TexSelect 2018: Featured Designers

24 July 2018 |
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©Rosa Pearks

TexSelect 
TexSelect’s aim is to select, mentor and promote the UK’s most talented newly graduated textile designers, providing an opportunity for realistic development, and a vital bridge between higher education and the real, commercial world.

Those selected for this unique mentorship programme are introduced to buyers, press and sponsors at the TexSelect London Preview and at Europe’s leading fabric fair, Première Vision Paris, gaining exceptional first hand experience of the industry.

There are also opportunities to intern with some of Italy’s finest mills and manufacturers, to be trained on specialist CAD software, and to have work selected for a curated interiors collection.

TexSelect’s Hero Mentor scheme carries the support forward, linking designers with industry professionals who provide ongoing career mentorship.

Many TexSelect alumni now enjoy high-profile creative roles within the international textile, fashion and interior design industries.

The TexSelect charity is entirely funded by the generous sponsorship of industry, by British charitable foundations, and by individuals.  All believe wholeheartedly in supporting textile design talent and in encouraging design innovation and excellence.

The Designers will  be showing at Première Vision Designs, 19th- 21st Sept and on 20th September 2018 at 15.30 there will be the presentation of the TexSelect Prizes for Colour, Fashion, Pattern and Interiors. Also the presentation of The Woolmark Company TexSelect Award ; the Marks & Spencer TexSelect Fashion Fabric Award; and NEW for 2018: The Worshipful Company of Woolmen TexSelect Design Innovation Award for Wool in Interiors.

Venue: Première Vision Designs, Hall 5, Première Vision Paris, Parc d’Expositions de Paris-Nord, Villepinte.

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Job: Gainsborough Fine Weavers & Dye House

23 June 2018 |
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Gainsborough Fine Weavers & Dye House are looking for a technically minded, creative weave designer who is eager to learn. As a historical weaving mill they need someone who has a genuine interest in the history of their company and in the extensive archive they have at Gainsborough.

The candidate should be intuitive and professional with an understanding of Jacquard weaving.

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

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Exhibition: Weaving New Worlds

13 May 2018 |
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Weaving New Worlds
Dates: 16 June to 23 September 2018 at William Morris Gallery
Open: Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 5pm; free
Address: Lloyd Park, Forest Road
Walthamstow, London, E17 4PP

Tapestries have always told stories. In this exhibition 16 women artists from the UK, USA, Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Japan weave the stories of our time: the possibilities, the hopes and lost chances. Using the traditional hand woven tapestry techniques that connect us to the past, they have taken contemporary images and events, personal dreams and feelings.

The tapestries range in subject matter, from reflections of rural mythologies, to floods and urban decay. Always at the heart of the work is the human condition, the artists offering us both a utopian and dystopian view – the choice is ours.

Curated by Lesley Millar, Professor of Textile Culture and Director of the International Textile Research Centre at the University for the Creative Arts in collaboration with National Centre for Craft & Design and William Morris Gallery.

Text: William Morris Gallery. Image -  Ripples & Ribes by Jennie Moncur, 2015 ©The Artist

Exhibition: Le Kilt & Norn

9 May 2018 |
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Luxury womenswear brand Le Kilt and experimental design consultancy NORN host an exhibition and workshop at The Michael Hoppen Gallery to explore the reappropriation of traditional materials through craftsmanship and its relationship to punk subculture. The opening night event includes discussions with industry stalwarts as well as a Le Kilt pop-up retail space.

The exhibition features a series of installations that look at the relationship between punk and tradition in the context of craftsmanship. Le Kilt works with small-scale manufacturers to create their version of the modern woman’s uniform, whilst also adding new and unexpected design details such as hand-woven patches made from yarn spun in-house. Similarly, NORN places making and the haptic at the heart of its process; exploring the scope of making beyond conventional expectation of hand skills. Continue reading →

Jobs: Bristol Weaving MIll

2 May 2018 |
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Bristol Weaving Mill

There are two jobs on offer:
Production & Sales Manager
Production Assistant

Job Role 1: Product Development and Sales Manager Start Date: June 2018
Location: Bristol, UK
Hours: Full time (9am to 6pm 40 hours per week)
Salary: TBC Depending on Experience
Bristol Weaving Mill are looking for a strong, creative and technically confident woven designer, ideally with product development and sales experience, to help them establish, nurture and maintain client relationships for The Bristol Weaving Mill through pro-active and responsive communication and design work.

Bristol Weaving Mill  work across both fashion and interiors, designing, developing and manufacturing product and fabric for a variety of outcomes. End uses include but are not limited to Ready to Wear and Couture Menswear and Womenswear, finished shawls and scarfs, interior drapery, tapestry panels, upholstery and finished interior soft accessories and product such as throws, blankets and cushions.

