Bonnie Kirkwood: woven texile designer / open studio

8 June 2013 |
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Bonnie Kirkwood 3Bonnie Kirkwood is a professional woven textile designer and consultant, based at Cockpit Arts studios in central London. She is showing at  Cockpit Arts Summer Open Studios, Holborn – 7th – 9th June 2013  www.cockpitarts.com

An RCA 2007 graduate, Bonnie has an in-depth knowledge of hand weaving, industrial and production techniques, and an extensive and varied experience in the industry.

She provides a comprehensive professional design and fabric consultancy service for mills, architects, trend forecasters and individuals, providing technical advice for weaving and fabric qualities, inspirational concepts, trends and colour direction.
She currently works closely as a fabric design consultant for European and Far Eastern mills, designing, co-ordinating and developing seasonal collections for the furnishing fabrics and interior design industry.

As a freelance designer, she offers broad collections of hand woven and jacquard woven fabric designs, selling to highly recognised fashion and interior design companies. Her style combines luxurious yarns, intricate structures and an original colour palette into highly refined and sophisticated fabrics. She also works part time as a menswear textile designer for a prestigious London Fashion House, and previously worked for interior design company Designers Guild for several years. She also is a visiting lecturer on BA (Hons) Textile Design courses

Bonnie can be seen weaving on this film : https://bit.ly/bonniek

For more information, contact Bonnie Kirkwood on 07813666907, email: www.bonniekirkwood.com
Web:www.bonniekirkwood.com Address: Studio E2R Cockpit Arts, Cockpit Yard, Northington Street, London. WC1N 2NP, or visit

Photographer : Yiannis Katsaris

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The Dovecot Show & exhibition: Heriot-Watt’s School of Textiles and Design (SoTD)

3 June 2013 |
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Hannah Camp1
Graduate Fashion Show and private view  Saturday 15 June 2013
At the Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT
Times:
1500-1600: Matinee of fashion show/press preview of fashion show
1800-2000: Private view of exhibition followed by Fashion Show.

Exhibition on 15th  – 20th June 2013

Mark Eley, of Eley Kishimoto, the global fashion and design company, is returning for a fourth consecutive year to curate and direct the Dovecot Show, the Heriot-Watt’s School of Textiles and Design graduate fashion show and exhibition.

The Dovecot Show and exhibition will celebrate the collaboration between innovation, technology and design showcased in the work of fashion, textile design and interior design students at the School of Textiles and Design, based in Galashiels. The School’s end-of -year show has previously featured designs from students who have gone on to make their names in the textiles and fashion industry including William Chambers, Judy R Clark, Obscure Couture and Samantha McEwen of Isolated Heroes.

For further information or to register your interest in attending please contact Pagoda PR Julie.watt@pagodapr.com or giselle.dye@pagodapr.com or phone us on Tel: 0131 556 0770 Continue reading →

Bute Fabrics Ltd: a company profile

20 May 2013 |
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031Bute Fabrics was established in 1947 by the 5th Marquess of Bute in a philanthropic move to provide employment for returning WW2 service personnel.

Originally weaving fabrics for haute couture apparel, in the 1970s the business moved to contract upholstery fabrics, championing the use of wool for both the domestic and export markets.

Today, Bute Fabrics is still owned by the Bute Family, with the 7th Marquess currently in charge. Bute’s reputation has been built upon producing high quality, durable, contemporary fabrics for the auditoria, hospitality, contract and aviation markets. Offering both a standard range of products and the in-house design of bespoke fabrics, Bute’s fabrics are installed in key projects around the world such as Hong Kong Airport, the Royal Festival Hall, the Sage Gateshead, the Queen’s Galleries in Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyrood, the London Excel Centre and Yale University.

Bute Fabrics offer a commission weaving service, weaving on Dobbys 16 shaft. Yarn types: worsted yarns, woollen spun, chunky, and boucles (max .45N). They have a large yarn bank including 2/27, 2/18 and 2/13.5nm. Stock dyed, hank dyed and piece dyed.

They offer bespoke design and weaving at no extra charge, 1.4 wide normally but up to almost 2m, normally 50m minimums depending on weights/compositions for apparel, upholstery and curtaining. Full contact details can be found here in The Weave Shed in the suppliers and services: commission weavers section.
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‘Weave’ symposium review: Stacey Harvey – Brown

14 May 2013 |
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Eleanor Pritchard‘Weave’ symposium Sat 11th May 2013
Stroud International Textile Festival

A weave symposium now seems to be an annual event at Select 2013 in Stroud, Glos and enthusiasm for it has not dipped if attendance was any judge. In fact, the event could have sold twice as many tickets if space had allowed, which is heartening for all connected with weave.

