Claire Norcross has been connected to the University of Central Lancashire for the past 15 years, who was teaching Textiles and various Tech courses. Currently she is a freelance designer located in Preston, she had done a variety of trade shows, created her own business, done work for commercial designers for high street stores, had her designs licensed and works directly with manufactures through her freelance work.
She is inspired by the natural world, which she states is “organic in their form”, however, she is not always visually or directly influenced. When she is working, she looks for materials or techniques which she can translate her inspiration into a product. For example; her lighting piece Aperture was inspired by the nature of a pinecone which can open and close according to the conditions it’s in, similarly, you can open and close each aperture to focus light and create a variety of effects. She was not only inspired by the pinecone however, but also by a frame she bought at a sale which was made using discarded cigarette packets. The product was created using paper, however, she doesn’t work solely in one material. The product was well developed, it changed from one idea to another until finally ending up with the Aperture.
One of the main things Claire Norcross wanted to get across was to “know your context” when designing a product. Claire then explained about another product, Eight-fifty a lamp made from recycled cable ties. Claire showed this design to a company known as Ferrious, a furniture design company located in Manchester (although now they have moved onto retail). Ferrious designed the base to the lamp, whereas Claire provided the shade. It was then presented at the 100% Design in 1999, although the lamp came runner-up she did received an award from Blueprint magazine. The press she got after exhibiting the light was great and the lamp was permanently included in collections such as the Conran Collection at the Design Museum and the Made in Manchester Galleries at Manchester Art Galleries. One problem she faced however, because of the actual design, it appealed to a much younger audience as it was a fun product. But as the lamp was selling for £385.00 and young people couldn’t afford it, the product ground to a halt as to where it was going to sell. More so, Claire was only receiving £85.00 of the money. This was a key moment in her practice, she learnt that she should know her customers, and know her context.
Her previous products were winning many competitions and getting a lot of press, however they were not selling because of the price. By working with a new company Habitat, Claire then designed a new version of the light which wasn’t nearly as costly to create. They sold hundreds of these lights and it was featured weekly in newspapers and magazines, she didn’t however get loads of money, but she did in fact get a large amount of press, be that on the side of Lorries and Buses, or just in Newspapers and magazines. Soon she was labelled as a lighting designer, she states that “it’s kinda been organic the way things have happened.”
I wont delve too much into what else was said here, but I will explain how I have been influenced by her work during my research assignment at a later date.
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