Supporting creative futures, the Textprint programme on July 5th and 6th 2017 presented a curated selection of the most talented textile designers graduating from the UK showing their pieces and creative process from weaving, knitting, print, embroidery to mixed media techniques.

Report by Helena Lukowiecki - Editor Geraldine Wharry

Sable and Soul

Screen printed Irish linen is a hand crafted process inspired by the “slow living lifestyle”. The colours, graphic patterns, textures and minimal compositions result in an honest, contemporary, cosy and sustainable utilitarian art pieces. The creative process of the young designer is truly justified by her beautiful investigations. Her cleverly designed leather waste detailed sketchbook is full of paintings and hand dyed fabric samples.

Kate Connel

Recycling, reusing and manipulating techniques in a creative process can often bring successful visual and conceptual results. Producing something new from an existing design helps create a dialogue between art and waste. By breaking down the components ranging from vehicle materials, urban surroundings like street art, signs and architecture they manifest structure, surface, repetition and spontaneity. The aesthetic is both raw and poetic, manifesting itself through expressive drawings, illustrations, screen prints, hand paints forming the construction of wearable art pieces that create a a sense of future survival objects and digital codes though geometric lines, weird pairings and textural surface effects.

Sarah Maybank

This Australian designer’s work is an exuberant knitted and woven piece of art that celebrates organic shapes in nature and her motherlands tribal culture, spirituality, ancient astronomy and mythology. The concept design pieces embrace the use of mixing materials such as raffia, linen, vegetal yarns, palm tree fibres, animal fur, feathers, beadwork, shells, pearls and ochre paint; allowing her to connect with memories from her youth and the genuine grounding nature of their experience, stories, traditions and beliefs. 

Eve Gibson

Targeting the couture Menswear market; these elegant fabrics are a combination of artisan dying on natural fibres and hand woven craftsmanship. The process explores new material roots by using sophisticated pallets within an exotic tropical greenness. Her drawing process communicates key shapes and colours in both abstract and illustrative styles resulting in an elegant textile collection lending itself to creative and commercial success.