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

2 April 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / News
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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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Exhibition | Entangled: Threads & Making

24 February 2017 Exhibitions / News
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Entangled: Threads & Making is a major exhibition of sculpture, installation, tapestry, textiles and jewellery from the early 20th century to the present day at the Turner Contemporary, Margate. It features over 40 international female artists who expand the possibilities of embroidery, weaving, sewing and wood carving, often incorporating unexpected materials such as plants, clothing, hair and bird quills.

Entangled: Threads & Making is curated by writer and critic Karen Wright, with Turner Contemporary. Wright became fascinated by the making processes she saw first-hand on the many studio visits she did with artists for her ‘In the Studio’ column for the Independent. The idea for Entangled: Threads & Making evolved out of these visits, in particular one with renowned American artist Kiki Smith who was working on her epic tapestry Sky (2012), included in the exhibition.

The exhibition brings together artists from different generations and cultures who challenge established categories of craft, design and fine art, and who share a fascination with the handmade and the processes of making itself.

A new publication accompanies the exhibition, with essays and interviews by Ann Coxon, Stina Högkvist, Siri Hustvedt, Kathryn Lloyd, Rosa Martínez, Marit Paasche, Frances Morris and Karen Wright. Available from the Turner Contemporary shop.

Dates: Sat 28 Jan – Sun 7 May 2017

Image & Text: Turner Contemporary website

 

The Cockpit Arts / Clothworkers’ Foundation Award 2017: Call for Entries

24 February 2017 Awards / General / New weave developments / News / Scholarships
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Applications are invited for the Cockpit Arts / The Clothworkers’ Foundation Awards 2017. The Awards are only open to weavers who have graduated within the last 5 years.

The Awards aim to assist emerging weavers each year to set up in business by providing studio space and business support provided by Cockpit Arts as well as shared use of looms. The selection panel, including the acclaimed ikat weaver and designer Mary Restieaux, and a representative of The Clothworkers’ Foundation, will be looking for up to three individuals who demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit as well as creative excellence and craft skills.

The Award contributes to the cost of a place at Cockpit for one year from July 2017 and will include a space in a shared studio equipped with a dye area, 3 looms, Leclerc and Louet, and the following benefits:
• Studio space and use of looms within the creative community of Cockpit Arts at Deptford, London, SE8 with access to office facilities and resource centre.
• Business and professional development services including on-site coaching, a personalised development plan, workshops and seminars.
• A range of selling and promotional opportunities including Cockpit Arts Open Studios selling events twice a year.
• Award worth £2,000 with the remaining £2,000 fee being provided by the Award winners, payable on a monthly basis.
How to Apply:
• Please request a “Clothworkers Award” application pack from dana@cockpitarts.com
• Deadline for receipt of applications is midday, Wednesday 12 April 2017
• Interviews with shortlisted applicants will be held on Thursday 20 April 2017
• Move into Cockpit Arts Deptford no later than 1 July 2017

Weaving Futures: Week 13 | Eleanor Pritchard

11 February 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Reseach / Workshops
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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

10 February 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Workshops
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‘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

10 February 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Workshops
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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

7 February 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Reseach / Workshops
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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 →

Weaving Futures: Week 11 | Ismini Samanidou

27 January 2017 Company Profile / Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Reseach / Workshops
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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 11 features:  Ismini Samanidou
Residency dates: 1st – 4th Feb 2017
Activity days 3rd & 4th Feb 2017

Athens born and South East of England based artist Ismini Samanidou trained at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. Her practice touches on the boundaries of craft, art and design with work developed for site specific commissions, industry collaborations and unique pieces for exhibition.  The work is often site specific and explores the way textiles can be articulated within a space. Ismini has travelled and researched textile techniques worldwide and is principally interested in the way weaving exists as an autonomous language crossing cultural and political

Her work has been exhibited internationally with solo shows in the UK and USA. Recent work includes commissioned textile panels for the National Theatre in London, an invited residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut, USA and work exhibited at the Espace De L’Art Concret in France and the Hangzhou Textile Triennial in China. Ismini’s textiles are held in private and public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

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Weaving Futures: Week 10 & 11 | Brock, Dempsey & Veja

19 January 2017 Events / Exhibitions / General / New weave developments / News / Reseach / Symposium / Workshops
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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 10 & 11 features:  Collaboration with Dr. Priti Veja, Samuel Plant Dempsey & Philippa Brock
Residency dates: 23rd – 28th, 30 & 31st Jan 2017
Activity days: 25th / 26th & 30th Jan 2017

Researchers & Design consultants Philippa Brock, Samuel Plant Dempsey & Dr. Priti Veja will be coming together in Weaving Futures to work collaboratively on  concept  issues based design for transport, combining their expertise in design thinking, 3D digital woven jacquard/haptics, product design/3D printing and woven E-textiles.

Samuel Plant Dempsey
Samuel Dempsey is a Product Designer at Transport for London (TfL) designing more effective solutions for transport in London across all modes, from walking to trains. Collaborating with experts, from electrical engineers to textile weavers to create innovative designs through rigorous research that are both highly effective and aesthetically engaging. Currently he is working extensively on improving the both the ambience of underground train interiors and usability for passengers with reduced mobility and vision.

Previously he studied at the RCA exploring how design can provoke critical public engagement through the creation of products as actors, translating estrangement techniques from Epic Theatre into both critical and pragmatic design solutions. Sam previously worked for Nokia and Microsoft as a 3D Printing Specialist and Industrial Designer. Continue reading →

Company Profile: Rare Thread

16 January 2017 Company Profile / General / New weave developments / News / Reseach
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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.

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.

From their studio in Dalston, London- Rare Thread will celebrate, question and promote weaving in all its forms and contexts. The studio offers loom hire to emerging designers and industry and also offers support and advice to new graduates starting out in woven textiles.

Rare Thread welcome projects and collaboration from the fashion, interiors and manufacturing industries, artists and scientists alongside organisations and individuals interested in developing sustainable textile solutions.

Woven textile designers are often the hidden force behind many of the extraordinary textiles seen on catwalk. Between them Laura Miles and Kirsty McDougall have worked with Marc Jacobs, Valentino Couture, Calvin Klein, Balmain, Proenza Schouler, Chanel, Balenciaga, YSL, Erdem and Christopher Kane, to combine innovative material mixes and constructions. They have excellent global networks across yarn, material, woven manufacturing and finish. Continue reading →

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