Stephen Walters are silk weavers designing and producing fabric for international luxury brands. We have built our reputation as design leaders working exclusively with fashion houses across the world. We are recruiting for the following position to join our highly regarded design team:

Vacancy: Textile Designer

We are offering a great opportunity for a Textile Designer to join our creative team. The work is extremely varied and covers a broad range of fabrics from men’s neckwear and apparel fabrics to contemporary womenswear and furnishings.

We are looking for a designer with good artistic ability and drawing skills, a sensitivity to colour, a diversity of styles and attention to detail. An understanding of CAD systems would be beneficial, but it is not essential as full training will be given to the successful applicant.

There will be a degree of admin required within the role therefore an ability to learn company specific systems as well as understanding of Microsoft Office would be useful. Our design team is currently made up of trained designers from a variety of disciplines not only woven fabrics.

We would like to hear from anyone who is qualified in a similar field and who demonstrates excellent team working skills.

Hours of work: 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours)
Location: Sudbury, Suffolk
Salary: Depending on experience
Training : Full training will be provided

Closing date for applications:The position has been filled so please no more applications

A Handweave graduate/technician, or similar is required for a three week Ghana-based project.

Action Through Enterprise  is a charity that operates in the far north of Ghana.

The charity helps local entrepreneurs set up in business by providing micro grants to enable them to buy equipment and materials to start trading.

Amongst those that the charity has assisted are a number of weavers who produce traditional fabric to the local market.

The environment of northern Ghana is particularly harsh, made more so by climate change, and as a result the local weavers are finding it increasingly difficult to sell their wares.

A private UK company ‘Milou Textiles’ has now been created to employ the local weavers and market their produce in the European marketplace.

Milou Textiles will return 25% of all profits from sales to Action Through Enterprise.

Milou are looking for a UK based weaver with good technical knowledge of hand weaving processes to help the weavers to adapt their practices from using their present rudimentary looms to using wider floor looms.

The successful applicant will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Lawra in Upper West Ghana for two to three weeks in May or June 2018. For more information please contact Jonathan Hall of Milou Textiles. Vacancy Filled 16.1.2018 – please do not send applications in.

Text & images: Milou Textiles

Himatsingka Europe Ltd

New role: Sales & Product Development Assistant

Himatsingka Europe, Drapery & Upholstery Division
Himatsingka Europe, based in London, is the European sales and marketing office of the Himatsingka Drapery and Upholstery fabrics manufacturing facility, which is the largest of its kind in India, and a world leader for its class of products.

The operation is vertically integrated from pre-weaving yarn preparation to post-weaving finishing processes. The facility was built with a vision to produce Drapery and Upholstery products that epitomize cutting edge design and quality.

Over the years, its design and product development capabilities have paved the way to create products for the most recognized brands in the world. Continue reading →

Loughborough University: The School of the Arts, English and Drama is seeking a high-level, self-motivated Technical Tutor to provide high quality technical teaching, research and enterprise activities in Woven Textiles

Reporting to the Senior Technical Officer, staff at this level will be experienced specialists. They will use their knowledge and experience to complement a team of highly skilled staff in supporting Foundation, Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) Teaching, Research and Enterprise within the school.

Working from our specialist hub facilities which include weave and jacquard workshops, the role holder will enable students to develop the understanding, skills, confidence and expertise necessary to employ the appropriate technical elements required for developing and creating their professional practice work.

The post is full-time and fixed term to 31st July 2018.

Application closing date: 8 December 2017

For informal enquiries, contact Rachael Jermyn, R.Jermyn@lboro.ac.uk

Image & Text: Rosie Moorman. Courtesy of Loughborough University

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 →

The Bristol Weaving Mill is looking for two full-time weave design/textile graduates to join their growing team. A Sales and Design and a Production and Technical role.

Both positions are for immediate start.
Location: Bristol
Salary: £18,000 PA starting wage.
Submission deadline: 2pm Friday 14th July 2017.

