The warp and weft blog...: fashion

Showing posts with label fashion. Show all posts

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Laura Miles, WOVEN studio

Brushed mohair floats. (C) Laura Miles WOVEN studio

Structural floats with slub yarn. (C) Laura Miles WOVEN studio

Last week I had the pleasure conducting my first interview for this blog (well, more like had a good chat) with Laura Miles, founder of WOVEN Studio, a woven textile design consultancy for fashion fabrics.

Laura studied Fashion and Textile Design with Business Studies, specialising in weave at Brighton University, graduating in 1997. Laura then took full advantage of the various opportunities that exist for graduates to support ‘the next step’. Exhibiting at New Designers, Donna Karan purchased work from her final collection. She was then selected to exhibit with Texprint at Indigo, where she won the Weave Prize, and sold lots of designs to Italian mills, some of whom became long term clients. Buoyed by this success, she applied for and was awarded a setting up grant from the Crafts Council; support from The Princes Trust; and a Clerkenwell Green Association Award which gave her a free studio for one year.

After purchasing a loom, Laura industriously wove a new body of design samples, and flew to Italy to visit the contacts she’d made through Texprint to sell more work and then on to New York to visit the Donna Karan studio and other fashion houses. And thus her business was firmly established.

Laura has had an interesting and varied career working with some the luminaries at the very top of the fashion sphere. Generally the focus is on producing hand woven swatches which are then put into commercial production, but she also produces handwoven meterage on occasion.

She has a vital role acting as the conduit between the mills and the fashion designers. She translates, designs and articulates what fashion designers need, and then often liaises with mills for production. Indeed she has a number of long term consultancy roles with various mills, with UK silk mill Vanners being one of the most interesting and illustrious. Fabrics from her biannual collection for them have been sold to the likes of Balenciaga, Giles, Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Roland Mouret, Ungaro, Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan and Christopher Kane.

A new focus for her is her Laura Miles Tweed Collection, launched in 2010 and now into its third season. Working with Marling and Evans, a mill in Huddersfield, Laura has created a collection of forty summer and winter weight tweeds that are all woven off the same warp using stock yarns. This approach gives flexibility to respond quickly to both small and large meterage orders as the dedicated mill loom is always ready with this set-up.

When I visited her studio which is currently in the basement of her beautiful house (a converted shop) in Islington, her assistant was busily working on the current project to produce inspirational hand woven fabrics (swatches and lengths) for the new biannual Spinexpo yarn fair in China working with the new seasons yarns from their exhibitors. In evidence on two of the three ARM looms, were some delicious samples exploring structural weft floats in fine mohair.

Accompanied by her lovely 3 month old daughter Maia, we had a great hour chatting not only about her career, but also the challenges facing the UK textile industry and our mutual dream of owning a mill one day! Although I readily admit that my business brain wouldn’t be up to it! By contrast Laura has an in-depth understanding of the demands of the international fashion industry and her the idea of her being at the helm at a mill is truly exciting...... fingers crossed!

Laura stood in front of her 'moodboard' wall, with Maia

The studio

Yarns.....

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Elda Cecchele

There is little more satisfying then to learn something new. For some reason Elda Cecchele had never hit my radar, so I must thank the the blogger Doni for sharing details of this exhibition on her wonderful blog and flickr photostream. I'm filled with envy that I won't get to see this exhibition, but grateful to have at least seen these photographs. If any of you do find yourself in Italy, the exhibition continues until the 13th of March.

The exhibition poster.
Source: http://www.vogue.it/en/talents/blog-from/2010/12/elda-cecchele

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18843761@N03/sets/72157625614428771/with/5320807185/

Although I've only done some cursory googling to try and find out more, information about Elda Cecchele seems thin on the ground (well in English at least). Another case of the rather anonymous textile designer in the shadows of the big fashion 'names'. If any of you know more sources of information about her, I'd be really grateful if you could share them.

This is the little bit of info on the Italian Vogue website about the exhibition:

A figure to rediscover. Her work inspired some of the greatest designers between the 50s and 70s in Italy. The Elda Cecchele exhibition is dedicated to this weaver from the Italian region of The Veneto who is a point of reference of fashion of yesteryear.

The exhibition in the form of weavings will be inaugurated December 4 at 5 p.m. at the Lanificio Conte a Schio Exhibition Hall. It is organised by the City of Schio with the support of the Region of Veneto, and its curator is Marisa Luisa Frisa, director of the Fashion Design degree course at the Venice Faculty of Design and Arts (IUAV University of Venice), along with Gabriele Monte, who teaches Concept Design at the Fashion Design degree course.

