There’s something liberating about breaking things apart. Tearing, layering, rearranging. When we think of design, we often think in straight lines—technical drawings, digital renders, everything crisp, controlled, and precise. But what happens when you abandon control? When instead of assembling something neatly, you allow the process to be instinctive, chaotic even?

This week at college, Fiona, our lecturer, challenged us to look at research differently—not as a linear progression of ideas, but as something more fragmented, more alive. She introduced us to her approach to collage: a way of thinking that embraces imperfection, juxtaposition, and texture. She wouldn’t simply place images together neatly; she would cobble them together—disrupting, fusing, layering. Some pieces didn’t quite fit back together, and that was the point. The gaps, the edges, the rawness—that’s where the magic happens.

She showed us how, beyond just cutting and pasting, collage could be enriched with mark-making—bold strokes, delicate lines, smudges that whisper movement. Sketching became a way to bridge the imagery, to suggest space rather than define it. The result? A composition that wasn’t just about visuals but about feeling. A textured, visceral interpretation of space that captured its atmosphere in a way that a flat, digital drawing never could.

For my own collage, I found myself drawn—unsurprisingly—to space and surroundings. I started with a black-and-white framed image of a window, a quiet moment of looking outward. But what if I could change what was beyond the glass? What if the view didn’t have to be fixed?

So I cut through it. Disrupting the frame, shifting the perspective, rewriting what lay beyond. I replaced the outside world with fragments—people, spaces, landscapes—all layered together, somehow finding their own rhythm. It became about connection, about the way we inhabit space, how we look out and what we see beyond ourselves.

And that’s what I love about collage. It’s not about perfection—it’s about possibilities. It’s about shifting perspectives, about creating spaces that don’t exist yet, but could. And maybe, in a way, it’s about learning to see the world differently, one torn edge at a time.

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   Was an interesting show and definitely worth the visit. It’s certainly got your creative juices flowing! 👍