What Have I Been Up To? Part One....

'Tinctoria' 2013 collaboration with Hannah Westwood

In 2013 I completed my two year Artist in Residency at Middlesex University in the Fashion and Textiles department.  It was a 2 year residency with a variety of artists working within different departments of the university.  At the end of the 2 years we celebrated with an exhibition of the work inspired by our residency.  I worked within the knit department and collaborated with my fellow artist in residence, Hannah Westwood, who was working within textiles print.

Inspired by the film 'Blue Alchemy' we started looking at indigo dyeing and were soon mesmerised by it's other worldliness.  We had heard about the technique of calendering, where if you beat the indigo dyed fabric enough it soon takes on a bronze sheen, almost like polishing the fabric.  The beginnings of which can be seen when first taking fabric out of the indigo vat.

Bronze sheen on Indigo dyed fabric when first out of the vat.

We carried out our own experiments in calendering but with mixed results! We also took much inspiration from the jewellery and textiles of nomadic tribes such as the Wodaabe.

Our work together culminated in a small collection of garments by Hannah and Jewellery by me.  We only wished we could have spent longer on the project together! I definitely want to work with indigo again. Please see my sketchbook page for further images from the residency.

          

A little piece of Treasure...

A large glass of wine enjoyed at the VIP launch night, some of my pieces in Professional Jeweller Magazine, the new Blossom Necklaces, the Twisted Swarovski Bangle and a bit of networking. (photos Simi S)

Hello!  

I can't believe that Treasure has come and gone so quickly.  It seemed such a long time coming with so much to do and not enough time, but as with most things it all came together in the end.  It was a great way to start the four day jewellery extravaganza by walking into Victoria House to see a huge poster on the wall declaring that WGSN, the fashion forecasting website, had picked me as one of their editor's choice for upcoming trends.  They then went on to use some images of my work in a talk they gave to the trade visitors on the next upcoming jewellery trends, with one of the big future ones being colourful textile jewellery, woo hoo!  You heard it here first!

The launch night was good too, catching up with some old friends and meeting some new people who said lovely things about my work.  I was also excited to see two of my pieces (the Twisted Swarovski Necklace and Bangle) in print, featured in Professional Jeweller magazine as part of their London Jewellery Week article.  This obviously prompted a small celebration with what look like very large glasses of wine from the evidence above.

By the end of the show I was pleased to have made some sales and collected some intriguing leads from trade buyers, stylists and the press.   It will be interesting to see where these leads take me in the forthcoming months, fingers crossed!

Finally, I want to say a big, big thank you to all the people who helped me in preparing for the show, especially Nicole who now understands the sheer joy (hmmmmm....) of knitting with elastic, thank you!