a look at my work, they were impressed but said I needed to give more colour options for a more commercial look.
On my last day they gave me the option of creating a look book, with all my samples and colour options, as if I was putting my collection together to sell. I also created some visualizations as customers like to see what the wallpaper looks like in a room. I created two books, one for me and one for the company to keep. At the end of the day I did a presentation to half of the design staff on my project, they all understood my idea very well and continued by asking questions afterwards which I managed to answer confidently.
Statement print I designed for my mineral collection.
Commercialized print I designed.
I learnt a lot on the tour of the factory; while I was designing I was in close contact with the people working in the sampling production line. There is a close connection between the designers and production for the correct print; speed and accuracy are incredibly important to such a large company, especially in sampling as all the samples must be the same before putting into production. It can take months of sampling before a design is put into production.
I learnt that before the samples can be put onto screens each colour has to be separated on CAD and then put onto separate screens. These will be acetate screens and the holes in the screens can be different sizes depending on the printing material, a glittery ink would need large holes for the glitter to do through whereas a plain thin paint would need smaller holes. There are a large number of screens in production in one time and all master samples (final samples which have been produced) are kept in a library and on a computer system, all information on production is kept for reproduction.
When companies ask for a certain design creating they all may also ask for a certain colour and give a reference, such as a certain colour on a package. In the sampling room they have a light box which has the effects of different light, such as day light, UV light, indoor light so they can see the differences these lights make to the colours on the samples. If the colours don't match they will start again until the colours match in all lights. When people apply for a job at Graham & Brown they have to complete a colour mix test to show they can recognize different shades in colour.
In the factory they have single and double width machines, at the end of the production line the double width paper will be cut in half by a spinning blade. The single width machine creates 120 meters a minute of wallpaper. They have double headed machines which can do two jobs one after another as the screens can swap round once the first screen has finished printing. They use a computer to calculate the measurements for paint in a full roll, any left over is re used. The company is very sustainable, every tree they cut down, they plant one or three more, each one in Europe; even the glue used on the cardboard boxes is biodegradable.
Statement print I designed for my mineral collection.
Statement print I designed.
