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Textiles (MA)

Chloe Grieve

A digital design compromised of warm shades of pinks, oranges, browns and yellows. It is a combination of shapes and patterns.

Chloe Grieve is a Scottish-American designer from Phoenix, Arizona. After her sudden move to Glasgow at age thirteen and struggles with mental health throughout her young adulthood, she was inspired to express her experiences and past using art. Currently, Chloe works with colour, shape, and pattern to transform sterile spaces into solace. This motivation came from her past experiences occupying dull and clinical therapy session rooms. 

Completing her BA in textiles at Edinburgh College of Art, Chloe received numerous awards for her final year collection. A stand-out achievement was the Business Design Centre New Designer of the Year award she received at New Designers. She is a freelancer currently working with Hallmark. In the past, she was commissioned to do work for The Skinny Magazine after being featured in one of their summer issues. At the Royal College of Art, she received a grant from The Textiles Society to aid her postgraduate studies, and Turnberry Rug Works supported her.

With a love of colour, shape, and illustration, Chloe describes herself as a graphic designer within textiles. She is committed to creating playful, fun designs that show her passion for art.


Awards

  • The Textiles Society Postgraduate Bursary Winner (2023)
  • Global Design Graduate Degree Show Shortlist (2022)
  • New Designer's Business Design Centre New Designer of the Year (2022)
  • Grand Prize Co Winner of the Colour Prize from the Dyers Company (2022)
  • Joint Second Colour Prize from the Dyers Company (2022)
  • i-Dott Shortlist for the Animal Astratti Wallpaper (2021)
  • Interior Collection Commendation by John Lewis (2021)
  • McVarish Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art (2017)


Degree Details

School of DesignTextiles (MA)RCA2023 at Battersea and Kensington

RCA Kensington, Darwin Building, Seventh floor

A digital design done entirely in shades of yellow. There are hints of brown and khaki green throughout the geometric shapes.

How can colour, shape, and pattern be used in interiors to help us thrive?


Chloe Grieve, after inhabiting sterile psychiatric healthcare spaces, became inspired to use her art to transform them into optimistic rooms. She noticed these spaces did not reflect the user's needs and often felt depressing and drab. This desire to redesign interiors currently takes shape as furniture, wallpapers, and carpets that add joy to any space. Titled Shape Play, this project began in her final year of BA, and the exploration has continued into her Master's. 

The colours and shapes used throughout Chloe's work have been purposely chosen. In her BA, Chloe developed a book called A Shape a Day, printed in a limited edition of six as a sold-out collection. This year, she further developed the book to account for her new life starting in London. This book contains a daily shape that she drew to match the mood. 

Similarly, The Color of Emotion connects each colour to a feeling before being organised by hue and hex code. These colours are sourced from photographs, walks, and internet boards before carefully selecting up to five pixels using the eyedropper tool on photos that perfectly encapsulate the image. Chloe uses these libraries as her source to create patterns that illuminate her designs.

Through workshops, Chloe has involved the community in designing these public spaces. Vulnerability in healthcare spaces is an unavoidable occurrence. Therefore, to make people feel more comfortable, we can give them a say in the design process. 

Chloe developed a series of sticker sheets to encourage others to create using her previously designed shapes. Stickers are non-intimidating and require no experience. They are the perfect way to encourage people to create! Participants are encouraged to generate shape compositions just as Chloe explores in her work to relax.

Inspired by the Bauhaus movement's transformative effects on healthcare spaces, Chloe continues to develop and play with colours and shapes in various mediums. Inspired by Alexander Calder and Sian Tucker, Chloe is creating her version of a shape mobile. She is currently developing a second rug in collaboration with Turnberry Rug Works. A table and chair drawn from her graphic 2D prints will be on show throughout RCA's MA1 show, hoping to inspire a playful and positive mood.


 

Color is not without limitation nor connotation.

In The Color of Emotion, 740 different hues are named with language. Each shade of color comes from an image, whether it be from an internet board, casual stroll, or personal photography collection. Bridging color and language, this book sets out to illustrate how color impacts our emotions in all its subjective glory. It creates an awareness of not only the colors we use, but what effects they have on our mental state. 

A digital version of a workshop creation. The background is red and pink stripes, with a flurry of different shape stickers.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
This work shop creation has shape stickers off-set against a pale lime green and raspberry striped background.
Workshop Creation | 23.04.2023
The front view of the digital version of a black and white striped paper airplane decorated with shape stickers.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
The back view of the digital version of a black and white striped paper airplane. There are two star shape stickers featured.
An orange and baby blue striped background, with the shape stickers acting as a frame all around the edge of the paper.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
Thin royal blue stripes and thicker sky blue stripes make up the canvas background. A rainbow array of shapes are scattered.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
The front view of an abstract origami style bit of paper. Three shape stickers are placed: a square, circle, and rectangle.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
The back view of an abstract origami style bit of paper. Two shapes have been places, a grey squiggle and large blue pill shape.
Two-toned pink stripes set the scene for a beautiful an organized placement of the shape stickers. Many are placed in rows.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
This creation is a flurry of activity. Shape stickers are randomly placed against the contrasting orange and baby blue stripes.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
The front side of another origami style creation. Shape stickers are placed randomly, and sometimes disappearing into the folds.
Workshop Creation | 30.11.2022
The back side of another origami style creation. Majority of what is visible is the purple and baby blue striped background.
A pale pastel grey striped background is the canvas, with a small collection of shape stickers purposefully put in the centre.
Workshop Creation | 23.04.2023
Pale yellow and dark green stripes set the canvas for this workshop creation. Minimal shape stickers have been placed.
Workshop Creation | 23.04.2023

The images above are all works created from participants who have attended my previous Shape Play workshops. 

If you would like to create your own version, you are welcome to attend either of the free drop-in workshops I am hosting during the RCA MA1 show.

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023:

Shape Play Sticker Collage (1): 13:00 - 15:00 PM

Shape Play Sticker Collage (2): 16:00 - 18:00 PM


What has it been like taking part? What has been good? What could have been better? Are all questions asked on this slide.
An image showing two custom Shape Play sticker sheets. The shapes are in mainly pale and pastel colors, and range in size.
An example image showing how the question sheets can be answered using the shape stickers.
Healthcare services can be difficult for people to navigate; they can be even more confusing and overwhelming for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Believe in Us is a project where people with learning disabilities and autistic people collaborate with health professionals and designers in a truly equal and inclusive way. They share knowledge, make decisions together and develop a radical new approach to re-designing services so that they care for the whole person to improve mutual wellbeing.


I was invited by The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design to propose an evaluation task to wrap up the Believe in Us project. The project was organized by the award-winning arts organization Heart N Soul, which believes in empowering adults with learning disabilities and autism.

My idea was that to answer the three evaluation questions, participants could illustrate their answer(s) using my Shape Play stickers. I created a custom collection of Shape Play sticker sheets specifically for the project. I wanted the evaluation activity to be creative and fun. All of the colors in the stickers were thoughtfully selected from my color library, The Color of Emotion. I specifically chose a range of pastels, neutral, and a few brights to give variety while also creating a calming palette.



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Royal College of Art

Registered Office: Royal College of Art,
Kensington Gore, South Kensington,
London SW7 2EU