TexSelect 2018 hat-trick for WSA Knitwear and Print Students

Beth Porter

Every year the organisation TexSelect selects 24 of the best textile graduates from around the UK. The selected students are given the opportunity to showcase their work to leading industry professionals at the Preview Show in London (July) and then at PV Designs in Paris (September). TexSelect interview over 200 students via a panel of industry specialists to find the 24 graduates to represent UK talent and future textiles. This year three WSA students made the cut – Jessye Boulton (Knitwear), Cassie MacDonald (Printed Textiles) and Beth Porter (Printed Textiles).

Jessye Boulton

As part of the experience there are numerous awards judged by industry with the winners announced in Paris. This year Jessye Boulton was shortlisted for the TexSelect Fashion Prize and Cassie MacDonald was shortlisted for the TexSelect Pattern Prize sponsored by Liberty London.

Cassie MacDonald

You can read more about the London Preview here
Congratulations and good luck!

WSA Fashion and Textiles Students showcase work at PV Designs, Paris

For the second year running Fashion and Textile Design students from both second and third year had their design work exhibited at PV Designs, part of Premiere Vision, Paris – one of the largest international textile trade shows.

 

For 3 days work was viewed by a wide range of industry contacts some returning to our stand from last year to buy again. Students sold work to a variety of clients from established UK high-street retailers to prestigious Italian mills. Students that worked on the stand gained valuable insight into the textiles industry and first hand experience dealing with clients and buyers.

 

Congratulations to all students that had work selected to showcase and those that sold to industry.

 

Last week at PV Designs Paris

Last week we had a stand at PV Designs, part of Premiere Vision in Paris, exhibiting student designs alongside established design studios. We took a selection of second and third year work across the four pathways.

WSA Pv Design Stand

PREMIERE VISION is a textiles trade fair held twice yearly in September and in February and attracts around 60,000 visitors. The majority of these visitors are buyers from fashion companies looking for new fabrics and designs for their forthcoming collections.

There are many trend areas which show the newest fabrics and colour suggestions for the next season. The show is a very inspiring place to visit in terms of design & colour as well as offering opportunities for networking and gathering information about the industry.

PREMIERE VISION DESIGNS is a huge section of the fair where around 150 design studios from many different countries show their new collections of designs for print, weave, knit and embroidery. Buyers from thousands of companies looking for original designs visit PV Designs each season to buy artwork from the design studios exhibiting there. 

Over the 3 days the WSA Make Future stand attracted much attention from buyers around the world. A number of students sold their designs to international fashion brands and there were many comments about the inspiring and original work on display. The students that helped on the stand were able to gain an exciting insight into the industry, talking directly to clients and understanding what companies were looking for.

3rd Year Print on the Stand

Congratulations to all the students whose work was selected to be exhibited and those that sold work as well. It was a great industry experience we hope to repeat next year.

SOPHIE STELLER LIVE PROJECT WITH SECOND YEAR KNIT & WEAVE

We are very lucky to have worked on a live project with Sophie Steller and her trend driven Knitwear Studio for second year knit & weave’s first project this semester, leading to four work placements for two knit & weave students respectively in her studio in Twickenham, London.

A little bit about Sophie Steller and her company:

‘Our London based studio is home to a team of highly talented designers who have worked on projects for clients such as SPINEXPO, Novetex Spinners, TJ Maxx, AEO, GAP, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gant, A&F, Primark Stores, Marks & Spencer, H&M and Aroma Home.

We provide a wide range of knitwear related design services including:

  • seasonal swatch collection
  • colour & trend forecasting
  • yarn development
  • marketing & branding
  • direct studio development
  • mood & product boards
  • concept fabrics’

We worked to an exciting brief set by Sophie, asking the students to approach their work in a more trend driven way. She asked the students to:

‘Develop your ability to research in a relevant, objective, and analytical way to be able to communicate your ideas with one strong, clear message.

The role of a designer is to find ways to creatively problem-solve. As a designer, whether you are designing your own collection, or working for a client you need to create desirability and suitability of your design to a consumer of some kind, and therefore whether you set the brief or the client does, you need to find the solution of creating something that someone else wants to consume.

