With our current exhibition Real Dirty Blue in its last week, we spoke to BA Textile Design Course Leader Anne Marr about some of the most innovative and experimental pieces on display from alumni, current staff and researchers.
Carole Collet – Pop-Up Lace
Having always been really interested in sustainable textiles, Professor in Design For Sustainable Futures at the Textile Futures Research Centre, Carole Collet started her material explorations by using biodegradable fibers. Created from paper, nylon and starch, using a 19th century lace manufacturing technique, Pop-Up Lace represents one of the first examples of industrially produced biodegradable paper yarn lace. According to Marr, Pop-Up Lace acted as a “gateway” into further sustainable projects. Collet is currently working on a strawberry lace which sees the roots of a strawberry plant produce forms of lace and crochet underground, talking the idea that began as a sustainable yarn even further into the manufacturing process.
Anne Marr and Rebecca Hoyes – Hybrid Knots
“What inspired us was playing, the wish the play with materials and push the boundaries and set new rules for them as well.”
BA Textile Design Associate Lecturer Rebecca Hoyes and Course Leader Anne Marr’s recent collaborative project “Hybrid Knots” pushes the boundaries between ceramics and textiles. With the pieces on display fresh from the kiln, the project demonstrates the pairs interested in playful experimentation. Using a process of direct glazing, Marr and Hoyes spent the past year and a half trailing and testing different combinations and applications of materials from traditional clay to more high tech fibers, some of which are currently being used in aerospace missions. Real Dirty Blue demonstrates this playful trial and error approach, exhibiting the final polished pieces to the cracked trial pieces.
Derek Lawlor – Black Knitted Dress
Having studied BA Textile Design at Central Saint Martins, Derek Lawlor went on to study MA Fashion at the College. Taking an experimental approach to traditional knit techniques, Lawlor’s graduate collection saw him develop his own extreme, enlarged take on conventional in-lay processes, using crochet techniques to bind the materials together. Showcasing Lawlor’s innovative approach to design and textiles, Real Dirty Blue features a piece from his graduate collection which demonstrates his exaggerated take on traditional techniques.
Harriet Paynter – Constructed Reality
A recent graduate of BA Textile Design, Harriet Paynter’s work demonstrates a playful yet extremely technical and researched approach to design. Having pioneered a new printing technique onto 3-dimensional objects through a process of vacuum forming, Paynter combined her research into materials with cultural research and an exploration into composition and colours to create her graduate collection Constructed Reality. Real Dirty Blue exhibits a selection of pieces from her imaginative and original take on every day house-hold items.
Real Dirty Blue is open until Friday 1 April in the Lethaby Gallery.
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