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Job Opportunity: BFTT | Dash + Miller R&D Project Lead

This post is an exciting opportunity for a Post Graduate, or Post-Doctoral Researcher (or equivalent demonstrable industry/research experience) to work as the Research & Development (R&D) Project Lead, facilitating a novel collaborative project, between UAL and Dash & Miller.

You will be employed by the University of the Arts London but predominately working remotely, with some travel within the UK and on-site delivery at Dash & Miller’s premises in Bristol.

The Business of Fashion, Textiles & Technology (BFTT) Partnership is a multi-million pound initiative lead by UAL aimed at accelerating the growth of fashion, textile and technology sector through collaborative R&D partnerships and projects.

Dash & Miller have been awarded funding within the BFTT R&D SME Support Programme. The principal aim of the project is to develop R&D around digital textiles to aid design and communication throughout the supply chain.

They are looking for an individual with flexibility to work at sites in Bristol and remotely, with a thorough knowledge of the digital fashion and textiles landscape, as well as the circularity and sustainability opportunities available within the sector.

You will have a PG qualification in the area of fashion and textiles with a focus on the application of digital within the sector, or equivalent research and/or industry experience.

You will have experience of managing textile supply chains from yarn to finishing, and ideally a knowledge of digital product development within the fashion context gained through research and/or relevant R&D industry work. Continue reading →

Job Opportunity: BFTT | ReWeave R&D Project Lead

ReWeave R&D Project Lead  is an exciting opportunity for a Postgraduate or Post-Doctoral Researcher (or equivalent demonstrable industry/research experience) to work as the Research & Development (R&D) Project Lead to facilitate a collaborative project with ReWeave – a woven textile studio based in London and Hastings that has been awarded funding within the BFTT R&D SME Support Programme.

The aim of the project is to develop R&D around sustainable woven textile design and manufacture using industry waste fabrics.

The role involves working collaboratively with Academic Mentors from the Centre for Circular Design and Textile Futures Research Community at University of the Arts London and the Company Lead at the Reweave Ltd.

You can find more information about the role here.

Instagram:@re_weave_

With thanks to BFTT and Kirsty McDougall for text & images

Continue reading →

Exhibition: Pushing The Limits | A Virtual Shaft Weaving Art Exhibition

Pushing the Limits is a virtual shaft weaving artwork exhibition curated by former European Textile Network ETN president -and always a weaver- Lala de Dios (Spain) and textile artist Olivier Masson (France) who has also engineered the exhibition.

Weaving is one of oldest human industries -if not the oldest- and many kinds of looms or weaving devices have been accompanying humankind since the beginning of times. From the backstrap to dobby looms, the history of weaving has been an uninterrupted succession of technological inventions until the arrival of the first Jacquard hand looms in 18th century France.  The rest is history. Today we are living the digital Jacquard loom era. Contemporary textile artists use this tool which allows for an -almost- unlimited freedom to weavers.

This should not hide the fact that many of today’s artists and designers are happily enjoying weaving in shaft looms as weavers have been doing for hundreds of years. Not only to weave the functional textiles so often associated with the machine, but also works of art ; from Anni Albers’ pictorial weavings to Peter Collingwood`s macrogauzes to quote only two well-known examples from the last century.

The exhibition aims to highlight the incredible possibilities of that supposedly limited “machine” to create textile pieces that are works of art in their own right. Continue reading →

Exhibition: Blanket Coverage

Celebrating the Heritage and Diversity of Weaving
Textile Designer & Artist Laura Thomas curates a long-awaited exhibition platforming contemporary woven design.

Blanket Coverage opens at Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Cwmbran, south Wales, on 28th November  – 30th January 2021, in a much needed review of how contemporary weavers continue to challenge the notions of this exciting and tactile art form.

The exhibition features 12 designers and businesses, from the very established to emerging names. Margo Selby, Wallace Sewell, Beatrice Larkin and Eleanor Pritchard are all handweavers who work closely with British mills to faithfully interpret their hand-rendered or handwoven designs into production. Catarina Riccabona and Maria Sigma are passionate advocates for sustainability through their handwoven practice, both producing blankets of true character without design compromise. Llio James and Sioni Rhys Handweavers, are Welsh handweavers of blankets cleverly combining colour and weave structure to create captivating patterns. Continue reading →

Cockpit Arts: Clothworker Awards | Weavers

The successful recipients of Cockpit Arts: The ClothWorkers Awards for 2020 are Alicia Rowbotham, Millie Thomas and Francesca Miotti.

Millie Thomas
After graduating from Central St Martins in 2018, Millie has worked within the woven textiles industry  in Italy, designing for an Italian Weaving Mill and  in London for a heritage woven textiles company.

Millie’s work takes a biomimetic approach, taking inspiration from nature to explore and often replicate its principles through design. Her approach is process led, looking at the inner workings of the
natural world, from the grooves in beetle shells to the structural pleats in dragonfly wings to design from. She uses this inspiration to create bold patterns, 3D textures and elegant structures.

