Dash & Miller: QEST Scholars 2013_14

Juliet Bailey weaving image 1 LRFranki Brewer and Juliet Bailey of Dash and Miller have been awarded scholarships by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust for their proposal to undertake an in-depth research project into woven textile manufacturing processes existing within the UK today.
Dash & Miller Studio has been creating hand-woven design for the textile industry since 2009, working with both national and global clients in all areas of the fashion and interior fabric sectors. The designs, which are all created on hand-looms at the studio, are often then utilised by the client in the development of mass-produced commercial fabric on an industrial scale.They exhibit regularly at Indigo trade fair, Paris

Franki and Juliet seek to expand their knowledge of industrial spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing processes both modern and traditional in order to inform their own hand-woven designing. By applying for The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Franki and Juliet have secured funding and support to complete their research project, which will culminate in a number of talks and presentations in late 2014.
Continue reading →

The Weavers Nest: loom/workshop hire

loomThe Weavers|Nest is a workshop dedicated to weaving, open to professional designers on a short-term project basis, from £40 /day.

Run by designer – maker Lucie Beauvert, the W|Nest consists of a 16 shaft George Wood dobby loom, necessary tools, a desk space and a cosy atmosphere.

Technical support  and commissions for hand-woven materials are also available.
Weavers|Nest: cargocollective.com/weaversnest
Lucie Beauvert: www.luciebeauvert.com/

Exhibition: The Art of Craft – Ayse Simsek

Untitled-7The Art of Craft is a Contemporary Crafts exhibition which celebrates contemporary craft, featuring artistic practices which push the boundaries between craft and fine art.

The show will highlight exceptional artworks crafted in glass, ceramic, thread,wire, and wood. A programme of film, talks and workshops will accompany the exhibition exploring the processes and skills of different makers.

Exhibiting artists include: Max Jacquard, Helaina Sharpley, Lindsay Taylor, Alex Hamill, Ayse Simsek and Amanda Westbury
Exhibition opens from 25th March-19th April. Opening time: 10.00 – 5.30pm
Westgate Gallery, Gatehouse Arts, 19 Westgate, Harlow, Essex CM20 2QQ
W:www.gatehousearts.com E:gatehouse@mail.com

Ayse Simsek woven textile artist and designer is inspired by the natural world and a compulsion to not just re-interpret it but to combine it within woven structure.

Ayse’s work takes two approaches to textiles; firstly using a more traditional method of hand-weaving with a variety of fibres and techniques to recreate the naturally occurring, sometimes surprising, contrasts of textures seen all around us in the world. The second approach is to intricately intertwine and wrap yarn around natural surfaces, bringing woven structure to nature – sometimes in ways that merge with it and sometimes in ways that fight against it.

Continue reading →

Exhibition: Rising Stars 2014

Rising stars leaflet 2014-1Rising Stars 2014 is a touring exhibition of  innovative crafts produced by emerging makers in the UK. Thirty-two recent graduates work from applied arts and crafts programmes will be shown at the New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham (8th March-19th April), Milton Keynes Arts Centre (26 April- 31st May) and Smiths Row, Bury St. Edmunds (7th June-12th July).
Continue reading →

Redhanded: Kings Cross

red handed low resRedhanded is a new temporary art space in King’s Cross, curated by artists Sally Hampson and Esther Caplin in partnership with SVA. They profile work and projects that have been supported by SVA in Stroud and is building connections with artists, artist led projects and communities based in London.

Redhanded runs from February to April 2014,  74-76 Cromer Street, London.
WC1H 8DR and will have a continuous programme of exhibitions, workshops, events with performance, poetry and discussions.

SVA, an artist-led initiative, has established a reputation for injecting energy into run down, redundant and empty properties in Stroud, Gloucestershire.This highly successful approach to local engagement and town centre vitalisation is now being brought to this central, well-established and culturally diverse area of London.

Redhanded is open Tuesday to Thursday 12.00 – 6.00 but, as a working studio, artists are there during other days. You are invited to come in and see us by arrangement. There will be regular updates of the programme, and workshops in weaving, printing and book-making. Email or visit us to join the network

Contact:  sallyhampson@googlemail.com or esther.caplin@hotmail.co.uk Continue reading →

Exhibition: Stacey Harvey – Brown & Agnes Hauptli

2014-01-09 15.32.37UK weaver, Stacey Harvey-Brown and Agnes Hauptli, from New Zealand are exhibiting their responses to geological forms and natural landscapes in ‘Nature in The Making’.  The exhibition of stalactites, canyons and caverns, showcasing some highly unusual three-dimensional weaving and  visual images, will be at the Earth House, Peria New Zealand from 8th to 18th March 2014, before moving on to Arts in Oxford, just north of Christchurch, from 12th April to 7th May.

