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Company Profile: The Aviary Studio

22 October 2017 Company Profile / General / New weave developments / News
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Founded by Sarah Podlesny, The Aviary Studio is a UK based hand weaving studio and design consultancy providing fabric ideas and development to the high-street and high-end fashion and interior markets.

Striving to fulfil the constant demand for newness in an age where copying has become standard practice, The Aviary Studio‘s main aim is to inspire.

Sarah graduated in from Central Saint Martins in 2010 with a BA in Woven Textiles, and also participated in the Texprint that year, winning the Prize for Innovation.

Since then, she has experienced and worked in many areas of the industry, including with suppliers, brands, and studios. Sarah spent 4 years designing, weaving and selling for Laura Miles of Woven Studio, and during that time she was also designing jacquards for the womenswear line at Vanners Silk Mill.

Her initial studio practice experience, gained her an understanding of the technical and creative possibilities and constraints of woven fabric, and a great deal of experience selling, liaising and problem solving with clients.

From her time working for a mill, she learnt the invaluable skill of translating hand woven swatches into mill adaptations, and expanded her understanding of weave to industrial and computerized level, as well as hand woven. Continue reading →

Job: The Humphries Weaving Company Ltd: Position closed 7.12.2017

11 October 2017 General / Jobs
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Job: Sales and Design Assistant

Deadline: Currently open

Company Profile
Humphries Weaving is a leading British manufacturer of custom Jacquard fabrics, gaining an international reputation in weaving fine furnishings. With a varied portfolio of works we undertake client led projects for prestigious historical restorations, alongside the high end interior design market.

The Role
Humphries Weaving are looking to recruit a Sales and Design Assistant to join and support their small ambitious team. The role is diverse encompassing hand and computer design work as well as implementation of the company marketing strategy through social media and website activities. There is the opportunity to progress into managing your own client accounts and to grow relationships through customer liaison and site visits. Alongside this is office based administration related to these responsibilities and administration support for other team members.

The Candidate
The successful candidate will have a degree in woven textile design or similar and a minimum of 1 year relevant experience; designing for Jacquard fabrics would be advantageous. Sensitivity to colour and a keen interest in furnishing and/or historic textiles is desired.

With a professional attitude, the candidate must be able to confidently communicate with colleagues and clients alike. Knowledge of WordPress and social media or a willingness to learn would be an advantage.

Continue reading →

Job: Faculty Position in Fiber & Material Studies | School of The Art Institute Chicago

18 September 2017 General / Jobs / Reseach
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Full time Faculty Position in Fiber and Material Studies
The Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) invites applications for a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty position, beginning August 2018. Rank and salary are competitive with peer institutions and are commensurate with quality of practice, scholarship, and current academic research, extent of teaching experience, and current professional standing.

Program profile
The Department of Fiber and Material Studies emphasizes the production of textiles and fiber arts within a contemporary art context and supported by current theoretical discourse. Students study a vast range of textile construction, surface techniques, and processes, including: weaving, print, dye, stitch, soft sculpture, felting, knitting, crochet, spinning, collage, and embellishment.

Our studios feature analog and digital equipment, and students engage in thinking and working with hand processes while incorporating digital technologies and computer-assisted approaches to making. The department currently has 6 full-time and 16 part-time faculty. It has up to 20 dedicated MFA students, and over 750 undergraduate enrollments in 60 courses each academic year.

In addition, SAIC is affiliated with the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago, which offers a comprehensive collection of textiles, fiber, and contemporary art. Further information about the department can be found at www.saic.edu/academics/departments/fiber/

Responsibilities
Full-time faculty in Fiber and Material Studies teach and advise undergraduate and graduate students within the interdisciplinary art and design school environment of SAIC. Full-time faculty must maintain an active professional practice, provide vision and direction as the Department Chair on a rotating basis, and participate in the SAIC community through ongoing curricular development and departmental and school governance.

Qualifications
An MFA or equivalent terminal degree is preferred. Candidates with a nationally/internationally recognized studio practice and strong exhibition record and/or accomplishments within their field of cultural production preferred. Continue reading →

International Conference: Digital/Material: developments in printed and woven textiles

12 September 2017 Conferences / General
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Digital/Material: developments in printed and woven textiles
Date: 27th October 2017
Venue: University for the Creative Arts, Rochester

Surface pattern has the power to transform objects, materials and environments, layering them with new understanding. Patterned, decorated and ornamented surfaces can add colour, texture and the illusion of depth, and they can carry symbolic meanings that are cultural, political or psychological.

Over the last decade the application of printed surface pattern has been revolutionised by advances in technology. Digital printing offers unparalleled scope for innovation, yet it follows a rich historical tradition of printed decoration in fashion, the interior and beyond.

On 27th October 2017 UCA will host the Digital/Material international conference, to celebrate and examine the transformative power of printed textiles. In recent years they have been on the crest of a wave of print and pattern that sees no sign of subsiding, with, for instance, new digital decorative techniques in architecture and interiors, the digital deployment of smart materials, and the emergence of engineered pattern in garments.

Yet the printing of a patterned surface has sometimes been controversial, and the conference also seeks to explore the legacy of the past politics of pattern, as well as the deployment of pattern in politics: how pattern has been used as a powerful tool to provoke, explore and present thinking on political issues. Topics covered will include:
• What is the impact of digital technology in printed in textiles and beyond?
• What role will be played by new materials?
• How does history inform contemporary printed pattern making?
• How can printed textiles reflect diverse global cultures?
• What is the future of printed pattern?

