Country and Eastern research and info

For one of my chosen museums I looked at the 'Country and Eastern' museum in Norwich, where I found multiple fabrics designs and also interior products. Each having interesting designs, the fabrics had mainly floral designs, this being where I got my idea of flowers from and merging this with a tea pot.

This building is situated within a Victorian skating rink and is owned and restored by 'Jeannie and Phillip Millward' who make this a place for storing and presenting 'oriental rugs, textiles, traditional and antique furniture, ceramics, lighting, wood carvings, clothes and accessories and decorative objects', all of these objects being imported from countries like Turkey and 'through the Indian subcontinent to East of Java'. These materials are brought in from far places, introducing new culture's designs, patterns and materials brings a whole new conception of textiles and being able to see the ways in which other designers from around the world create their work and to see where their inspiration has led them.

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These big, vibrant materials and ceramics printed and painted with designs from different countries are beautiful and inspiring as a textile designer, these have given me ideas for my project and work I want to produce.

Another interesting aspect of the country and eastern museum is the fact that they keep close to their suppliers so that they can keep these traditional prints and methods of working alive, 'wood block printing, handloom weaving, rug weaving, embroidery, vegetable dyeing, ceramic and miniature painting and wood carving'. The idea of keeping these old, traditional methods alive is interesting as they can produce entirely different quality designs, especially onto the wooden and ceramic objects, these methods probably work better with these materials.