40. Looking Back

Looking back on everything I've explored for this project, I've come to realize how important a concept is in designing. I started out thinking I was going to do kidswear, probably because I have never done it before. I thought it would be fun to explore something totally different but as I continued doing my works, I thought it was hard to do it because I don't surround myself with kids enough to get "children's happy vibes". In the beginning when I did trapuntos and paper-cuttings, I was very much into it as i thought they made good trompe-l'œil that "look(s) intelligent and add a surrealistic edge to what they are doing" (as said by Susie Bubble). I didn't understand what concepts were, I went round and round in circles with my horses by about week 7. I must've had about 15 drawings of horses by then, each one with totally different characters and style of drawing.
It took me about 8 weeks to realise that what was closest to my heart was the best concept to work on. I think it must've been a subconscious awareness that horses have so much to do with movement and travel and it relates to my love for bicycling and these two things have to do with freedom. It wasn't freedom in terms of being freed from slavery or anything new-worthy like that. It is intangible, a state of my mind when I cycle. The horses I painted were not the best pieces of work I've done (aesthetic-wise) but the great bit is how I've conceptualised them and combined them with ombre to represent my ideas. It is truly an amazing feeling I didn't get with the other works I've done for this project as well as anything I've ever made in my life.