Continue reading →

Company Profile: Vevar

Vevar is a new studio developed from years of passionate interest in both woven cloth and the rich history of Scottish textiles. The product of two award winning designers, Christopher McEvoy-Barton and Chantal Allen, coming together to develop a modern micro mill in the heart of Glasgow’s East End – an area itself steeped in textiles history.

Services available include design and consultancy with expertise in both Dobby and Jacquard cloth design and manufacture; a range of production services for all projects and budgets – from couture handwoven, to larger lengths produced on in house power looms; and professional and career development where skills and expertise is offered to develop knowledge of the world of design, production and micro manufacturing.

With over 20 years’ experience of design and manufacture between them, Christopher and Chantal are equipped to tackle any project with expertise – creating woven textiles across Art, Design and Architecture. Continue reading →

Art Quill Studio & Blog | Marie-Therese Wisniowski

Art Quill Studio: A website featuring glossaries & articles relevant to Textile Art

Marie-Therese Wisniowski works as a full time studio artist, researcher, author, curator, university lecturer and is the former co-editor of Textile Fibre Forum art magazine.

She is the Director of Art Quill Studio & Blog. Her first post on the Art Quill Studio blogspot was published on August 26, 2010 focussing on the first ArtCloth exhibition in Australia featuring international and national textile artists and was titled – ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions and featured important textile artists such as Norma Starszakowna (UK), Joan Schulze (USA), Joan Truckenbrod (USA), Cas Holmes (UK), Jane Dunnewold (USA) and Ken Kagajo (Japan) – amongst others. At the present time over 500 posts have been published.

At the outset Art Quill Studio blogspot was designed to educate as well as to entertain. The education posts were titled, Art Resource, under the header of the post. At the time of writing more than one hundred Art Resources have been published. These are mostly published in the first week of every month. In order to access these resources more quickly, in the ‘Preamble’ of every Art Resource post are links to all of the other Art Resource posts on the blogspot. Example:  One Hundreth Art Resource. Continue reading →

BFTT: SME R&D Support Programme Funding Call | Round 2

The Business of Fashion, Textiles & Technology (BFTT), SME R&D Support Programme is now open for Expressions of Interest (EOI).

The fashion, textiles and technology related sector (FTT) is  innovative and multidisciplinary, informing many adjacent sectors in the wider industry. Quite literally, spanning agriculture to advertising.

This funding call is looking to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the development of the next generation of products, services and experiences in the fashion, textiles and technology sectors – with sustainable innovation at their core.

They look forward to hearing from FTT companies, and those in the wider STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) fields interested in collaborating with the FTT sector, who would like to achieve a step-change in their business trajectory.

You can find more information about the programme, including eligibility, selection criteria, core funding themes and key dates here.

Core themes:

  • Reimagining materials and production
  • Inspiring sustainable consumers
  • Uncovering hidden data and insight
  • Designing new experiences

This year they are also open to partnerships (joint applications), from SME / SME, or SME / SME+ partnerships helping scale the proposed innovations

BFTT SME R&D Support Programme – Expression of Interest Form

BFTT SME R&D Support Programme Round 2 – FAQs

Deadline to register your Expression of Interest: 7 September 2020

Learn more about the 10 R&D projects funded during the initial funding call here.

Text: BFTT. Image credit: © AWAYTOMARS Ltd

Woven Jacquard Engineered Garment Research: Graysha Audren | Maike Jansen

Graduate Research Weaver Profiles: Graysha Audren | Maike Jansen

Seamless by Graysha Audren
Textile designer, Graysha Audren is a recent weave graduate of Central Saint Martins with a focus on sustainable innovation.  She believes good designers are problem solvers at heart with the power to invoke change, disrupt systems, and design out inefficiencies. The textile industry interweaves global politics, economics, trade, society, and business. The industry is a web of complicated supply chains where sustainability needs design-led systemic transparency. To change the entire system and to affect real change, Graysha focuses holistically on questioning inefficient and unsustainable systems, starting at the beginning: the making of the cloth.

Her current project, Seamless, exhibited at the London Design Festival in partnership with Maison/0 and LVMH, proposes a revolutionary way of seamlessly weaving clothing for material waste reduction and supply chain efficiency. Continue reading →

Whitchurch Silk Mill: Heritage Work Placements

Whitchurch Silk Mill are offering 4 x 6-week Heritage Weaving Placements, July to August 2019.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund Preserving the Fabric project has funded the restoration and major improvements to Whitchurch Silk Mill, a Grade Two* listed Georgian watermill on the banks of the River Test in rural Hampshire.  

They are now inviting applications from those studying woven textiles or anyone with experience or interest in working with textiles to apply for a six-week placement.

Deadline for applications: June 7th 2019 – Click here for more details.