This book is subtitled “A journey through design, interpretation and inspiration” and is named after a college course Kim Thittichai wrote and taught for a number of years. The book aims “to encourage you to stop thinking about it and get on with it” (p. 8).
It quickly touches on a range of basic, necessary skills and gives some starter exercises in creating, developing and recording original ideas and in understanding and using colour. I think its greatest strength is the presentation of a broad range of inspirational works by other artists, each with a brief discussion of design source and process. The book finishes with a few suggestions on how to keep inspired, working and creating long-term.
I can’t say that any of the material appeared really new or original to me. The ambitious scope of the work meant little depth in any one area. Still, reminders or a slightly different perspective can be useful. An exercise on “The Journey” resonated with my Aztec research, and could well have influenced my design development if I had continued that project (I’ve put the Aztec idea to one side to keep it fresh, hoping for a suitable opportunity later in my OCA work). Overall a pleasant read, and probably a book I’ll dip in to over time.
Thittichai, K. (2009) Experimental Textiles: A journey through design, interpretation and inspiration London: Batsford
