Skye Gwillim

Profession

BA Textile Design Alum

College

Central Saint Martins

Person Type

Alumni

Biography

Skye Gwillim graduated in 2014, she now works for Lacoste as a Junior Designer

About my work

My work explored the psychological impact that hand making can have on our emotional wellbeing and how repetitive activities can provide a sense of comfort and security.

Making complex things by hand requires more than technical or design skills; like many acts of endurance it requires that you enter a particular state of mind. My use of pattern, drawing and grid structures served to emphasise themes of freedom and control that repetitive activities can provide.

Through experimenting with digital technology, my work also questioned whether the same sense of wellbeing can be achieved whilst working with a computer.

Why Textile Design?

It meant I could experiment with many different techniques. I thought that this course would give me a wide skills base that could be translated into so many different areas. I always enjoyed working with my hands and playing around with materials, with Textile Design I could experiment and didn’t have to pinpoint myself into a particular industry too early on.

The industry

It’s really important to do internships, to learn what kind of thing you’d like to do when you graduate and to gain experience of what the ‘real world’ is like. During the summer between my second and final year I did two internships, one for a constructed jewellery design studio and another for a printed interiors studio. I also did a variety of freelance work during the three years.

Advice

Just work really hard, be completely involved in what you’re doing, enjoy living in London and make the most of the time you have to concentrate and develop your own work!

Skye Gwillim

Biography

Central Saint Martins

Contact

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