The Blodwen Heritage Blanket Project

3 September 2014 |
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Blodwen 010 _hiBlodwen, the on-line lifestyle brand specialising in the design and manufacture of hand-crafted
luxury homewares,textiles and furniture – made in Wales, is launching a new textile collection
inspired by the discovery of a historical archive of Welsh blanket patterns dating from the 1700’s.

The Collection is part of the Heritage Blanket Project – a community initiative designed to
celebrate the ‘Craft and Industry of the Weaver’. It aims to resurrect historical patterns into a
range of contemporary textiles – each with a unique story to tell.

Using digital visualisation and virtual sampling technologies together with contemporary
yarns,colourways and finishes, the Project is an illustration of Blodwen’s on-going commitment
to the design and manufacture of unique homewares which fuse time-honoured skills with
modern craftsmanship.

Blodwen’s first Heritage Collection offers a range of blankets, throws, quilts and
cushions – all revived from age-old hand-drawn designs. The textiles are made from 100% pure
new wool and woven at Blodwen’s 180 year old mill in the Teifi Valley, on its original 1930’s
Dobcross looms.Blodwen IMG_0008 copyBlodwen IMG_0002 copy

The ‘Hiraeth’ (Longing) blanket is a bold geometric chequer-board design in monochrome and red. The ‘Pinwheel’ blanket is inspired by the name given to the most iconic of traditional Welsh Quilt designs, and comes in a striking indigo and red.

Both blankets feature an embroidered panel with a verse taken from the book and written by the weaver. Continue reading →

Congress: Textiles in Transfer and Transformation

3 September 2014 |
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Deutsches Historisches Museum imageThe next Congress and General Assembly of the CIETA (Centre International d’Etude des Textiles Anciens) will take place in Berlin, Germany, from 28 to 30 September 2015. The Deutsches Historisches Museum, situated in the very center of the city, has kindly agreed to host the event.

A day of excursions planned for Thursday, 1 October, will offer visits not only to the various textile collections of the Berlin museums, but also to the royal palaces in Potsdam and to the cathedral of Brandenburg with its treasure of liturgical vestments (a detailed program will follow).

The general theme of the congress will be: “Textiles in Transfer and Transformation“. For centuries, textiles have been transported over long distances, be it as costly commodities or diplomatic gifts, as spoils of war or part of a bridal trousseau. Their arrival in a new place occasionally coincided with changes in form and function. Even textiles that remained in a given place were often adapted to new fashions and uses.

Textiles also served as vehicles, transporting ornamental motifs and patterns, dress styles or constructions from one place or even one culture to another. All aspects of transfer and exchange, adaptation or variation may be considered in papers presented during our congress.

There is a call for papers to be submitted that relate to this theme. You are  requested to send your proposals (title and summary of 150 words max) to the General Administrative Secretary in Lyon by 31 October 2014 (deadline). Invitations to the congress together with a detailed program will be sent out in January 2015.

Please note that CIETA membership is required to participate in this congress. Application forms are available on the CIETA website. A CIETA member’s letter of recommendation is no longer mandatory but appreciated.

17th European Textile Network Conference 2015

1 September 2014 |
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Iris van Herpen 2010_ Photo credit Shamila & Eric ElenbaasThe 17th ETN Conference, including the General Assembly Leiden/Netherlands, is from 15th to 17th of May 2015
There are also many other events from 13th to 19th of May

Introduction

For this ETN Conference the invitation came from the Dutch “Textiel Festival”, a meeting place of several textile-related associations who have jointly have set up the STIDOC Foundation. This Festival, that started in 2000, is bringing together all the different fields of textiles (museums – adult education – professional training – textile craft, design and art) on all levels. It is unique in Europe for its wide scope.

This years edition has over 23 venues with exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops, a symposium of the Textielcommissie.nl Dutch textile curators association and the 17th ETN Conference.

Furthermore the Rijswijk Textile Biennial is taking place at Museum Rijswijk near The Hague.  A working committee was created to ensure the most interesting programme for the day on Dutch Textile Design, made up of Hanny Spierenburg, STIDOC festival organiser (project leader amateur art at LKCA, Landelijk Kennis instituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst) Anne Mieke Kooper, weaving artist and former Head of Textiles at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam; Christine Vroom, programme manager at “The New Institute”, Netherlands Institute for design and fashion; and Beatrijs Sterk, organiser of the ETN Conference and former publisher of Textile Forum magazine.

The Conference programme

16th May 2015
The conference venue will be the Ethnographic Museum of Leiden. Prominent speakers will give lectures, among them curator Ingeborg de Roode on “Textiles in the Context of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam”; Joke Robaard, lecturer at the Rietveld Academy to the theme of “Readable Structures”; Hebe Verstappen, head TextielLab at the Tilburg Textile Museum on “Research and Experiments” and Simone de Waart, founder and director of ´Material Sense´on” Material Mentality?”

