Upholstery meets Art for Salford 100 years anniversary - pt1
Can upholstery become art? It’s a very good question…!
I actually don’t know, but why not?? But the desire to be creative, do something different and join a group that would push me towards this was the impetus needed to create the “Centenary Chaise” for the Salford 100 Years celebrations.
Read on to find out more…
How did it all come about?
We're based at Islington Mill in Salford, an old textile mill turned art, music and maker space started by Bill and Maurice over 25 years ago. We moved in about three years ago and from that connection we heard from textile artist Claire Hignett who wanted to set up a group for people with similar interests in textiles.
The group brings together people working with textiles to work on different projects and gallery shows which is outside our usual work. The Salford 100 project hadn't started then, but the group allowed me to explore new ideas and networks beyond the day-to-day work of upholstery. Check out Immaterial Collective on Instagram here
Salford 100 Years - Here we go…
it’s all becoming real now..
Through the groups networks we became aware of Salford Museum & Art Gallery planning to curate a series of gallery exhibitions featuring different groups and artists to celebrate the formation of Salford, 100 years ago.
So from many emails, a few initial meetings the brief was to create a body of work that took inspiration from the Museums Archives. This was to run alongside a separate exhibition where community groups and public would select work to display that was memorable or important to them.
Our brief was pretty open, so not having done this before it was a good thing that it wasn’t too restrictive. But on the other hand it became very broad - so incomes the fear, the multiple ideas the endless options!
Being new to this field and approach was a challenge (we generally work to client briefs and interior designers that have wadded through the options!).
The fear sets in!
Obviously, it was bound to happen at some point. I’ve never done this before, wanting to create a piece of furniture or something interactive for a public art exhibition lasting over five months. I was starting to get ideas, but how do you put all that together and then they’re sort of running a business full-time, trying to create some space for a creative mindset, doing something I’ve never done before? So yeah, imposter syndrome was setting in, the nerves, the fear. How do I do it? Is it gonna be right? How am I even gonna get to do this?
Alongside all of that, I was planning to use Photoshop and Procreate to create the design, and I’ve never really used them properly before, only in small doses but nothing that was going to warrant printing onto fabric, the cost, is it even going to look right? All of those things, so yeah, certainly some wobbles along the way!
Immaterial Collective to the rescue… and our colleagues in Unit 4 too! Having these people to run things past, to chat over the status we’re all in and the “what do you think about” questions all helped to form better ideas, improve technical knowledge and some level of calm in the process. So a big thanks to those who helped me along this journey!
What no one could help with is the time pressure. With the clock ticking and you have a deadline, this helped confirm ideas, designs and “click send to print”.
next up… the design, creative process and how this came about..
If you have any questions for a re-upholstery project, commercial build or a bespoke design you’d like to talk over, just get in touch to discuss the various routes and how we can help you. Just email info@loosebutton.co.uk or see our contact page here.
Have a look at some of our previous projects on our examples page or follow us on Instagram: loose_button
Here at LooseButton, we’re proud to be a Manchester born and bred business - based at Islington Mill, part of a diverse hive of local businesses and creatives.