The Selection Process

Black & white photo.

The selection process for portrait design is reasonably straight forward. The original photos are sorted through to determine which one has captured that special quality that best describes the essence of the sitter.

The photo is then adjusted to give the aesthetic that the client would want to live with within the context of other interior design requirements. No matter how good the image or how well mastered the weaving is, if it fails to represent the interior space it will  be hung in, then the whole exercise will have been futile from a design perspective.

Finished weaving.

There is always a change in detail and intensity when the image moves from one medium to another as seen here when comparing the photo top left, and the woven portrait at right.

The size of the weaving is usually associated with cost, however it is best to predermine what the client is prepared to pay before the photo is adjusted. At that stage the image can be striped back further to simplify the image and thus require less weaving time. Other cost reduction considerations could be the cropping of the image. One should never under-estimate how much of the person is held in the image of say just the eyes or a partial profile.