Sheep of Steel

I took a much-needed break from the studio this morning to pop over to Islington and check out this year's New Designers exhibition at the Business Design Centre. There were some beautiful pieces of knitwear on show by various graduates but my main reason for going was to see Irem Arig, who I worked with on the Future Cities project last summer.

She has set up a new collective of UK-based spinners called Sheep of Steel and their HQ, conveniently enough, is just down the road from our own in Dalston. Their mission is to create unique, experimental,  yet beautiful yarns using all manner of fibres, colours and textures. In Irem's own words: the possibilities are endless.

We're hoping to work together again, perhaps on some yarn for A/W 2014 - I am particularly excited about some of the incredible fibres I saw this morning that I have never come across before; banana, soya and corn to name a few. These are all by-products of the food industry which makes them completely sustainable and eco friendly. They are as soft as silk and I can't wait to spin some up and see how they knit.

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.