Category Archives: Fashion & Textile Design

Hand & Lock Competition 2016

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Sarah Cheyne, printed textiles and embroidery specialist, will be introducing the Hand & Lock Competition brief tomorrow, 8th December, at 4pm in the Clean Room. Make sure you go along if you’re interested in entering.

Hand & Lock, the 247 year old embroidery atelier to European fashion houses, the British Military and The Royal Family has been running the prestigious embroidery prize since 2000 and now offers a prize fund in excess of $26,000.

The Prize is an invaluable opportunity for new designers to showcase their finest creations and potentially win a share of a life changing prize fund. Previous Prize winners have been able to fund their designs, start their own businesses and go on to have great success.

The Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery 2016 will be structured differently from previous years encouraging the use of Embroidery in Textile Art as well as Fashion.

As such you will be able to use the brief outlined below to develop your work in either of these areas. Open Fashion | Student Fashion | Open Textile Art | Student Textile Art

Context for the Brief

We live in an ever increasing consumer world in which instant gratification fuels rapid purchasing trends, often resulting in design that is unpolished or has mediocre production quality.

“Buy less. Choose well. Make it last. Quality not quantity. Everybody is buying far too many clothes.” Westwood, V. (2013).

Designers and artists need to make a concerted effort to react against inadequate design. The aim of this brief is to create quality design that consumers will cherish for years rather than dispose of when a new trend arises. The product should be well crafted. Be creative with materials and processes to achieve quality design that is designed to last and stand the test of time.

The Brief: Objects of Desire | Artist Heirloom

The dialogue between art and design is well established throughout history. Modern art can inspire design, and relevant concept development, thereby making your work more socially and culturally aware for forward-thinking design. Being able to anticipate what will happen in the future puts a designer in a position to make better decisions; to ensure their work is relevant, inspiring and sustainable. Artists and designers looks to the past to inspire new ideas for the future.

For this brief we ask you to choose one established artist, and one archive, to research and inspire your own project. Consider contrasting and mixing ideas and inspiration from your findings and designing something truly unique.

Think no limitations!

 

Fashion and textile designers borrow the form, materials, concepts and techniques of artists and decades in fashion; surfaces, colour, design and sculptural shapes impact on new fashion creation and innovation.

Careful consideration should be taken when it comes to colour. We want to see that you use colour as an integral component of the design process. Colour is reputed as the first thing that consumers are drawn to when considering design.

Your designs should be suitable for a contemporary consumer design market be it fashion, interior design or pure art.

For more details and to register visit the website

Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age

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SCIENCE MUSEUM EXHIBITION

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In 1957 Russia launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space and just four years later sent the first ever human – Yuri Gagarin. Discover the dramatic story of how Russia turned the dream of space travel into a reality and became the first nation to explore space in this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.

Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age will reveal the most significant collection of Russian spacecraft and artefacts ever to be shown in the UK, including:

  • Vostok 6: the capsule flown by Valentina Tereshkova, the first ever woman in space
  • Voskhod 1: the capsule used on the first mission to carry more than one crew member
  • LK-3 Lunar Lander: a single cosmonaut craft built to compete with Apollo
  • a collection of gadgets that cosmonauts – and pioneering space dogs – need to live in space, including a shower, toilet, medical instruments and survival kits for crash landings.

Explore the historical, cultural and spiritual context of Russian space travel, shaped especially by the turbulent early decades of the twentieth century. See poignant testimonies and memorabilia belonging to some of the biggest names in spaceflight and discover the deeply personal stories of the pioneers who kick-started the space age.

More info here

Thida Hawkins – Senior Fashion & Textiles Industry Consultant – Industry Talk today 5-6pm LTA

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THIDA HAWKINS, Senior Fashion & Textiles Industry Consultant, joins us at WSA today to talk to students about applying for jobs in the industry. Make sure you make it!

5-6pm in Lecture Theatre A

THIDA HAWKINS – Over fourteen years head office experience across luxury through to commercial level specialising in womenswear with childrenswear, menswear and accessories. Expertise across Product Development, Production, Studio management and Licensing.  

Senior level manager at Eley Kishimoto, Katharine Hamnett, Uniqlo x Celia Birtwell and Marks & Spencer. Additional recruiting and business management through Denza Ltd with clients Celine, Hugo Boss, Pucci, Roksanda Ilincic, Mary Katrantzou, Toast and Karen Millen to name a few.

Seven of these years have also included projects across a breadth of additional design disciplines, incorporating environmental studies and research, interiors, automotive, publications, accessories, exhibitions and events, education and architecture. 

Partners have included Werk Magazine (D&AD award winning), London Fashion Week catwalk shows, BMW, Duvel Beer/Glasses, Eastpak, Medicom Be@rbrick, Wesc headphones, Orlebar Brown, Laura Ashley (Japan), Galeries Lafayette, Incase Apple Mac accessories, Bicycle Film Festival and Cinelli bicycles, Freestyle Magazine, Environmental Justice Foundation, Climate Week, Oxfam, Tatty Devine jewellery, John Lewis and Linda Farrow sunglasses, Weekday, Ruby motorbike helmets, London College Fashion, Manchester Metropolitan University, Ravensbourne, Winchester School Art, Flanders Fashion Institute and many more…

Sophie Steller visits WSA for industry project

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Sophie Steller with WSA Students

Second year Knitwear for Fashion and Woven Textile Design students have been working on an industry project for Knitwear Design Studio Sophie Steller. The students developed designs for a past/modern collection, using drawings from museum collections as a starting point for their textile swatches. After the project review with Sophie Steller, 8 students were selected for interviews.

