Digital Inspirations

Digital art permeates the realms of décor and fashion in myriad ways. Creative artists the world over continually explore and discover new design solutions, artistic expressions as they strive to foster creativity. In this month’s issue, we seek inspirations from the digital sphere and explore how digital art marries two entirely different styles of work: digitally embroidered wallpaper and digitally printed fashionable scarves.

Custhom, a pioneer in digital embroidery in UK, has pushed the boundaries of creativity to explore large-scale compositions on rolls of wallpaper. With the Aves design, traditional Otomi inspired motifs and its organic shapes are translated through the graphic precision of digital embroidery.

Custhom creates these designs by breaking down the animals into geometric shapes. This enables the process in which the embroidery is stitched onto the paper in four different directions, creating the effect of four different tones using a single colour of thread. The result is a stunning tactile effect with great depth of colour and a compelling, clean graphic undertone to the flowing design.

Image Courtesy of Custhom, Aves

We were deeply fascinated by Alba Amicorum, which merges the realms of luxury, fashion and art. The debut collection, launched last year at the Saatchi Gallery in London, comprised twelve limited edition scarf designs – and each being an artwork by artists from around the globe and from disciplines as varied as fine art, photography, graphic design and writing. Only 100 edition of each scarf is made, so essentially each is a wearable piece of art.

Image Courtesy of Alba Amicorium

And how do they do it? By using digital techniques and technology to bring together a striking tension to the flowing, tactile and artistic forms. Each artwork is processed digitally and then digitally printed onto the fine fabrics in Italy to create the scarves. The use of digital design techniques also form the foundation of a number of the key designs from the collection. Alba Amicorium features the works of creative director and graphic designer Darshana Shilpi Rouget, interdisciplinary artist and designer Babuji Shilpi, New York-based artist Mary Jones and still life photographer James T Murray.