Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Designer Curtains

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Since the sewing machine I normally use is in need of some servicing, I decided to dip into interior design. I was in much need of new curtains, so I made some. I could not use fabric because I have not found a fabric I like enough to make into curtains that fit the style of my bedroom, and I also wanted to do something with paper, one of my favorite things to work with. In doing this, I went through some of my old issues of Interview, Vogue, and Surface magazines to cut out pictures from different advertisements I liked. Most of the pictures I chose were from fashion advertisements from different fashion designers, hence why I call these "designer curtains". I also used images that I found intriguing or full of color. This tends to make the piece more interesting and not just limited to fashion photography. After cutting out the pictures, I taped the images together in separate vertical rows. On the top of each row I folded the paper into a loop suitable for any size curtain rod. After making several rows of different lengths and widths, I slipped them onto the rod and that was that.

The concept of this piece is a way to display pictures from magazines that you like with a bit of functionality. Making curtains like this is a must for people who lack poster space, don't want to risk leaving tape residue on their walls, or just want something different in their home or work space.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Though the material I used is not traditional for a window covering, it may seem that curtains like these may run into conceptual problems like many innovations do. Paper tends to be stiff, but it has the same stiffness of a regular window shade.These curtains are in fact movable, some what durable if not located next to a paper shredder, function well, and most importantly provide a sense of style through overlapping textures, colors, and images.