Jennifer Parry Dodge : Ermie

"I think my lack of training presents interesting challenges at times,
but I also think it’s an advantage. Not knowing the rules, I have less fear.
If I knew all of the things I “should” be doing, I think I’d actually accomplish less."
- Jennifer Parry Dodge

a collaboration between Jennifer Parry Dodge and YHBHS

Last week, a conversation between Jennifer Parry Dodge, textile designer based in Los Angeles, and myself was posted on Sight Unseen. Read the full conversation here. In addition to our conversation, Jennifer and I collaborated on a project which stemmed from our early meetings. Each time I spoke with Jennifer, I became more obsessed with her patterns, and the stories behind them, and her dedication to fearless experimentation in her studio.

We decided to make some casual floor pillows for the home, which have been for sale at Product Porch in San Diego, and directly through us. (get in touch!) The print that was chosen for the floor pillows is based on pixelated images of a runway show, in which Jennifer altered. It's perhaps her way of "seeing" the world around her that I connect with so deeply, a chance to begin again, and again. Pure creation.

Thanks Jennifer! - David John

Jennifer Parry Dodge is a Los Angeles–based designer, whose beautifully printed textiles are often the result of photographs or scans of vintage textiles that have been manipulated in Photoshop. Her online store Ermie, named after a great-aunt Ermengarde who encouraged her creativity, encompasses a collection of works ranging from braided embroidered belts to watery cool crepe de chine garments made from her own textile creations. In addition to creating textiles, she maintains a blog that documents her transforming fascinations with color, textures, food, the desert, and her trips abroad.

The first time I met Jennifer over coffee in downtown Los Angeles, I was immediately struck by the intensity of the colors in her work — colors that vibrated in the California sun, and intensified as the sun grew stronger.

“Each pattern or print that I design has a history, however brief, of how it came to be. I’m sure the meaning for me differs from that of the viewer/ wearer/ user, but I hope some of the story comes through.”

One design, she explained, was a pixelated image of a fashion runway show. She photographed the screen then worked in Photoshop, pixelating the images, creating a new sense of color and rhythm. Another textile she showed me was inspired by a photograph of a shadow on the bedroom wall of her Highland Park home. Jennifer was born and raised in Iowa. She attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts Printmaking in 1995, and eventually moved to Los Angeles where she currently lives with her husband Tomory Dodge, a painter." --David John







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