The most influential part of my visit to New York was visiting
the studios of the company of Flavor Paper in Brooklyn. Entering into the
studio, the appearance of the inside the building was exciting and dramatically
shaped. Flavor Paper is now a modern print studio that just started out as a
small print house in New Orleans.
The company Flavor Paper was discovered by
young designers in Oregon just days before the equipment and designs were about
to be destroyed by the then owner called Ted. From the visit I noticed the
print designs had a very pop art nesh to them that were inspired by Andy Warhol.
The Andy Warhol series is a collaboration with ‘The Andy Warhol X Foundation
for the Visual Arts’. Flavor paper has access to Andy Warhol’s work with the exception
of his wallpaper. Flavor Paper honours and develops the icon Warhol to create
amazing imagery, ranging from rare to iconic paintings, silkscreen prints and
film stills as inspiration for the collection.
What I noticed with their print designs is they are able to
renew old imagery as a repeating print or by using bold acid colour. From what
I gathered from the visit they try to create print wall designs that are not
yet on the market. These are designs that don’t fit into any sort of audience
but they stand as a unique design market. The visit illustrated to me that it
is possible to create your own designs without an audience and that their
designs are entirely what they wish to create. I find this inspiring and I think
there are very few companies that design with what they want to design without
having an audience as a base. This line of design I think relates to my
practice as I found the design themselves visually interesting and I felt they
had a fine art quality that I try to reflect in my own print work. I was
interested in the concept of creating different smells and infusing them into their
wallpaper hence naming it Flavor Paper. I was inspired by the use of using old machinery
and hand screen printing to create modern designs. It showed that by using hand
screen techniques they take great pride, passion and care into their designs.
Visiting Flavor Paper has made me think differently in that by adding something
different to their print designs they are creating their own market such as the
flavor in the paper.
I think with my understanding of my practice it is
important for me to create something different with my designs that will make my designs stand out and have a unique quality
to them. Visiting Flavor Paper has helped me and inspired me to create designs
that are not on the market yet. My visit there was so influential that in the
future I wish to be working in a studio company that create and develop their
own designs in such a different manner.
