Pitch for FMP

Today I pitched my ideas for FMP to the panel of tutors, bringing real ale signs from the pub I work in, I was able to explain what I wanted to achieve. My pitch went well and the tutors thought the ideas I had were strong and that I could develop my previously successful work. My current target for the end of year is distinction and I am willing to work hard to ensure I get this, the tutors believe this is a target which I will be able to get if I try hard.

Deciding that my show will include at least one garment with the idea of masculinity in mind, whether the dress is intended for males or females or both still hasn’t been decided. I was considering androgynous fashion so that one garment can be worn by both males and females. Before setting this idea I need to research into androgynous fashion and some designers to assist with my work.

I have a selection of primary photos to work with and I want these to be the main element to my work, to ensure I tell a history of the building and preserve some of the feelings I have about the architecture and items inside.

Starting off my project I plan on working with beer mats and logos and look at the typography found on them and inside the building. Working with actual images of the brewery is important and there is a key one of the outside that I plan on experimenting with. 

Why the brewery?

I initially found the brewery by contacting an urban explorer that I found on Instagram. He had a few images from inside the brewery, these were definitely the images that had most story behind them from all the buildings he looked at. Finding that the brewery was in Lancaster was a bonus as it wasn’t too far away.

I was then able to contact him over a mobile messaging app and asked him for more details about it. He wasn’t overly keen on telling me too much about it at first and was interested to see some of my previous work from the power station first. After sending him images of previous garments, he began to tell me more about the location and what there was to see. Talking to him about what I wanted to achieve he offered to take me and a friend round the building and show us all of its hidden secrets. It was really interesting to have someone who was passionate about exploring show us round. There are always hidden dangers when looking round empty buildings, it was an adventure.

I was able to take lots of images, but after I left I wished I had been able to take more, the images I got didn’t really show off the whole rooms and were more focused on specific objects, which was good, but I wanted a feel of the whole building. I want to return at some point and see what else I can find, taking more photographs is important to me so that I can build up my primary research and have plenty to work with. Primary photos are very important to the basis of my work. I would also like to return to Lancaster as the museum was not open on my first visit. 

FMP

After having the FMP presentation about what is expected for my final project, I believe I have many ideas which could be successful. Producing a garment for my exhibition is important to me and I know for definite this will be in my exhibition, its just what theme I choose to work with.

My main idea, after visiting the brewery, is to work with the buildings and the objects and atmosphere I felt inside. I am still unsure whether to investigate the history of drinking in the North West and the societies attitude towards drinking. I want to enhance and develop my previous work with derelict buildings and link the project strongly to the brewery. I hope to use some of the typography from inside the brewery and want to experiment and develop this.

Experimentation is essential, I am thinking of distressing surfaces, similar to some of the surfaces I found within and on the external walls of the building. The key aspect throughout my work will be the brewery as a building and its history, whether I explore other options such as the economic crisis and how this has affected the industry, is still uncertain. I am excited to be working with something I enjoy and am passionate about and plan to preserve a part of the decaying buildings history in the form of fashion. Working with the environment around me and places of interest is exciting for me. 

Abandoned Brewery

The above image shows how typography features within the brewery. There were lots of items listed with numbers as if there was a system to how the machinery and items should be used. It was very uniformed and precise. Some of the tanks including this one seemed to be older, there were also some shiny new looking solid silver ones. 

There were many signs scattered around the brewery all with instructions. The signs themselves regulated what happened and there were plenty of them to explore. 

Once again the numbering system was used on the machinery. It looked like this one was almost new, theres a feeling that one day everything was just packed up and the workers left. It seems strange that it was around 1997 that the brewery closed for business. 

This particular tin took my interest because of the font that has been used. The 'Malt' is curly and feminine and like none of the other typography that I found inside. 

I found this in the clinical area of the brewery that appeared to be an office come staff room. It shows how mould and nature grows on man made objects when we leave them, the patterns and colours are beautiful, theres something about the fact that nature can eventually destroy man made objects. 

Mitchell's owned the brewery just before its closure, they had few people working for them by the end and this was from the top of what appeared to be a delivery note. It is Mitchell's official logo and its saddening to think that this was the end of the functioning brewery. When exploring some of the objects are quite upsetting, to think that years earlier this was peoples likelihood and they obviously took pride in the machinery that is now decaying away. I want to be able to preserve some of this emotion and importance myself as I now feel a connection to the building. 

Decaying metal has an interesting texture and a natural blend of colours. It was that corroded that it was flaking away. 

I am unsure what these bottles were used for but they were scattered all over on of the rooms. Im guessing they may have been used to store chemicals or samples. 

This work mans hat was near a mass of machinery and lifting equipment, it might be interesting to look at using one like it in a fashion photoshoot. 

This was a control panel for one of the machines, it has clearly been affected by being left unused for so long. I found beauty in it. The controls seems so perfectly placed, its a lot more beautiful than the machinery we use today, care has clearly gone into making it. 

I think that Yates and Jackson were the brewers that had the building before Mitchell's, but I can not be sure as the history about the building is very limited and there doesn't seem to be much about it. 

A machine that I discovered in one of the back top floor rooms of the building looks antique and the room as a whole feels like an old style brewery and not modern at all. It was nice to see that old techniques were still being used on the closure. 

Sulphuric Acid and it appeared to have never been opened with liquid still in it. Little bit scary. 

A blackboard used in everyday life of the brewery. The font used is very masculine  which is reflective of the rest of the building. 

When I went into the front of the building, this was in the old bar area. The room was decorated like an old pub and these were littered all over the floor, with the official Mitchell's logo.

Breathing equipment was found in the open, double hight room. I believe it may have been used when cleaning out the tanks. It was strange that such an object has just been left, it must have been used by the workers. Using a gas mask or breathing equipment in the end fashion photoshoot may be interesting. When I saw this it reminded me of the masks used in war. Some of the typography also reminds me of war time. 

Found in the bar area.

Outside

It seems strange that the building has just been left, it is so close to the city centre of Lancaster and it just seems to have been forgotten and left to ruin. The outside hides the preserved inside of the building. It looks a lot worse on the outside than it is, I enjoy that the building is hidden and has a hidden history. The skyline is structured, the building jolt out of the ground and is so dominant. Theres something unusual about how this building is so obvious and prominent, but forgotten.