After its New Zealand leg, ‘Nature in the Making’ will go to the USA, to the B2 Fine Art Gallery in Tacoma, Washington before going on to other venues in the USA and Europe.

Since 2010, the two weavers have met in the US every two years to visit some of the geological features surrounding their biennial weaving conference locations. This exhibition was inspired by trips to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyons in Arizona, and the cave systems under the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Mountain ranges in Virginia. Agnes Hauptli uses a computer-assisted jacquard loom to create large visually engaging colour panels  and Stacey Harvey-Brown uses a shaft loom to create highly textured three-dimensional Growth Forms installations and large off-the-wall Strata Wall pieces. Continue reading →

Launch: Textile Technologies Project

ttp2logoThis launch will inform companies on how the project will enable them to access the key industry emerging technologies housed within the centre in Carmarthen. The event on 25th February 2014 will be of interest to any business wishing to work on Research and Development, new product development, knowledge transfer, and collaborative projects.

• Printed, knitted and woven textile design-CAD development
• Development of woven Jacquard fabrics-jacquard loom
• Gerber Technology for pattern digitising, manipulation, grading and marker making
• Virtual sampling-CAD printed and woven designs
• Scotweave CAD design development
• Product development and prototyping
• Research and testing of fabrics for potential laser or ultrasonic joining
• Laser cutting, laser etching, and hydro cutting
Digital fabric printing
Continue reading →

Exhibition: Patterns of Magnificance

POM-P-1Patterns of Magnificence is a unique exhibition of local Greek dress at The Hellenic Centre, showing an inspiring and varied approach to fabric selection and origin of materials, woven and embroidery techniques and colour.

The way textiles are combined in the dresses is inspirational for fashion and textile designers. The dresses are shown freely and not behind glass giving a rare opportunity to be able to see the fabrics from close proximity and understand the making processes involved.

The embroidery is often embellished on hand woven ground and covering the sleeves and hem of the garment leaving the main body of the chemises plain. The woven textiles range from shawls woven using different thicknesses of hand spun silk to fine jacquards and wovens using supplementary weft techniques providing a geometric patterns.

The multiform traditions of Greek women’s dress are among the richest and most splendid in the world. This exhibition brings together over forty superb originals from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, many of which will be on display in London for the first time. They include the monumental dress from the tiny island of Psara, of which very few examples survive and which is very rarely exhibited, the richly embroidered costume from Astypalaia in the Dodecanese, the astonishing assembly of fabrics, colours and jewellery from Stefanoviki in Thessaly and the sumptuously brocaded dress from Janina in Epirus.

Continue reading →

Loom: seminar

Loom seminarLRLOOM
This seminar brings together a panel of contemporary weavers to discuss their woven production methods and how it affects their practices.  From hand weaving to mill weaving, the loom is still the integral design tool for the modern weaver despite advances in digital technology. The day will explore how technology is balanced with tradition. Delegates will be able to join in conversation with the speakers, debating why it is still important to be hands on, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of hand woven production.

Each speaker will illustrate their presentation.

The day will be chaired by Helen Foot, textile designer, lecturer and a contemporary hand-weaver.
When: Saturday May 3 10.30 – 4.30 pm
Where: Gallery 2, Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud GL5 4AF

Speakers:
Kirsty McDougall of Dashing Tweeds. The company produces innovative suiting and bespoke fabrics that are sold to clients worldwide. The development of ‘lumatwill’, a reflective tweed suiting has led to a small collection of menswear accessories being designed and stocked in Dover Street Market in London and Comme Des Garcons Isetan in Tokyo. The company endeavours to work in collaboration with British mills and all production is done within the UK.

Franki Brewer is the technical weaver at Dash and Miller with a keen eye for geometry and surface pattern. Her graduate work was chosen by WGSN for their “Generation Now” report from New Designers that year. Since then, Franki has worked with a number of London-based hand-woven textile design studios, with tasks including consultancy for some of the most highly regarded RTW women swear mills in Europe. She has also designed for one of the UK’s most well-renowned bespoke interior design companies.

​ Continue reading →

The Gieves & Hawkes Lecture: The Textile Institute

Textile Institute 27 feb simon baker