In the lead up to the MA Summer Show opening on 7 September, we interview students about their life at Chelsea. We caught up with MA Textile Design student Cindy Moreno Biec, originally from Argentina and based in London for the past three years, to see how her learning experience has shaped her practice.
“My time at Chelsea has enabled me to take my work to the next level by researching much more deeply into my subject of interest and have the chance to apply my concepts to tangible textile materials. This translation from concepts in to objects, has been the focus of my studies at Chelsea.
“For the MA Summer Show I’m working on interiors and how to offer to people versatile environments where they are the protagonist, having the chance to create their own objects and in doing so, feel more connected with their surroundings and consequently more connected with themselves.
“My inspiration is unwritten textile languages from ancestral communities, where they did not need words to communicate and where, because of this, they developed their senses to explore the world in a deeper way.
“Having my own space to work during MA Textile Design has encouraged me to put my identity fully into my practice and take the most from it. The idea of a final exhibition, the MA Summer Show, makes us think differently about the final piece – it must be not just for us but for the public, which is exciting but at the same time scary, as an external eye is going to be examining our work, a viewer, and we may not know how they think.
“Being away from my home country and having the opportunity to research and analyse my own heritage with more perspective has been my biggest influence, but also what we can do when we live in another culture. Multi-cultural environments are also an influence on my work, my desire is that one day design can be a language in itself, talking to people from every corner of the world.
“My ambition is to keep researching ancestral languages to find the way to keep them alive, at least the legacy that they offer to our modern society.
“I am part of the Youth Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, a two-year long project that puts sustainability on top of all the urgent matters to attend to in the textile and fashion industry. I´ve been selected to take part in it because of the research I´ve done on the main material that I´m using for my own project at Chelsea, Patagonian Merino Wool. I researched how responsible management of the livestock could recover areas of desertification.
“I´ve also done a few internships as a print designer in studios of interiors and luxury scarves. They were very useful to learn how the industry works in the UK. Nowadays, I also work as a freelance designer.
“If you’re thinking of studying MA Textile Design at Chelsea be ready to be the guide of your own development, it´s a course where you need to be organised but also passionate, in order to keep your focus and make the most of your time at Chelsea in order to develop new skills and knowledge.
“Chelsea’s creative community helps us go beyond just creating products. What we try to do is create work that has deep concepts and offer people awareness on different levels.
“This is my third year in the city and I feel like London never ends, so much inspiration, so many activities and opportunities to take any creative project further.”
See more work on Cindy’s Instagram
Find out more about the MA Textile Design
More information on the MA Summer Show opening on 7 – 13 September
To see more work from our graduating students, head to chelseadegreeshow.com