Textile Design Blog

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A History of Lace

A recent publication which discusses in depth the origins of the Wall family in Ireland, inspired me to research my own ancestors. This revealed that my great grandmother was actually a lacemaker. Her name was Julia Roache and she married James Wall. She was a lace maker and is wearing one of the waistcoats she made in the photograph below. Lace making in Ireland began as a result of Ursuline nuns forming crochet schools to teach women and girls in need to work during the potato famine in the mid 19th century. The crochet designs became known as Irish Lace. Some of the lace designs were kept secretly within families and only passed from mother to daughter.  Sadly, this craft declined as a result of mass production. There is a wonderful museum in Ireland called The Sheelin in County Fermanagh which exhibits all the various pieces and works that exist in the history of Irish lace.

 Further research also reveals that many Walls in England fled throughout the 18th and 19th century due to the lack of work in the textile trade. This may encourage you to research your own family tree and maybe discover if there are any traces of textile history within your own family.

KiosKiosk

Since Wayne Hemmingway (MBE) has recently been appointed a London Leader with The London Sustainable Development commission, he has been working on a project in order to provide sales opportunities for young creatives in London. As part of his ''Have a Go Go" pledge he has set up a kiosk by the Mayor's Office at City Hall along the thames near Tower Bridge where various talents will sell their wears.

Yesterday I caught glimpse of Wayne talking to a group of people about the project and his ideas on taking it forward. The Kiosk is portable and made with skimmed ply, although there is only one company in the UK that can manufacture them. When asked where the idea would go from here, it seems that Wayne is open to suggestions and hoping that he can continue placing kiosks throughout the UK, however a source is required for manufacturing them. I spoke briefly with Polly Westergaard the designer who is currently showing her bespoke furniture and product designs and she was excited by the fact that it would open until 10pm whilst there was also live jazz music playing nearby to bring in more punters.

for more information http://www.kioskiosk.co.uk/

Polly Westergaard http://www.westergaarddesigns.co.uk/

 

Print & Pattern

Good to see that my work has also recently featured on the popular website Print & Pattern

showing designs created for childrenswear.

Junichi Arai

I found it hard to contain my excitement when I saw this recent post on the internet talking about a wonderful man, Junichi Arai. In a summer month whilst I was studying for my BA Textile design degree at Derby University, I was lucky enough to stumble across Junichi Arai at the Otsuka Textile Design Institute in Tokyo. I then spent time in his home town in Kiryu, Japan learning and gaining an understanding of his methods and techniques. I even own some of the beautiful textiles that Junichi Arai kindly gave to me. I owe it to him for becoming far too fascinated in the burning of metallic fabrics and the amazing results that can be achieved by transfer printing! I had such a wonderful time that summer. I was totally amazed by the work of Junichi Arai and the way he combined ancient techniques such as Shibori with new fabrics and technologies.

http://www.wilsonart.com/design/statement/viewarticle.asp?articleid=114