BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery upcycle for the Salvation Army
BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery second year students have been challenged to create innovative and sustainable pieces in collaboration with the Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd.
The young jewellery designers were asked to re-use and upcycle all kinds of discarded items collected by the Salvation Army Trading Co Ltd’s clothing banks including textiles, spectacles, cassette tapes, books, shoes and accessories.
Course leader, Jane Francis, spoke of the thinking behind the curriculum project:
“The turnover of ‘fast fashion’ inevitably results in the unsustainable consumption of precious world resources, mountains of waste, pollution, and all too frequent instances of unethical working practices. The next generation of designers will have to innovate within the constraints of sustainability and responsible design.”
Tom Richardson and Paul Ozanne from Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd visited LCF to see the students’ designs and select pieces to be exhibited at the international Recycling and Waste Management conference in September.
The jewellery students’ work will be featured as part of the Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd’s collaboration with LCF students from many courses which will culminate in a catwalk show celebrating sustainable design and methods.
Tom spoke of how impressed the charity were with the students’ work:
“We were astounded by the detailed, thoughtful designs that we saw.”
Paul commented on working with LCF’s young designers:
“We need to be working with the designers of tomorrow to help make environmental considerations central to their future work. We’re thrilled with the designs they’ve upcycled and look forward to seeing them strutting down the runway.”
The upcycled men and women’s jewellery pieces and artefacts are currently on display at Mare Street, and will remain so throughout Green Week 2014 which takes place on February 10th – 14th and is focused on the theme of waste and recycling.