This year’s event was chaired by Philippa Brock, with speakers grouped in twos; Laura Thomas paired with Deidre Wood, Eleanor Pritchard with Tim Parry Williams, and Nadia-Ann Ricketts alongside Helga Matos with a final presentation from Philippa. Q&A sessions followed each pairing with a final session of questions to the entire speaker panel.

Laura Thomas, in common with the other speakers, is a portfolio weaver, mixing commission and personal work with industrial collaborations. A regular at the Select 2013 she talked about developments of her Loose Thread acrylic pieces from the original concept of capturing the beauty of unwoven warp effects in resin blocks to now including unwoven weave techniques, such as threads creating colour-and-weave effects, and clasped weft tapestry techniques turned 90o to create unwoven clasped warp ikat effects.

Laura has developed the work further to incorporate wall pieces mounted on barrel fixings to allow for the play of shadows on the wall behind her pieces. Through her public art commissions, the ideas behind the resin pieces have grown both larger and more complex, with both threads and fabric sandwiched between panes of glass, starting with a Museumaker project at The Beaney in Canterbury where Laura had a series of 3 internal windows to address which joined the old museum at The Beaney with its new development. This was the first time Laura had used glass for her work and has led to further collaborations with the glass company. Another public art commission was for the Cynon Valley Hospital where she created 9 panels of loose threads picking up the colours from the hospital’s way-finding scheme. A recent commission from Llanelli is for a glass canopy for the town centre, in which she has incorporated industrial fibres such as carbon thread, folded steel mesh, folded copper mesh (which give moiré effects) and light-reflective yarns. An older commission, to create a presentation gift for the Australian Cricket Board, incorporated narrow bands of double-sided fabric which were twisted within a curved resin shape informed by the spin of a cricket ball. This linked neatly with the following speaker, who also features narrow bands in her work. www.laurathomas.co.uk/
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Petition

14 May 2013 |
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The petition request the Government to reconsider the proposal that craft no longer to be considered part of the creative industries, as part of the 30 April proposed changes set out in Classifying and Measuring the Creative Industries consultation paper.

The craft industry and those who work in it, over 88,000 people making a £3bn annual contribution to the UK economy, are inherently and by their very nature creative. The petition wants the UK Government to stop ignoring The Crafts Council and the thousands of mostly sole trading craftsmen and women who consider themselves to be and indeed are creatives.

The Government should be proud & supportive of the vibrant creative craft industry & celebrate the unique, rich diversity of skills & craftsmanship, not seek to declassify, dismiss & undermine it. Calling an IT Business Analyst a creative, but refusing the title to a skilled potter or ceramicist shows the level of understanding that those proposing the change have of what is and isn’t creative.

If you agree with this then please sign the petition & lobby your MP.

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49537

GoodWeave student rug design competition

1 May 2013 |
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Layout 1The GoodWeave Student Rug Design Competition deadline is fast approaching, all entries need to be in by  17th May 2013. This year the theme is ‘Interpreting Fashion’ and the brief has been developed by Roger Oates, the acclaimed flooring designer.

This is the sixth time this prestigious competition has run and is sponsored by WovenGround and Jacaranda Carpets; both are GoodWeave Partners and active supporters of the work that GoodWeave does internationally to eradicate the exploitation of children in the production of rugs.

The competition is open to full-time, UK design students, aged 18 or over where the winning students will be given the opportunity to promote their talents and the winner will also receive a £300 design fee. The winning designs will be exhibited at Decorex International, the leading interior design exhibition in London, in September – a fabulous opportunity for students to experience the commercial design world.

The judges this year include the designer Ella Doran, flooring designer Roger Oates and design journalist Katrina Burroughs.

The GoodWeave Rug design Competition attracts significant media coverage and in 2011 the winner successfully launched her freelance career following her success in the competition.

Full details for the competition are available to download from the GoodWeave website. Please download the brief, competition rules and an entry form. Continue reading →

Symposium – Textile Matters: Collections

26 April 2013 |
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4.Rossbach_AshSplintsRicePaperHeatTransfer-87-8_Wagners_Rhine_Journey11x9x9-475x540Textile Matters: Collections symposium tickets are now available for this years Collection symposium on 3rd May 2013.

