Charlotte Karin Bull

My name is Charlotte Karin Bull, I am a designer specialising in woven constructed textiles. Sehnsucht”, is a project embracing a collaboration between emotions, longing for the summer and textiles. Using oil pastels to capture colorful landscapes and architectures. Reflecting on my childhood memories and grandmother’s heritage. Depicting my paintings as intricate hand fabricated surface using leno and technical structures, where I investigated transparency, and reflection through light.

I am always fascinated by the vibrant surfaces found in buildings close to grandmother’s home in Germany when I visited. This portfolio of work embraces a collaboration between emotions, atmosphere, and textiles. The work I have produced for my final major project comprises a hand fabricated textile installation piece. The textile evolves around experiences and surroundings, my handwoven leno printed textile transforms with wind and light, creating incredible reflections and shadows. It shifts from being an object to view, into an experience. I have attempted to materialise light itself, regarding the feeling of ‘Sehnsucht’ looking to the Summer and Mediterranean landscapes made up of sensations of vivid hues, colour and enjoyment.

Using pastels allowed me to be expressive with my use of colour and mark making. Blending different shades over one another and obtaining a painting with qualities of movement, as if I were trying to capture the shadows and clouds before they disappeared. This feeling resonated with me, considering how as a child, days seemed to last for a lifetime. Having a German heritage, I felt naming this project with a word that resonates with me, would allow my work to carry a unique story, open to interpretation and discussion. ‘Sehnsucht’, a German noun, I titled this project. Psychologists use the word to represent emotions associated with longing for the ideal alternative experience. I wanted this project to have an outcome that represents the yearning for summer and a colour environment after a depressing winter lockdown.