The exhibit is an opportunity to discover, for the first time, the extraordinary work of Elda Cecchele (1915-1998) who contributed to the success of great 20th century Italian designers with the fabrics she made in the Galliera Veneta (Padua) workshop.
http://www.vogue.it/en/talents/blog-from/2010/12/elda-cecchele

And here is a biography (translated by google from Italian, so some of the wording is rather clunky)

ELDA Cecchele (1915-1998)

Elda Pavan was born in 1915 in San Martino di Lupari, in the province of Padua. After education, the meeting with Angela, a worker in the mill town of Abbazia Pisani, born in Elda is the desire to learn the technical textiles. So start with a production of underwear for Angela, an activity that continues until 1937, the occasion of the marriage Cecchele Gino, a member of a family owns two mills, determines the end of that year working relationship between the two women.

After the end of World War II, like many other mills, including that of Cecchele cease production. Elda and Gino at the time of settling in an abandoned mills, in San Martino di Lupari, home where she sets up a new weaving workshop. After purchasing a first hand loom and have entered in the register of artisans, the weaver increases the activity of buying four frames provided tiralicci machine and, with the increase of orders, began to make use of two aid workers.

With the support of the Veneto Institute of Labour, an institution dedicated to promoting the craft Veneto in Italy and abroad, Elda Cecchele began to exhibit in international events and to establish contacts with entrepreneurs in the fashion world. Since then renewed opportunities to publicly present the production of the laboratory: in 1950 he exhibited his products in the handicrafts at the exhibition organized at the Bevilacqua La Masa and participate in the Craft Show held dall'Enapi of Monaco of Bavaria. In 1952, again through the National Board of handicrafts and small industries, takes part in an international exhibition in Oslo. At that time also dates back to the beginning of the meeting together with Giuliana Camerino for the production of materials for accessories. In 1953 he exhibited at the Craft Show, at which a diploma of honor and knows Giovan Battista Giorgini, while the following year he was called by Salvatore Ferragamo that calls for new materials for its shoes. At the same time meets Polish Franca, fashion designer to realize that many original materials until the early sixties. In 1956 and in 1960 she was invited to participate in the Decorative Arts section of the Italy pavilion, XXVIII and XXX, respectively, the Venice Biennale. In 1957 in Palazzo Venezia in the presence of Loredan Giorgini and personalities from the worlds of fashion handbags are made of Roberta di Camerino, wrapped with a fabric woven with pearls produced by Elda Cecchele.

Around 1960 the family moved to Cecchele Galliera Veneta, in 'ex-mill belonged to the husband's family, where a new place, in some locals, including the textile laboratory. At that time you start a collection of textiles for the firm Roberta di Camerino and collaboration with designer accessories and Galleani Gino Franco Gregori. In 1978, the weaver represents Italy in the tissues at the Italian Festival in Tokyo.
Elda Cecchele dies Galliera Veneta in 1998 and part of his textile background is still there, the site where he worked until his retirement grant, in 1986.
http://www.comune.schio.vi.it/a_15_IT_37163_2.html

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Jessica Light

I love Jessica Light's textiles. I first stumbled across her work at Tent London in 2009, and was thrilled to find that she has a thriving ultra-niche business producing hand made trimmings. She makes use of surprising yarns such as horsehair and light reflective thread alongside the more expected silks,linens and cottons etc. Her website is a treat to browse through, full of lovely images.

Below are a couple of pictures of her stand at this years' Tent London:

Hand woven trimming containing light reflective yarn

Dip dyed edges, woven netting, light reflective yarns

A massive tassel made with light reflective yarn

In her own words:

One of the last working trimming weavers left in England, Jessica Light produces exquisite, innovative and contemporary passementerie of exceptional quality. Everything is handmade to order in her East London workshop using methods dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries.

Jessica also incorporates beading and traditional crafts such as macrame, braiding and knot-work into her work and hand spins her own cord.

Apart from using traditional yarns such as silk, linen, wool, and cotton, Jessica is always experimenting and sourcing new and unusual materials. Horsehair, straw, hemp, leather, hand pleated ribbon, semi-precious stones, and springs are just some of the wide range range of materials she uses.

Her inspiration and ideas are drawn from many references. The Baroque, Modernism, Samurai and zulu warriors, origami, and military and ceremonial braiding are all themes that run though Jessica's collections.

Jessica Light offers a bespoke design and colour matching service for both interiors and fashion and her client list includes Vivienne Westwood, Marks and Spencer, MedhamKirchhof, Giles Deacon, Richard Sorger, Johanne Mills, Lesley Vik Waddell.

(Source: http://www.jessicalight.co.uk/home.html)

Insider news!

Am very excited to tell you that Jessica has been booked to run a two day workshop at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff Bay next year.

The information hasn't yet gone on the Craft in the Bay website, but they can take telephone bookings. I've already booked myself a place!

Details as follows:

An introduction to the art of creating passementerie.
Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th February 2011 at Craft in the Bay
£100

Jessica will teach students how to weave beautiful trims including fringes, fan edges, and gimp braids using techniques that date back to the 15th and 16th centuries.

Suitable for intermediate.

Places limited to six so early booking is advisable. T: 029 20484611