Dialogues in Design

Dialogues in Design invites local designers and artists to make responses to The Novium Museum displays. The result is a collection of unique contemporary craft objects connected to both historical and present day Chichester: visual dialogues through time. Our first curated collection has been inspired by the artefacts of the 'Mystery Warrior'.

Gael Emmett is a jewellery designer who works in silver, semiprecious gemstones and kiln fired glass. Her work is often inspired by shapes and rhythmns found in nature. Gael wanted to create a contemporary response to the ancient designs seen in the Mystery Warrior armour. She was intrigued by the condition of the pieces when they were found with the North Bersted Man. Her first step was to look at the headdress in detail and sketch out the design in CAD. From this she was able to indentify repeat elements and understand the flow of the lines in the design. She made a detailed vector image and produced a 3D relief piece from this. This design was embossed into the surface of the metal to make the final pieces.

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Charlotte Deal is a potter and printmaker whose functional ceramics are designed to bring joy into the everyday through shape, texture and comfort. For this project, she started by playing with the shapes from the Mystery Warrior helmet at her desk. These reminded her of how the pieces may have looked in the ground when found by archaeologists. Charlotte embraced this idea to develop an original pattern with a random and scattered look. For the form, she was inspired by Roman pots at the Novium from a similar period. She chose to make simple forms that would not distract from the surface pattern. 

 

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Anjali Walton is a textile designer who makes scarves and products for the home. With a love of colour and intricacy, she embraces digital image-making to create pieces that are both contemporary and reminiscent of bold vintage and retro patterns. Anjali worked with the decorative patterns seen on the headpiece to create a geometric motif. She layered the single motif using digital techniques to create a visually striking design in an earthy colour palette and a 1950s style influence. Anjali's designs have been digitally printed onto beautiful soft silk 'habotai' fabric by her production partner in the UK. 

 

 

With thanks to Becolourful for providing guest curation of Dialogues in Design.