Furthermore a well-known artist working with textiles, Barbara Broekman, will speak on “Technique and Craftsmanship” and a young promising textile designer, Lenneke Langenhuijs , will focus on sustainability in her talk called “Innovative Textiles”.

A  lecture will also be given by the company Materialise, where 3D printed haute couture of fashion designers such as  Iris van Herpen and Anouk Wipprecht are made.

17th May 2015
The networking day is offering the opportunity to give a 10 minutes/10 images speech for all ETN-members and guests. They prefer talks on projects involving more than one person and/or countries. Projects taking place in the Netherlands are especially welcome! Please register your talk at the ETN secretariat with title &summary. After the confirmation we will need the PowerPoint file in order to pre-arrange the technical part of this day. Continue reading →

Job: Botany Weaving

1 September 2014 |
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Botany_ wovens 1Botany Weaving Mill is a world leading manufacturer of aircraft seat fabrics, curtains and carpets based in Dublin.

There are currently two positions available:

Studio Manager for the sampling of woven jacquard designs for aircraft seating textiles and curtains and a Designer for Carpets

The candidates are to work with a growing team of designers in the studio based in Dublin within the weaving mill.

Studio Manager requirements:

  • Woven Textile Design Degree Level,
  • Self motivated, proactive approach
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Team Player
  • The person must be able to work with outside processors, dyers and finishers as required to produce the relevant samples
  • Manage the sampling of client projects developed by the in-house design team, on the dedicated jacquard sample looms within the production facility.

Carpet Designer requirements:

  • Previous experience preferred but not essential.
  • Woven Textile Design Degree Level
  • Training will be offered for woven CAD systems to create designs and structures
  • Interpretation of design briefs with creative flair and attention to detail
  • A good eye for colour and appreciation of woven wool textiles
  • Self motivated, proactive approach
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Team Player
  • Work with outside processors, dyers and finishers as required to produce the relevant samples
  • Work with the company design and sales teams, to create new and innovative products which meet customer expectations in terms for design, aesthetics, technical performance

Applicants:
Please send cv and portfolio (pdf format) to David Lawson
David@botanyweaving.com

Notes that may prove helpful: the studio manager position requires a strong person and is a management /organisational job. They manage the weaving, finishing and shipping for the designers. The jacquard power looms for the sampling are in the mill, these have dedicated weavers. This role is not design but is viewed by Botany as a role that can lead to design in the studio.

The carpets are designed in the studio and manufactured in Donegal. The design teams and studio manager are together in the studio which is attached to the mill.
Continue reading →

Ruthin Craft Centre: As William Morris said…..

30 August 2014 |
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Ruthin Craft Centre Image2014“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris

The Ruthin Craft Centre currently have an exhibition of contemporary craft objects, curated by Gregory Parsons, which have been designed and made by individuals whose creative practice the Gallery believe would engage and intrigue the influential Victorian.

Dates: 26 July – 21 September 2014

Exhibiting: Andrew Clancy / Jason Collingwood / David Colwell / Sebastian Cox / Jenny Crisp / David Frith / Kevin Gauld / Tanya Gomez / Joseph James Hartley / John Leach / Mourne Textiles / Gareth Neal / Catarina Riccabona / Michael Ruh / Daniel Smith / Philip Stevenson / Edward Teasdale / Richard La Trobe-Bateman / Derek Wilson.

Weaver Catarina Riccabona is among the exhibitors.  She designs and makes cushions, scarves and throws with each piece being hand-woven on a traditional loom and produced from start to finish in her studio in Southeast London.

Catarinas’ work is often inspired by tribal textiles, vintage grain sacks and linen towels as well as by memories of textiles from her childhood like mattress ticking or antique kilims. The look of her work is also determined by her very eco-friendly choice of yarns: linen, hemp, wool and alpaca (all undyed/unbleached and sourced from the UK and Europe).

Catarina_19.4.14 0942Coloured yarns are plant-dyed or second-hand (from donations) or simply the natural colour of the animal fleece. Her work can also be seen in The New Craftsmen outlet in Mayfair.

Catarina is also featured on The Crafted Studio  in a video. The Crafted Studio is a website in which the Independent craft researcher Grace Reff  travelled to Europe to meet and interview selected contemporary craft makers. She presents edited versions of the studio interviews in both printed and video formats on the site.

Other  weavers featured in the exhibition.
Mourne Textiles
Jason Collingwood
Jenny Chrisp

Images and Text from Ruthin Craft Centre website, Catarina Riccabona and Grace Reff

 

 

Profile: Beatrice Larkin

28 August 2014 |
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Beatrice Larkin 2Beatrice Larkin is a London based woven textile designer. After finishing her MA in Textile Design at The Royal College of Art, Bea has been focussing on starting up her own textile design business.

She has most recently been part of The Craft Council’s Hot House scheme for emerging makers and a recipient of The Cockpit Arts/Clothworkers Foundation Award 2014.

This year she has exhibited work at The Heals Modern Craft Market and the touring Rising Stars exhibition as well spending six weeks teaching fashion and textiles at The International Institute of Fine Arts, India.

