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Competition: Knockando Woolmill

Knockando Woolmill  launches their  New Designer Competition

Knockando Woolmill is proud to introduce their inaugural New Woven Textile Designer Award, seeking emerging talent from across the United Kingdom.

The competition aims to uncover the best of new textile design talent, inviting current students and recent graduates to submit innovative, contemporary designs that push boundaries.

The competition is open to entries from 30th August and closes at midnight on 30th September. 10 finalists will be chosen by a judging panel consisting of the team at the Mill, Anna Freemantle, director of the Edinburgh International Fashion Festival, and a guest judge (to be announced closer to the closing date of submission).

Anna Freemantle describes the competitions as:

“A hugely exciting opportunity for young and relevant creativity and innovation to be implemented into an old functioning mill and its traditional, existing design”

The winning design will be announced by a top, internationally recognised judging panel as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Fashion Festival (8-12 November 2017).

The winning design will then be produced commercially and sold with custom labelling featuring the designer’s name.

The competition is open to  current undergraduate and postgraduate students, and recent graduates of Fashion or Textile Design, provided they are not yet in full-time employment within the industry and graduated after January 2017.

For more details, and to find out how to enter

Texprint 2017: Weave Designers

Texprint interviews, mentors and promotes the UK’s most talented textile design graduates with the support of industry professionals worldwide.

Those selected are introduced to buyers, press and sponsors at the Texprint London event, and at Europe and Asia’s leading yarn and textile exhibitions.

Texprint is entirely funded by the generous sponsorship of industry and by British charitable foundations, who believe wholeheartedly in supporting textile design talent and in encouraging design innovation and excellence.

The following Weave Designers were selected for 2017, and their work can be seen at Première Vision Designs, Paris, Europe’s leading textile design specialty show, where the designers will exhibit their unique textile design collections, meet international buyers and make contacts.

The Texprint Awards Presentation, promoting the talent of British-trained textile designers to an international audience, takes place in the Texprint ‘village’ in Hall 5 and is attended by industry guests and press.  The 2017 Prize Presenter in Paris will be star Japanese designer Yuma Koshino.:

Julia Lidell ( Top image)
The Hen Folk Dress Collection. Hen is a new Swedish word referring to he or she. This is used when the gender is unknown or has no significance for the comunicated message.

Hen Collection is a lifestyle collection, made applicable to gender neutral fashion and accessories, as well as interiors.

The collection explores both heavy and light designs that celebrate the potential of wool and natural materials. Research into the wider heritage of Scandinavia: garments and ships from the viking age, folk dress and craft techniques that are still used today, has inspired a multi-functional collection. This collection is inspired by objects that hold a history and traditional Scandinavian craft techniques as a tool for contemporary design.

I have a wide passion for crafts and materials. Textiles have always been an interest of mine, previous to my woven textiles degree in London, I studied tailoring and design for three years at college in Sweden. Textiles has become my specialism but I have a wide interest for many different crafts, ceramics, silversmithing, embroidery. The key for me is the authenticity of materials and the value of old craft technique.The last year I have been focussing on creating delicate but heavily textured contemporary woven designs, with a high wool content in earthy grounded colours, inspired by objects that hold a history, and by traditional techniques.

E:julia.lidell@gmail.com

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Exhibition: The Darker Thread // Edefyn Tywyllach

A Darker Thread // Edefyn Tywyllach

Oriel Myrddin Gallery

15 July – 21 October 2017

Wales has a much celebrated tradition of creating both utilitarian and decorative textiles of distinctive design.  From power-loomed blankets to hand-stitched quilts, textiles are a key part of Welsh visual culture and history.

Whilst ‘A Darker Thread’ takes this heritage as its starting point, twelve contemporary artists, designers and makers have been invited to exhibit work which subverts these expectations.

Exhibitors have been selected for their challenging, confrontational or unpredictable approach to making thoroughly contemporary work which confidently cross boundaries of art, design and craft.  A variety of making processes are exemplified, but all make use of thread in some form.

The curious, provocative, intense, fragile works explore broad-ranging themes of empowerment, loss, language, internal landscapes, memory and gender to name but a few.  Some work might still feel comfortably familiar through its materiality or typically ‘Welsh’ colour palette of black, ecru and red; much hopefully, does not.