Sales & Design Role
The Bristol Weaving Mill are looking for a confident and driven sales person with a solid technical understanding of weaving and excellent design skills to help us establish, nurture, and maintain client relationships for The Bristol Weaving Mill through pro-active and responsive communication and design development.

This job will involve working closely and strategically on sales, building upon the existing client database for the Bristol Weaving Mill. Each of their client relationships is based on offering a service catered to their individual needs, with most of the customers seeking not only the small-batch and locally managed production capabilities of the mill, but also looking to them to provide input and direction creatively, offering technical advice where necessary.

The creative and technical elements of this role are essential to the main sales element.

Responsibilities:
– Maintaining communications with existing clients remotely, via phone and email;
– Managing client lists and contacts;
– Meeting with existing and new clients in-house and on sales visits;
– Identifying and targeting new potential clients in the UK and worldwide;
– Co-ordinating the aesthetic development of client projects through trend research and hand- weaving trials;
– Product development for our own branded fabric and products through CAD and hand- weaving;
– Working with the production team at The Bristol Weaving Mill to be able to inform clients about the viability, scope, and limitations of their proposed projects and the different options open to them for any given project;
– Communicating pricing and lead time information to clients;
– Contributing to the development of our in-house fabric collection including personal design
input of trends and hand-loom swatches. Requirements:
– A BA degree in Textiles (specialised in woven constructed fabrics);
– Confident hand-weaver (practical and technical);
– Professional and diverse creative portfolio;
– Excellent interpersonal skills;
– Sales experience preferred but not essential;
– Adobe Suite and Microsoft Office;
– Full UK drivers licence.
Continue reading →

The Company
Founded in 1903, Gainsborough Fine Weavers & Dye House embodies over a century of British craftsmanship. The entire production process – from design, to hand-dyeing yarns, to weaving the finished fabrics – takes place on the site they have occupied since 1924. They received the Royal Warrant from HM The Queen in 1981.

Alongside their own collections, Gainsborough has long been a textile house for any interior designer seeking  bespoke fabrics, from contemporary, geometric styles to the richest of damasks and pearl-embroidered silks, and our their willingness to support creative craftspeople in their endeavours remains a cornerstone of their offering.

The role
Gainsborough is looking to hire experienced weavers, including hand weavers to join its production team in Sudbury. They have both Jacqaurd Dornier electronic looms as well as 1930s punch-card operated Hattersley Looms.

Successful applicants will be trained both in Dornier and Hattersley operation and also have the opportunity to widen their skill set in other areas of the production process.

Continue reading →

Stephen Walters are silk weavers designing and producing fabric for international luxury brands. They have built their reputation as design leaders, working exclusively with fashion houses across the world.

The design work is extremely varied and covers a broad range of fabrics from men’s neckwear to contemporary womenswear and furnishings.

They are recruiting for the following two positions to join their highly regarded design team:

Textile Designer
To work within their creative design team, producing CAD representations of their jacquard designs.

They are looking for a designer with good artistic ability and drawing skills, a sensitivity to colour, a diversity of styles and attention to detail.

An understanding of CAD systems would be beneficial but not essential, as full training will be given to the successful applicant. Their design team is currently made up of trained designers from a variety of disciplines such as print, surface pattern and weave. They would like to hear from anyone who is qualified in similar areas and who works well as part of a team.

Textile Designer
To work within their technical design team, creating jacquard weave programs using their specialist textile weave CAD system.

They are looking for a designer with good drawing skills, good attention to detail, patience and a good understanding of maths. It would be beneficial if the successful applicant had an understanding of weave and weave structures and some experience of using CAD systems, but this is not essential, as full training will be given. Their design team is currently made up of weave and print designers and the successful applicant will be someone who works well as a part of a team.

Hours of work: 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours)
Location: Sudbury, Suffolk
Salary: Depending on experience

Closing date for applications: 19.05.17