By using traditional Dobby weaving alongside the capabilities of the computerised Jacquard loom Beatrice manipulates her hand drawings, offsetting patterns and scales to meet unexpectedly and blurring lines to create fabrics with a distinctively soft and sympathetic take on geometric textile design. Continue reading →

Aki Inomata: I Wear the Dog’s Hair, and the Dog Wears My Hair

27 August 2014 |
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Aki Inomata 14Aki Inomata is a Japanese artist who collected the hair of a dog called Cielo and her own hair over a number of years, spun and wove the fibres and then made clothes out of her hair for the dog and out of the dog’s hair for herself so that they would be ‘exchanging coats’.

This is a piece of work,  she says that “examines the relationship between a human and their pet, and gives form to this concept”.

The work has been presented as a video installation and as two garments at Hagiso gallery Japan. The following images are stills taken from the video and more work can be seen on her website.
Aki Inomata 01Aki Inomata 07Aki Inomata 09-1Aki Inomata 10Aki Inamoto 12

Continue reading →

Conference: Textiles, Communication & Politics

27 August 2014 |
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The Textile Society Logo

 

 

The Textile Society: 32nd Annual Conference

Dates: 7 Nov – 9 Nov 2014
Venue: Wellcome Centre
Euston Road,
London. NW1 2BE

The Textile Society conference, will take place over the weekend of Rememberance Sunday, in the centenary year of the First World War, and will explore the theme of textiles and politics.

The Saturday will feature a number of papers that explore different aspects of this fascinating topic. Study trips are being planned for the Friday morning and Sunday morning, and a conference dinner on Friday evening. The AGM will take place on Friday afternoon.

Details will be updated on their website as they become available. Notices of updates will be posted on twitter, so follow us to be sure to keep up to date.

image Textile SocietyDetails
The political nature of textiles can be evidenced through cloth past and present, from many different cultures. Through textiles we communicate
personal and social narratives and engender cultural identity. Textiles can be the conduit to bring people together in society, revealing shared values and concerns. Textiles can commemorate events and act as propaganda or social commentary, they can tell our stories and shape our ideas. The history of textiles is highly politicised. Textiles are part of a hierarchical value system where high and low art distinctions are drawn between fine art and craft, where textiles and gender are inextricably linked. Textiles have served the political purpose of institutions and individuals but also challenged them.

The 2014 Textile Society conference explores the theme of Textiles, Communication and Politics from historical and contemporary perspectives. Confirmed speakers include: Textile historians and conservators Jacquie Hyman and Vivian Lochhead, textile practitioners Paddy Hartley (Project Façade), Nigel Hurlstone, Claire Barber, Gavin Fry and Lynn Setterington, and fair trade and textile manufacturing specialists Seher Mirza and Labour Behind the Label.

Continue reading →

Permutations: Theo Wright

26 August 2014 |
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permutations press comboCoventry-based weaver Theo Wright has been awarded funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England for a new project, Permutations.

This Grants for the Arts award will fund the development of new handwoven work for interior display, based on mathematical ideas in the area of combinatorics, looking specifically at the 24 permutations of four symbols.

Theo is best known for his handwoven scarves, some of which (such as the Symmetry scarf pictured) are also inspired by mathematics.
The finished textiles will be exhibited in June 2015 at the New Brewery Arts gallery in Cirencester alongside work by other makers from the Crafts Council Hothouse programme.

Combinatorics is an area of discrete mathematics that, loosely speaking, looks at the counting, ordering and combining of objects, and how sets of objects that meet certain criteria can be analysed and generated. It has applications in many areas, from calculating poker odds to bell ringing, from generating Pascal’s triangle to solving Rubik’s cube.

With a first degree in Computer Science followed by another in Textile Design 30 years later, it is perhaps unsurprising that Theo takes a distinctive systematic approach to his weaving.

Continue reading →

SIT Select : The Maker & the Retailer

26 August 2014 |
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SpeakersThe Maker and the Retailer

SIT Select will be staging a day of discussions and debate on Wednesday October 15th at Heal’s Quarter Cafe in Tottenham Court Road, London.

The Maker and the Retailer looks at the vital but thorny issue of combining craft with commerce. The first of the three sessions sees internationally acclaimed ceramicist Peter Ting (whose Flutter design has been used by Oasis Stores for one of their A/W 2014 fashion collections) who will be discussing the role commerce playing in fostering innovative craft and design with textile artist/designer Ptolemy Mann and Heal’s Creative Director Carmel Allen.
In the second, Gemma Waggett, RCA graduate and founder of e-store Nothing by Navy, will talk about getting started, her next career steps and reveal her exciting new work.
Finally, Guy Hills, co-founder of Dashing Tweeds, will tell the story of this exciting, innovative and distinctly idiosyncratic textile and menswear company.

Ticket price also includes lunch.
Times: 10.45am – 3pm
Venue: Heal’s Quarter Cafe, Tottenham Court Rd, London W1T 7LQ.
Tickets:  £32 and can be purchased via SIT


sit select logo

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