And so it begins

Today we had the absolute pleasure to start filming the first short ahead of the Make Works tour, featuring local textile screenprinting studio Bespoke Atelier. Bespoke are made up of two textile designers, Yvonne Elliot and Marion Parola, who set up in 2010 after their Masters at Glasgow School of Art. They work on their own collections, commission works and rent out the studio and equipment to others. It is a fantastic space, and the two have developed a great level of expertise for the screenprinting process.

What was great, was watching Yvonne and Marion working together and hearing them speak about the huge variety of projects and collaborations they have worked on; many of which with Scottish designers, manufacturers and organisations. They spoke about why they decided to set up in Glasgow, and told us a bit more about their practice, explained the materials they use, and how their services work (much more to be revealed on film!)

It was also our first time filming on location, with the help of Luke from the Edinburgh Film Company - our creative partners and film tutors for the project. We had been looking forward to this for a while, and the excitement of getting our hands on a Canon 5D Mark 3 (ah!) to shoot some 50mm colourful inks, patterned screens and fabrics held true to expectation. We were particularly inspired too by the results we were able to get with sound too, and how this could also commnicate our fasciation with making processes (think squeegie-on-screen). At the same time, we learnt that we have a test coming up on our film making skills (thanks guys..) which means some intense study and practice over the next nine weeks before we leave. Any tips out there, we will be grateful. 

The experience today has really got us looking forward to the tour itself, and looking forward to find more examples of great small companies like Bespoke, making interesting work, collaborating with others and enabling people to produce pieces locally. Tomorrow we head to Irvine to meet NPI Solutions, to see some very different machinery and materials in use. 

More information about Bespoke Atelier can be found here.