Featured: Work by Lillie Foster
Getting to know more about Lillie Foster – Guild Graduate in 2024
Cymatics, the study of sound and vibration made visible, form the basis of Symphonic Escape, the final major project of 2024 Guild and Loughborough University graduate Lillie Foster. Focused on simulating the escapism we feel through music in the wearing of immersive textiles, each piece creates a connection between sound and wearer by engulfing them in fluid shapes, representative of musical sound waves traveling through our body. Studying wave table synthesis and the reaction of water to sound, Lillie used a synthesiser to create and experiment with sound. Her primary materials are copper and latex representing a connection to electrical wiring, experimenting with them to create different finishes to reflect her sound research.
It was my uncle, a techno musician, who introduced me to electronic music and inspired me to use it within this project, . the visual imagery of this project has come from an experimentation of cymatics.
Lillie Foster
Symphonic Escape provides a new form of escapism when wearing immersive textiles, in the same way music does. The project is conceptually and visually based on sound and light, using cymatics to explore the visual representation of sound. Each piece aims to embody the connection of music and the human body with the wearer being engulfed with fluid shapes, like sound waves traveling through our body through the vibrations from music.
After studying wave table synthesis and the reaction of water to sound, I learnt to use a synthesiser to create my own sounds and to input soundwaves through water The forms have been captured by reflecting different forms of light onto the water, creating the bases of the visual inspiration of this collection. This work aims to recreate the feeling of being immersed in light and sound while simultaneously being connected to thousands of people.
The two main materials used within this project are latex and copper. These are deeply rooted within the concept: the use of copper is a connection to how sound travels through electronic sound systems. The potential of copper was explored through a range of patina techniques including heat colouration which was the inspiration behind the colour pallet from orange and red to pink and deep blue. The latex fabric used in this collection is symbolic of the rubber within the electrical cables which conceals and insulates the copper underneath. I manipulated the latex and made it look wet, to make the look of water which connection to my cymatics research – creating the look of liquid reflecting light.
All work featured by Lillie Foster
Follow them on Instagram to see photos and videos of her work : @lillie_textiles
And Loughborough University: @lborouniversity