Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4

As a big fan of Radio 4's Woman's Hour, I was excited to hear The Times' Hannah Rochell on the show, chatting to Jane Garvey about knitwear for Wool Week yesterday morning.  Even more exciting, however, was when she uttered my name when asked about current knitwear designers doing 'things we haven't seen before'.  Needless to say, I am very proud.

Yesterday's episode is on BBC iPlayer and you can listen to it here

Recent press coverage: Totally Dublin

I was interviewed recently by Rosa Abbot at Totally Dublin. The resulting interview was in the September issue, which has just reached me in the post! You can (hopefully) read it below, or here. Ukluk & Sos cardigans featured.

Spring/Summer 2013 lookbook

The S/S13 lookbook is now online - you can view the collection here.

Sample Sale! Next Saturday 20th October

New press coverage: Company magazine

Great coverage on the S/S 2013 collection from the preview event on Thursday evening, courtesy of Company. Read it in full here

Spring/Summer 2013 preview event at Wolf & Badger

 

 

SS13 preview event: Tweet to win!

Find us on Twitter here

WSP Future Cities: launch event video

See my work on the catwalk at the WSP Future Cities launch event in Stockholm, as well as the other designers' pieces:

Spring/Summer 2013 preview at Wolf & Badger

WSP Future Cities: work in progress video #2

As promised, here is the second of the two videos we made documenting my progress throughout the WSP Future Cities project:

WSP Future Cities: work in progress video #1

WSP asked me to make some videos where I discuss my ideas and work in progress. I'm not a huge fan of being filmed (!), but here's the first one:

WSP Future Cities: Buildings, Energy, Regeneration

I was asked to make some videos for WSP while I was working on this project, which I will post here by the end of the week. In the meantime, here are the final studio shots of my three pieces that they shot in Stockholm at the end of August.

WSP Future Cities: how the Regeneration gown came to be

This is the last of three posts where I explain how I came to create each of my pieces for WSP's Future Cities project. 

The third theme I was set was Regeneration.  It was the one that excited me the most, as my mind instantly went to recycling, which is important both in my work and my life. This became the basis for the piece before I even knew what the design would be - to me, it was crucial that the yarns used to create this piece were recycled, or reclaimed.

I started out with a chunky jersey yarn, which is salvaged from the floors of t-shirt factories.  Before sheets of jersey are cut for garments they automatically trim 1cm strips from the edges. This would be thrown away, but some clever person realised that it could be collected up and stitched together to create cones of yarn. I then asked a talented recent Central Saint Martins graduate, Irem Arig, to hand spin the yarns with some home-dyed British mohair.  What she came up with was an incredibly chunky and unusual yarn with which to build a textured, structured garment.

Having done some extensive research into the origin of the word 'regeneration', the concept that came up over and over was rebirth. I wanted to create a silhouette where one part of the garment emerged from something else - one being born from another. From there, I crocheted some swatches and realised I could make a heavy, sculpted bodice in one piece which would envelop the torso, with a long flowing skirt emerging from the bottom, to create a gown.  The yarn I used to knit the skirt is from British yarn company Rowan and is made from recycled silk and cotton. It has a beautiful drape, so compliments the armour-like quality of the bodice beautifully.

WSP Future Cities: how the Energy piece came to be

As I said in yesterday's post, I want to give you a bit of background on how each of my pieces for WSP came about.

While researching this piece, I looked at all of the different ways the word 'energy' can be interpreted, from fuel (in all it's forms) and power, to human energy and movement. 

While trawling through all of the images I had accumulated, I was most drawn to the silhouette of a contemporary dancer - the energy and grace was so apparent it was almost coming off the page. I knew therefore that the Energy piece had to be form-fitting so that you could see the lines of the body.

A couple of weeks later I was in a cafe where they had one of those '70s inspired beaded curtains hanging in a doorway. It was moving in the breeze and looked so graceful. Thus, the fringed 'cape' was born!  I knew it would look great swinging around the model's body as she walked down the runway, so from there I decided to keep the rest of the piece incredibly simple - I knitted a bikini with clean lines that complimented the cape (and protected the model's modesty!) without detracting from it.  I then trimmed everything in a neon yellow to give it some 'pop', as a nod to electric energy.

WSP Future Cities: how the Buildings dress came to be

In the next few posts I'd like to share some images that explain how each of my pieces for WSP's Future Cities Came about.  First up: buildings. 

When I first started researching and brainstorming the idea of buildings, I went out on my bike armed with my camera and headed straight for the City to get my creative juices flowing. It's where some of the highest buildings in London are, as well as my favourite London landmark: the Gherkin. It ended up influencing the shape of the skirt section of this dress, which wouldn't exist without the expertise of Elodie Ganga, my intern over the last few months. She built the crinoline that sits underneath the skirt to give it it's brilliant dome shape.

I have also included an unexpected element into this piece, having experimented with crocheting into some lengths of chain I had.  I felt the 'hardware' element represented the idea of buildings from a different angle.

WSP Future Cities: catwalk shots

As promised, here are a few shots of the catwalk models from Wednesday afternoon's WSP Future Cities show in Stockholm. I'll be uploading video footage soon, too.