The students were asked to:

‘Collect a range of 30-40 research images (these can be your own drawings or photographs, collage or a combination of all) of your own that observe and explore the following:

* Shapes * Textures * Colours * Atmosphere & mood * Touch & surface *

Be able to answer the following:

Why did you choose your subject and what did you found interesting and inspiring about it?

Once you went there what did you find out and observe?

Through your visual observations what did you find you liked about it and what ideas did it give to develop further?

What key elements have you identified as being important to inspire you?

From your observational research develop the following:

  • A colour palette you can work with * Textures you like * Shapes or patterns you can extract from it *
  • A mood or direction you can see it going into? Is it for menswear, womenswear or children? Is it dressy, contemporary, casual, sporty? Then develop your research into final fabrics and resolved garment or interior ideas that continue in this train of thought.’

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The students then presented their final fabrics, presentation boards, and a Powerpoint presentation at the end of the six week project to Sophie Steller, and to tutors in their subject areas, Jane Landau for Woven textiles, and Sarah Elwick, & Lisa Burn-Hunter for Knitwear. The work was generally of a very high standard overall, and Sophie was very impressed with the work produced by the students. She will select her four students for internships in due course.

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Well done to all involved. A great start to level two!

Knitted Textiles Student Hannah Brabon tells us about the wealth of Industry Experience she has gained this year

During her second year at WSA studying Knitted Textiles for Fashion, Hannah Brabon has managed to gain of wealth of Industry Experience from a combination of Live Projects and Internships, all setting her in excellent stead for her final year.

Here she tells us about her internship with Sophie Steller and her opportunity to go to Shanghai as part of a Live Project with Spinexpo.

“Whilst on work placement at Sophie Steller, I carried out a variety of different studio tasks such as organising fabrics and trimmings, as well as assisting with deliveries. I was also involved with selecting yarn from the extensive collection at the studio, for various trend and colour stories. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to work with yarn that is of such a high industry standard and improve my awareness of yarn suppliers.

Experiencing working in such a fast paced environment was very exciting as I was able to see projects develop from initial research through to final sampling. I was also lucky enough to be involved in plotting designs on Photoshop for Shima Seiki sampling and embellishing knitted fabrics. I learnt a huge amount from the team of designers in the studio; for example Photoshop techniques and interesting ways of photographing knitted samples.”

Sophie Steller 1

“At the studio I also learnt new techniques on the dubied knitting machines, such as various ways of creating interesting cable designs. It was such a privilege to be able to use the machinery to develop sample ideas for the studio, whilst at the same time developing my skills in the area. I feel very lucky to have been able to experience working in a knitwear design studio, and everything that I have learnt will be so useful for my future studies.”

“During the year, I was also given the opportunity to go to Shanghai in February for the yarn and trend tradeshow ‘Spinexpo’. I had an active role in setting up both the Winchester School of Art display and ‘The Red Room’. It was such a fantastic opportunity to see the work that we created on display and to be able to see how an international tradeshow works. I was able get a further insight into the industry by making contacts with designers, buyers and spinners.”

Spinexpo 1

“I learnt so much from both of these experiences and have become more confident as a result. It has shown me how important getting industry experience is and how beneficial it can be.”

Knitwear Designer Role at Sophie Steller

Sophie Steller is a Creative Knitwear Design Studio based in Twickenham, working directly for clients plus their own sweater swatch collection sold to Womenswear retailers.

Main duties:

We are seeking a full time knitwear graduate with proven experience of working in a knit studio (gained either as placement or post graduation).

The candidate should be a keen knitter, preferably with a strong sense of colour and full understanding of directional fashion trends. The role will not only be knitting but also include sketching, creating tech packs, international travel to shows and factories as well as training on our new Shima Seiki software and machinery. Ideally applicants must have had experience at some point in working for swatch studios in the past and are able to work in a fast paced environment.

Skills & Experience:

Skilled on both Domestic & Dubied Knitting machines
Confident, commercial and independent designer
Great colour sense
Photoshop
Illustrator

Salary £18,000 + depending on experience

Closing date October 08, 2015

To read more about this position and apply go here.