From Knit:
Anna Bateman
Amy Fuller
Isabel Worth
Hannah Brabon
Alice Bracken

From Weave:
Danielle Gill
Rebecca Lickley
Rebecca Moore

Sophie will be offering placements to successful interviewees.

Intellectual Barbarians: The Kibbo Kift Kindred

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This archive display at The Whitechapel Gallery features rare woodcarvings, furniture, ceremonial dress designs and photographs of the English organisation The Kibbo Kift Kindred (1920-1932).

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Formed by the artist, writer and pacifist John Hargrave after becoming disillusioned with the Boy Scout movement, the Kibbo Kift philosophy was based on a shared appreciation of nature and handicraft, as well as a commitment to world peace. Though small in number, notable members of the group included suffragettes, scientists and the novelist H.G.Wells.

A 1929 exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery was a way of spreading their ideas, and this display reveals their remarkable aesthetic drawn from ancient Egyptian, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Native American crafts, dress and language. Through revealing photographs and footage of the group on parades and camping trips, this display presents not only a forgotten moment in British social movements but a futuristic vision which continues to resonate today.

Image: Kibbo Kift Kindred members at camp, 1928, Courtesy of Judge Smith, Kibbo Kift Foundation, © Kibbo Kift Foundation

Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture at Tate Modern

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11 November 2015 – 3 April 2016

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American sculptor Alexander Calder was a radical figure who pioneered kinetic sculpture, bringing movement to static objects.

Calder travelled to Paris in the 1920s, having originally trained as an engineer, and by 1931 he had invented the mobile, a term coined by Duchamp to describe Calder’s sculptures which moved of their own accord.

His dynamic works brought to life the avant-garde’s fascination with movement, and brought sculpture into the fourth dimension.

Continuing Tate Modern’s acclaimed reassessments of key figures in modernism, Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture will reveal how motion, performance and theatricality underpinned his practice. It will bring together major works from museums around the world, as well as showcasing his collaborative projects in the fields of film, theatre, music and dance.

http://www.tate.org.uk

Year 1 Drawing Workshops

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During a series of drawing workshops over the past few weeks, first year students practiced drawing textures, forms and lines for fashion and textiles. Models were styled with a multitude of fabrics and accessories presenting various patterns, shapes and textures in order to inspire a wide use of drawing media and colour.

Year 1 drawing 01 Year 1 drawing 02 Year 1 drawing 03 Year 1 drawing 04 Year 1 drawing 05 Year 1 drawing 06

Phase Eight: Print Design Intern (starting July 2016)

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London based label Phase Eight are looking for a full time Print Design Intern to start in July 2016.

The successful candidate will work closely with the Design team and Print Designer.

The Main duties and responsibilities will include:

-Researching fashion and print trends through Magazines, WGSN, blogs, websites and regular London shop research.
-Chasing samples and liaising with overseas and UK suppliers.
-Organisation of the Design Department, filing, copying and general admin tasks.
-Re-working Design specs, attending garment fit meetings, photographing and logging samples.
-Help with the creation of mood boards and theme presentations.
-Creation of hand painted and digital prints.
-Re-colouring prints in Photoshop. Reworking layouts and putting designs into repeat.
-Designing or reworking embroidery and print layouts onto a garment spec.

Person Specification:

-Strong Photoshop and Illustrator skills are essential.
-Excellent communication skills.
-Studying for a Printed Textile Design Degree or Fashion with Print.
-Competent in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook.
-We are looking for someone reliable, helpful and above all enthusiastic.
-A motivated individual with an ambition to develop a career in Print or Fashion Design

For more details and to apply go here.

Mulberry: Colour, Material & Graphics Assistant – 6 month internship

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Location : London
Employment type : Intern
Hours per week : 38

Mulberry are looking for an intern for the Color / Material / Print designer and Graphic designer with skills and qualities such as:

• Team player able to manage multiple tasks
• Responsible, hardworking and conscientious person who is able to manage their own time to complete tasks
• Organized – It is an amazing opportunity for the candidate to be exposed to how a design studio runs and the organization that is needed; they will play a key role in this. On a daily basis we need help visually updating collection information such as; mood boards, color cards, collection plans, sketches, simulations, researches.
• Fully trained on photoshop/illustrator/InDesign – The candidate will be required to carry out creative projects such as re-working prints/artworks/simulations developments etc. Technical drawings to send to suppliers, so illustrator skills need to be strong.

A previous experience in the fashion industry would be appreciated.

For more details and to apply go here

Ai Weiwei exhibition at the Royal Academy

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Major artist and cultural phenomenon Ai Weiwei takes over the main galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts in London with brave, provocative and visionary works.

19 September — 13 December 2015

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