Product research and inspiration

Inspiration

Looking forward into the Whitworth project, as a group, we have analyzed the gallery, shops and the Whitworth garden like asking the staff about some interesting facts about the Whitworth art gallery.

After sharing some ideas as a team of four, we ended up in the conclusion of making a casual bag for women inspired by the Whitworth garden. The reason to choose the Whitworth garden is that we all were fascinated with the natural feel and colours of the garden. 

My research on the Whitworth garden and the colour pallet.

Communicating with the team members, I have created these two colour pallets inspired by the Whitworth garden. as a group, we decided to go with the pink colour pallet as it was more colourful and feminist. 

However, we all made our own drawings of bags (from casual for spring tonight out bags for winters) at the beginning to see what type of ideas we create inspired by the garden. 

My drawings of bags.

Also, some of my primary research has also helped the group to show some ideas of threading up the soft and harder materials together like attaching the fabric to the wooden pieces for showing a natural effect of the garden.

My primary research of women bags

Retail Analysis and Comparative retail (Research)

The Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery Shop 

I have visited the Whitworth and Manchester art gallery shops to compare the product range. The ethos of the shop has been described below in words;

1. Welcoming 
2. Homey 
3. Warm
4. Pleasant 
5. Peaceful
6. Organised 
7. Artistic 
8. Elegant 
9. Cosy
10. Delightful
11. Friendly
12. Playful
13. Stylish 
14. Contemporary 
15. Enthusiastic 

Current Product range 

I have seen in both galleries' shops following are the most things to sell;

• Kids toys (balls, soft toys, wooden toys, etc) 
• Jewellery (necklace, earrings, bracelets)
• Ceramic (bowls, plates, mugs, spoons, etc)
• Cushions (weaved, embroidered, printed, patched work)
• Stationery (pens, pencils, paper clips, stationery bags, sketchbooks, etc)
• Greeting cards
• Postcards
• bags (clutches, stationary bags, accessories bags)

Whitworth Art Gallery Shop 

Manchester Art Gallery Shop

Materiality 

I think the products are been selected by looking towards the best quality and the price range. Also, the prices are not too high as all sort of people visit's the gallery from students to well-experienced people who are interested in buying good quality and contemporary products from these shops. 

Also, I think the finishing of these products is very neat and sharp.

I think, there was a lot of woodwork in the Whitworth shop but not much in the Manchester art gallery shop. However, the use of ceramic is almost equal in both shops.
The Manchester art gallery shop has a wide range of jewellery from a price range of £15 to £650, but less in the Whitworth art gallery shop.

Pricing

Cheapest

According to the seller and the shop tour, I have found out that their cheapest product to sell is charcoal pencils and kids toys worth £1.

Mid-range 

As I was talking to one of the sellers of the Whitworth art shop, I have found out that their ceramic pieces were the mid-price range products as they start from almost £30. 

Most expensive

I think their most expensive products in the shops were their special editions, which are made by designers and they were minor in quantity. They were mostly single prints displayed in good quality frames. Also, Whitworth editions are shown below;

Whitworth special editions

Bestsellers

The shop's best sellers were mostly objects for kids in the small baskets, which are cheaper in price and also handy as shown in the image below;

Small baskets of products for kids in the Whitworth shop. 

In addition to this, their best-selling products were also, toad bags and charcoal pencils because a lot of art students visit the gallery, who carries sketchbooks and other stationery around.

What type of people visit's the Whitworth art shop?

According to the group discussion and sellers' point of view, we have found out some key points as shown below, of the people who visit the shop;

1. Students - from the nearby universities, art students from across Manchester and all around the UK. 
2. Tourists - people who might visit the hospital and likes to come to the gallery to buy greeting cards and gifts.
3. local citizens - people who might visit the Whitworth park, from the hospital, who might be interested in textiles. 
4. artists or designers - who are interested in textiles and its history

A key point for the retailing analysation

There were products in the shops, which was inspired by the current exhibition in the gallery. People might like to buy things, which represents 'the Whitworth art gallery'. This might makes the audience feel personalised and touched with the gallery itself. 

Pilot project (Research)

Planning and Making

For unit x, I’m doing the ‘Whitworth threads’ project, in which we had to make groups. My group is of four designers from different creative fields, which includes the following people;

• Embroiderer - Me 
• printer - Christie Rawcliff 
• 3D Designer - Yu Shin Park
• Interior Designer - Fiah Ali

We have been told to do a mini project in a week, to identify each other's skills in making and collaborating as a group. 

The brief of this project was to make something, which we can put on the table. However, as a group, we decided to make something inside the table, which could be functional and decorative at the same time. We all come up with an idea of making different things, from a bowl to a candle holder. In the end, we decided to make a bowl which can be attached inside the table so the piece itself will be the part of that table. There was no specific reason for making this table, as a group we just wanted to make a model of an actual product. 

SIDE TABLE - Woven basket by me, wood table by Yushin and Fiah and hand painting on the wood is by me and Christie

Our tutors have told us, we should have used heavy yarns, which could help the materials to hold tightly when someone will put materials like fruits and accessories inside. It looks fragile; therefore, I could fill up the weaving till the edge of the middle circle. Also, they have given us some nice suggestion of making the basket washable as well e.g. like a person could untied the knots of the basket and wash it up and then they can knot back the basket themselves, which will be interesting to do.