Keynote Speakers: Phillip David Stearns, founder of Glitch Textiles in New York and artist David Mabb.

Click here For further booking 
or contact Professor Lesley Millar lmillar@ucreative.ac.uk

Text & image: Thanks to University of The Creative Arts

Study Day: Marianne Straub | School of Textiles

11 September 2017 Courses / General / Reseach
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Marianne Straub: A Weaver’s Life

On Marianne’s birthday, the School of Textiles celebrate her incredible life with a special study session lead by one of her close friends and colleague, Mary Schoeser.

After an introductory talk on Marianne’s work, Mary will lead a special detailed study session on her personal and commissioned woven fabric samples.

After lunch, you will have the opportunity to learn more about Marianne’s contribution to industry through her extensive knowledge of woven structures, followed by further a study session using Marianne’s personal collection of world and historical textiles.

Venue: School of Textiles, Coggeshall
Date: Saturday 23rd September 2017
Time: 10am – 3pm
Price: £35.00

 

Weave Graduates 2017

9 September 2017 General / New weave developments / News
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The following Weave Designers all graduated in 2017.

This is a showcase of their final collections.

Izzie Bagwell

(Image above) Inspired by work wear and protective wear, I explored the ways in which specialist materials have been used to cover bodies that are at risk, for example soldiers and firefighters.

My designs use fabrics that are typically found in protective wear, such as padding, high visibility fabrics, neon, metals and rubber and the inclusion of text. Function//Fashion mixes new and old fibers and materials together to create hybrid pieces that reflect and acknowledge the history of protective wear.

As my research progressed I became interested in subverting ideas of clothing that is meant to protect the body and began to create faux protective wear in which style would triumph over substance. Workwear and uniforms are a constantly recurring trope of much recent fashion design, and I wanted to play with the idea of subverting and commenting on high fashion, which is aimed at and designed for elite consumers, by overlaying themes and fabrics from protective and work wear clothing onto ‘fashion’ pieces.

Perhaps thinking about recent world events and the possibility of this continuing in the future: if life in developed, capitalist countries becomes more dangerous, even for the elite, protective clothes will become not the sign of the worker, but the sign of the elite, of those that can afford ‘protection’.

email: ialbagwell@gmail.com

Continue reading →

Competition: Knockando Woolmill

7 September 2017 Competitions / Events / General
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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

Weave Workshops: Line Nilsen | Georgia Fisher

6 September 2017 General / Workshops
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Weave Workshops: Line Nilsen

One day weave workshops held in the Weave Studio at Primary

Primary is an artist community with studio spaces and galleries in Nottingham,
Venue: 33 Seely Road, Nottingham, NG7 1NU
Dates: 22nd, 23rd September & 13th, 14th October 2017.
The workshop will allow participants to explore five different warps, set up on five separate looms, giving  the opportunity to practice a variety structures of weave and learn some of the unique properties of different fibres.

Upon arrival the looms will be ready and all set up for weaving, allowing for 6 hours learning about weaving and exchange ideas with the workshop group.

No extra equipment is needed for this workshop as everything is provided and included in the workshop price. Participants can also  bring some of their own yarns to experiment with.  Participants will be able to take away a minimum of five different woven samples, all mounted on a technical sheet for their textile library.

All levels are welcome from beginner to experienced weaver.

£60 per person 5 spaces available per workshop

Weave tutor for this workshop is textile designer and hand weaver – click on link to contact Line Nilsen

Due to limited availability all bookings are to be made in advance.

Weaving a Wall Hanging: Georgia Fisher
Venue: Heal’s, 196 Tottenham Court Road. London. W1T 7PJ
Date:   Sat 9 September 2017
Time:   13:00 – 16:00 Continue reading →

Dashing Tweeds: Collaboration with Joe Whitbread

5 September 2017 Awards / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News
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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. 

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. Continue reading →

Job: Account Manager | Stephen Walters & Sons Ltd

31 August 2017 General / Jobs
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Account Manager opportunity
Due to increased demand and business development Stephen Walters have a requirement to expand their busy sales team and appoint an additional Account Manager.

This exciting role involves working with creative people to grow sales. Please write to the company and tell them how you would do the above and what you could bring to their team.

Company profile
SWS is a sales division within the Walters group designing, marketing and selling woven fabrics, generally to high end international designer brands. Fabric is manufactured and woven on the Sudbury Silk Mills site in Suffolk.

The company is fully vertical, including fabric design, yarn dyeing, warping, weaving and finishing.

The role
The purpose of the role is to introduce and manage a portfolio of customer accounts to deliver a sales revenue target in line with our sales strategy.

The role is customer facing and forms the link between their customers and the mill and does include travel nationally and internationally.

The candidate
The successful candidate will have an understanding of the luxury fashion market with an affinity to creativity and design, and a desire to grow and develop new business.

A willingness to learn and understand our niche products, markets, processes and company vision is essential as well as excellent organisational and communication skills.

Proficiency in Microsoft Office productivity software and an ability to understand industry and company specific systems will be required.

Sales experience within textiles and a textile or fashion related degree would be desirable but not essential.

As they are a manufacturing company some experience of manufacturing and jacquard woven textile knowledge would be an advantage however they are committed to a full and thorough training program.

Hours of work: 8am – 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours) with some additional travel.
Location: Sudbury, Suffolk.
Salary: Dependant on experience
Training: Necessary training provided.

Closing date for applications: 22nd September 2017 to

Apply to: sales@stephenwalters.co.uk

 

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