Jane Harper

Jane Harper is the 2012 recipient of the Peter Collingwood Charitable Trust Award for innovation in weaving. The award aims to recognize excellence for a loom-based textile and I know that this years winner would certainly have piqued Peters curiosity. Jane has created some highly complex multi-layered constructions which have become truly 3-dimensional once off loom. The layers are separated and held proud from the ground cloth with insertions of acrylic sheet.

Jane is recent Textile Design graduate from Central Saint Martins, and this work is from her final degree collection which she entitled Collapsable Constructions. She has now moved back to her home city of Manchester where she aims to use her award towards setting up her own studio. She hopes to develop her structural textiles into functional works that could be used in an interior context. 

Do check out her new website for more images of her degree work.

James Donald, Pick One

Under the brand name of Pick One, James Donald produces very covetable hand woven scarves inspired by the Scottish landscape. He is well known for his use of complex float structures which are woven in various kinds of wool. Once washed, the floats shrink causing interesting surface undulations which spark tactile curiosity. In recent times James has started to explore flatter double and triple cloth constructions, as exemplified by the first images. His blog records his latest interests in colour and mark masking, offering a fascinating insight into what feeds into his woven cloths.

You can buy his scarves from a large number of retailers, but if you find yourself in Edinburgh, you must visit Concrete Wardrobe, the shop/gallery which he co-founded with Fiona Mackintosh, to promote and sell the work of Scottish and Scotland-trained textile makers.