Exhibitors: Alana Tyson, Eleri Mills, Indre Dunn, Jayne Pierson in collaboration with Neale Howells, Laura Thomas, Llio James, Philippa Lawrence, Rhiannon Williams, Rozanne Hawksley, Ruth Harries, Sally-Ann Parker and Spike Dennis. Continue reading →

Crossover Borås 2017: European Textile Network Conference

Crossover Borås 2017, the XVIII conference of the European Textile Network, ETN, will be held September 12-19, 2017, The main conference sessions will take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 16-17, 2017. at the Swedish Museum of Textiles, located in the city of Borås, 30 minutes from Gothenburg airport.

The Borås Textile Fashion Centre not only houses the Museum but also the Swedish School of Textiles, an internationally renowned centre for textile innovation in fashion and design plus the Smart Textiles Lab.

The conference co-organizers are the European Textile Network, ETN, together with the Swedish Museum of Textiles and Nordic Textile Art association. The conference aims to present a global perspective of the different textile practices and their interactions with a special focus on sustainable creativity and innovation in textile art and design.

Speakers include Lij Edelkoort, one of the world’s most famous trend forecasters, Faigh Ahmed, Azerbaijani artist well known for his conceptual approach to traditional textiles, Jun Tomita, Japanese kasuri weaving master, Grethe Sørensen, Danish Jacquard weaver who recently received the Nordic Award in Textiles, and Catharine Ellis, who together with textile chemist Joy Boutrup, will talk about collaborative projects between art and science, among others.

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Select Festival & Symposium 2017

Select Festival 2017 is a celebration of visual arts on from 29th to April 28th May at various venues in Gloucestershire with over 150 artists taking part. There are  exhibitions, workshops, events, talks and a one day symposium plus  Select Trail Open Studios in the  Stroud Valleys

DIS/rupting Tradition: New Textile Languages. Select Festival 2017 presents a symposium linked to the lead exhibition DIS/rupt.

One Day Symposium - Co-ordinated by Dr Melanie Miller

Date: Sat 6th May 2017.
Times: 11am – 4pm

Dr Melanie Miller has convened a thought-provoking symposium to run alongside the Textile Study Group’s exhibition DIS/rupt. Focussing on the theme of disrupting tradition, the symposium will address issues around ‘new textile languages’.

Speakers: Dr Melanie Miller; Alice Kettle; June Hills and Michelle Stephens.

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Exhibition | On the Line: New perspectives on craft in Southeast Asia

On the Line: New perspectives on craft in Southeast Asia
Dates: 4 May – 17 June 2017

Venue: The Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5SG

The Aram Gallery is hosting ‘On the Line’, a British Council exhibition exploring craft through the practices of women in Southeast Asia.

The show’s opening coincides with London Craft Week (3-7 May 2017). On the Line seeks to question the sustainability of craft in Southeast Asia in the context of increasing globalisation. It offers a range of insights into the lives and cultures of women working in this sector today.
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Weaving Futures: Week 13 | Eleanor Pritchard

Weaving Futures is an exhibition at London Transport Museum highlighting the importance of woven textile design to the London Transport system. The exhibition explores the process and making of digital woven textiles, as part of the Museums’, Designology season. Weaving Futures is curated by Philippa Brock and Samuel Plant Dempsey.

Each week, visitors will can see invited designers/artists in residence in the Designology studio, who will be working on a project brief and interacting with a weaver in their residency dates. The weavers will be interpreting the residents work live into digital woven textile prototypes and final works on a state-of-the-art TC2 digital jacquard loom. 

Week 13 features: Eleanor Pritchard

Closes the Weaving Futures season
Residency dates: 15th – 18th Feb 2017
Activity days: 17th & 18th Feb 2017

Eleanor Pritchard  are a small hands-on weave studio based in Deptford, South East London, who design and manufacture an upholstery and an interior accessories range.

Their signature style is characterized by bold geometrics and graphic reversible patterns in a palette that combines chalky and cross-hatched neutrals, sharp accents and deep inky tones. Their aesthetic is clean and contemporary with a nod to English mid-century design. The fabrics draw inspiration from traditional British textile crafts, re-interpreting the vernacular for a contemporary audience.

They work with different mills in the UK for their production and are closely involved with the production and finishing processes.

Their accessory collection is sold world wide through stores including,  Margaret Howell, Twentytwentyone and Artek.