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

Exhibition: Sue Hiley Harris

20 April 2018 |
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Sue Hiley Harris
‘Woven and Drawn’
Tuesday 29 May – Saturday 9 June
11 am – 5 pm
Venue: Lansdown Gallery Stroud GL5 1BB

Sue Hiley Harris is best known for the abstract handwoven sculpture she has been making since the late 1990s. This may be understood in relation to constructed abstract art generally, whether two or three dimensional. Material, structure and form are inter-dependent.

The forms are often derived from pure geometric shapes. These may be repeated or become multiple parts of a complete work. Sometimes they allude to natural forms or to life’s continuous natural cycle. The bare upland landscape of the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons has, for many years, been important in Sue’s life and has made an impact on her weaving.

In 2013 Sue was awarded a Creative Wales Award by the Arts Council of Wales to ‘explore the possibility of making woven body sculpture’. As part of this exploration Sue returned to drawing the figure from life after a break of almost forty years. This has stimulated an inter-est in drawing in the landscape. The drawings in this exhibition are a direct emotional re-sponse to regular visits to a particular part of Priory Groves, a wooded area near to her home in Brecon.
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Job: Hand Weaver | 17.7.2018 Post filled

10 April 2018 |
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Location: Leith, Edinburgh
Salary: £20,000 per annum
Full-time contract for 12 months Start- May 2018
Closing date– 13th April 2018, 12 noon – Interviews- Early May

About the Company
Araminta Campbell Ltd is a luxury Scottish textile brand with three offerings.
Signature, an exclusive collection of one-off hand-woven fashion 
accessories made in the Edinburgh hand-weaving studio.
MINTA, a mill woven interiors range of cushions and throws.
Heritage, a bespoke service specialising in the design and manufacture of 
tweeds and tartans.

Araminta Campbell is a unique and exclusive brand with growing international audience. They are proud to represent Scottish Craftsmanship and keeping the art of hand-weaving alive.
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Exhibition: Hannah Waldron

10 April 2018 |
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‘Primary Traveller’
New works by textile artist Hannah Waldron

‘Primary Traveller’ opens at the Select Festival on 21 April 2018

Hannah Waldron’s new work Primary Traveller is a nomadic modular structure that will house a new body of weavings specially created for this exhibition. Commissioned by and for the Select Festival.

‘Primary Traveller’ is an ambitious new work; a textile installation which will serve as a meeting place for discussion around the role of textiles and tapestry today.

Alongside are retrospective pieces that have previously toured internationally but have never been shown in England.

The space will be a meeting place for discussion on the work, its themes and the larger role of contemporary textile practises within both art and craft production and exhibition ecologies.
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Research: Norwich Fabric | Project Zeeuwsmuseum

6 April 2018 |
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Remi Veldhoven, is a textile designer and textile researcher from the Netherlands. She is researching a fabric from around 1750-1800 which was used in traditional clothes in the Netherlands, and produced in the Norfolk area (mostly Norwich), England.

She is working with the Zeeuwsmuseum (Middelburg, the Netherlands)  who will be having some garments made out of this Norwich fabric and they are planning to make an exhibition about this fabric in May 2019.

For this exhibition Remi Veldhoven has been asked to research the production process of the Norwich fabric and to design a new fabric inspired by the old one, using industrial production methods.

From the old fabric, she knows the different steps of the process (a document outlining this can be sent), and for the new fabric she would like to design a similar fabric and compare the industrial production steps, time, costs and people involved with the obtained data and characteristics of the process from the old fabric. Continue reading →

Competition: The Wool Innovation Prize

4 April 2018 |
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Wool Innovation Prize

The Wool Innovation Prize is to be offered annually to any individual who shows the most innovative use of wool in any commercially viable application. A prize of up to £10,000 will be awarded together with a merit certificate to the winner, which will be presented at a City livery dinner.

The prize will be promoted through a number of magazines, agricultural shows, Textile Societies and research organisations. Applicants should apply on line through the Campaign for Wool. The winner will be announced at the end of September every year.

The prize is being awarded by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen and the Company of the Merchants of the Staple of England Charitable Trust.

Background
The Worshipful Company of Woolmen, one of the oldest livery companies in the City, and The Company of the Merchants of the Staple of England, a national livery company based in York believe that they should do more for the industry from whence they came, namely the Wool Industry. Both have very long pedigrees going back to 1180 for the Woolmen and 1283 for the Staple.

The Industry has suffered long term decline in the UK over many years. There are now some signs that the industry is beginning to show an upturn and both Companies wish to recognise this and make a contribution to supporting innovation in the use and application of wool.

The Prize
The prize will be awarded annually to any individual who shows the most innovative use of wool in any application that is considered commercially viable and subject to the project being of sufficient originality and quality. Open to individuals using wool in apparel, non-apparel, agricultural, horticultural, medical, and industrial applications.
The winner will need to be able to show that the innovation will be developed from the United Kingdom, although the nationality of the individual is irrelevant. Continue reading →

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