For centuries, people have collected things that hold special interest, meaning or cultural significance, or merely satisfy a sense of connectivity to peoples, places or times. Formal collections, both public and private, house remarkable and unique artefacts where provenance can be rare and information scarce. Textiles are particularly precious objects in this context, with some barely surviving the passage of time, whilst others remain as fresh and alive as the day they were last stitched, woven or dyed. These artefacts often carry important meaning in the stories of how and why they got there, the historical or technical insight they provide, or purely as things of fascination to excite, inform and inspire new ideas.

This broad and stimulating day will explore the value, interpretation, celebration and display of world-class collections.

Speakers:

Anna Jackson, Keeper of the Asian Department, V&A
Frances Pritchard, Curator (Textiles), Whitworth Art Gallery
Mary Schoeser, Textile historian, curator and writer
Jen Jones, Director, Jen Jones Welsh Quilts & Blankets

In conjunction with ChromeYellow Books, the event will include signings of titles by the speakers, as well as the chance to shop a fantastic range of textile and related titles.

Convened by Tim Parry-Williams, Senior Lecturer Textiles [Woven], Bath School of Art & Design, this is the latest event presented by the new Textile Research Centre at Bath Spa University’s Corsham Court Campus.

Date: Friday 3rd May 2013, 10am – 4pm
Location: Bath Spa University, Corsham Court, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 OBZ
Tickets (to include light lunch and morning/afternoon refreshments):
Full rate £45
Students (NUS registered) £20

Booking (Tickets on sale from Tuesday 16th April – Tuesday 31st April):
Contact: Adele Milton (Bath School of Art & Design, Reception)

Tel: 01225-875533

Email: a.milton@bathspa.ac.uk
For full details please click below:

http://artdesign.bathspa.ac.uk/news/textilematters-collections-a-bath-school-of-art-design-textile-research-centre-symposia-event/

Image: Wagners Rhine Journey. Ed Rossbach 1987-8. Courtesy of Bath Spa website

Events: Patternity: Patten Power / Superstripe

26 March 2013 |
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A CULTURAL FESTIVAL OF PATTERN EXPLORATION

Dates: 6th – 21st APRIL 2013

Venue: London Newcastle Project Space – 28 Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DP

EXHIBITION
Pattern Power / Superstripe is the first in a series of annual events exploring the powerful presence of pattern and it’s ability to positively inspire and connect us all.

Visitors will be immersed in an intriguing and tactile world of stripes as Patternity transport their iconic curation and ethos of ‘celebrating pattern everywhere’ boldly into the real world.

Look up, down and around the 3000sqft gallery space and uncover a rich and inspiring archive of one of life’s most striking and engaging patterns.

W:  www.patternity.org
PATTERNITY—SuperStripe_schedule Continue reading →

Seminar: Laura Fry – wet finishing handwoven cloth

26 March 2013 |
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tn_angoraMagic in The Water: Wet Finishing Handwoven Cloth

Saturday 4th May 2013, 10:30am to 5.00pm

Laura Fry will share her extensive experience in different ways of approaching wet finishing handwoven cloth. She will show samples of finishes, demonstrate fulling, and discuss mangling and compression. The seminar is at Belinda Rose, Scotland

Participants may bring things they have woven for feedback on how to wet finish.

Laura Fry is a well known international tutor and professional hand weaver from Canada. Read more on her blog.

Fee: £50.00. Numbers limited. To book a place, please call 01330 844409, or use the contact form.

Workshops: designing for the digital loom using Photoshop

26 March 2013 |
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garden_smThe workshops are suitable for those with experience of handweaving and using Photoshop. Participants should bring their own laptop with Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements installed.

Introductory workshops

Two day workshops provide an introduction to designing weave structures digitally in Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements specifically for weaving on a digital jacquard looms including the TC-1 & -TC-2 loom. The workshop will explain the TC-1 loom control programme. Participants will get experience of working with the TC-1 loom in the studio and have the chance to complete a design and a small test weave.

Three day workshops extend to designing more complex weave structures, such as lampas and specific weaves as requested.

One to one tuition is also available. Please contact Belinda Rose (details below) to discuss.
Next digital weaving workshop:

Tuesday 9th to Thursday 11th July 2013, 10.00am–5.00pm each day. This workshop requires a minimum number of 3 participants to run.

The workshop costs £250 (including £100 non-refundable deposit). The cost of warp yarns are included, students will supply weft yarns for their samples. The course is non residential. We can supply a list of local accommodation.

To discuss the course, and payment please call Belinda Rose on +44 (0)1330 844409, or use the contact form.

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