The Aerial upholstery fabric collection has been used on a wide range of furniture projects including the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and Ham Yard Hotel and Eleanor Pritchard have  also worked with studios including Sfera Ricordi and Pelikan. Continue reading →

Friday Late LTM: Weaving Futures

‘Weaving Futures’ residents will be at the London Transport Museum, at the  Friday Late, Urban Fabric event, in the Designology Studio on 17th Feb 2017. 18.45 – 22.00.

The work woven in this innovative, experimental exhibition will be on display as work in progress, and the Curators Philippa Brock & Samuel Plant Dempsey and participating residents will be available to discuss their responses to this season and their outcomes with visitors. The Tc2  Norway Digital Weaving jacquard loom will be running and there will also be a Houndstooth Project workshop  in the studio so visitors can experience designing repeating patterns.

Throughout the Museum there will be  many talks, workshops and displays ongoing, including Designing with Moquette with Annalisa Atkinson, Future Trends with Geraldine Wharry, The Inconvenience of Dress with Jenna Rossi – Camus, about public transport through drawings of fashion satires. Designing stations for local communities – architects talking about the Crossrail stations. The full programme is  available here.   Tickets  for the event can be purchased here

Residents who have participated in the Weaving Futures season have  included Assemble, Beatwoven, Philippa Brock, Camira, Central Saint Martins, BA Textile students, Samuel Dempsey, Linda Florence, Gainsborough Weaving Company, Eleanor Pritchard, Rare Thread :  Kirsty McDougall & Laura Miles, Josephine Ortega, Ismini Samanidou, Studio Houndstooth: Jo Pierce, Takram & Priti Veja Continue reading →

Weaving Futures: Week 13 | Rare Thread

Weaving Futures is an exhibition at London Transport Museum highlighting the importance of woven textile design to the London Transport system. The exhibition explores the process and making of digital woven textiles, as part of the Museums’, Designology season. Weaving Futures is curated by Philippa Brock and Samuel Plant Dempsey.

Each week, visitors will can see invited designers/artists in residence in the Designology studio, who will be working on a project brief and interacting with a weaver in their residency dates. The weavers will be interpreting the residents work live into digital woven textile prototypes and final works on a state-of-the-art TC2 digital jacquard loom. 

Week 13 features: Rare Thread

Residency dates: 12th – 14th Feb 2017
Activity days: 13th & 14th Feb 2017

Rare Thread is a textile studio/collective conceived by Laura Miles and Kirsty McDougall and incorporates a team of designers and specialists including Ruth Greany, Stephanie Rolph, Sophia Fenlon and Hannah Auerbach George. There is a post with more details on The Weave Shed.

The designers of Rare Thread work collaboratively on collections and projects as well as retaining autonomy on other aspects of their practice.

With combined experience in industry of 35 years, Laura and Kirsty decided to merge their individual creative studio businesses to champion hand and machine woven textile design and finishing for a broad variety of textile outcomes including Fashion, Interiors and CMF to Material Development and Trend. Continue reading →

Weaving Futures: Week 12 | BeatWoven

Weaving Futures is an exhibition at London Transport Museum highlighting the importance of woven textile design to the London Transport system. The exhibition explores the process and making of digital woven textiles, as part of the Museums’, Designology season. Weaving Futures is curated by Philippa Brock and Samuel Plant Dempsey.

Each week, visitors will can see invited designers/artists in residence in the Designology studio, who will be working on a project brief and interacting with a weaver in their residency dates. The weavers will be interpreting the residents work live into digital woven textile prototypes and final works on a state-of-the-art TC2 digital jacquard loom. 

Week 12: features: BeatWoven
Residency dates: 8th – 11th Feb 2017
Activity days:9th & 10th  Feb 2017

Award winning, avant-garde textiles label BeatWoven® pioneers globally in pattern exploration with its couture fabrics for the prestige interior design market. It uses its skilfully coded audio technology as an instrument to translate and reveal the geometric patterns created by the beats and sounds in music. Simply by playing songs and sounds it visualises and orchestrates pattern formations that fuse harmoniously with textiles, particularly with the traditional craft technique of weaving. Through innovation, woven pattern and form is reinvented, fabric aesthetic is challenged and music, fashion and lifestyle are linked. Each couture fabric creates a conversational art piece ready to contribute to an interior landscape of curiosity and emotional connection.  Continue reading →