Dashing Tweeds have worked with Joseph Whitbread in their first collaboration with a Royal College of Art student. The company has put one of his designs into production.Â
An award winning student of Weaver, Kirsty McDougall – Joe’s final degree show was also chosen for a prestigious Texprint award and with his skilful designs he is definitely on the path to making a name for himself within the weaving industry.
Joseph is influenced by upbeat individuals the world over, from gregarious and colourfully plumed bee-eaters of Central Africa to the exotic stars of rock embodied by Bowie and Prince.
In addition his course work led to detailed analysis of the classic menswear tropes of the 20th century and the weave designs of cloths from the 1920’s and 30’s, especially William Watson’s influential book on colour and weave.
Dashing Tweeds saw Joseph’s work during a mid term assessment earlier this year and were very impressed by his sense of colour and the technical deflected double cloth lifting patterns he had devised.
The Dashing team then asked if he would like to produce a guest design to sit along side their AW17 fabric collections. Fortuitously their selected palette including oranges and turquoise blues in common with his inspirational bee-eaters.
About: Joseph felt a draw to the world of design from a young age, doodling fashion illustrations in the conducive artistic surroundings of his interior decorating mother and graphic designing father.
As is often the case with weavers, Joseph studied both Arts and Science but at A levels showed an interest in Politics.
However, the draw of the arts proved irresistible and Joseph was lucky to get a place at Central Saint Martins for a foundation course followed by a textile degree at Falmouth University.
Here he was lured by the loom, the meticulous nature of weave appealed as well as the potential to create endless outcomes by changing the patterns of warp and weft threads.
Following graduation Joe applied to study textiles at the  Royal College of Art where his talents secured a place on the two year MA Textile Design course.
With thanks to Dashing Tweeds/Joe Whitbread for the text and images
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