Images: Bold prints by Rowan Tothill, reused fishing net employed in embroidery by Harvey Youngs, contemporary knit by Jessica Hay and repurposed scrap materials used for weave by Sophie Campbell
Graduating students at The Glasgow School of Art have demonstrated the importance of bringing creativity and innovation to the most pressing issues facing society in Graduate Showcase 2021 which was launched on the evening of, 9 June.
Textiles Design students across all four pathways (embroidery, knit, print and weave) have addressed our throw-away society and environmental concerns in their designs. A ‘Zero Waste’ approach combined with repurposing and reusing materials demonstrates tangibly how this generation of designers is putting their commitments into action.
For, Sophie Campbell (weave), responsible design was central to her collection OBJECT, PATTERN, COLOUR, SURFACE,TEXTURE. She sourced, and repurposed scrap materials into off loom woven objects and gathered other material – copper pipes, rope, ribbon, car alloys, furniture, cables and more to create a collection of contemporary weave.
As a comment on the increasing disposability of consumer electronics, which are often dumped in the global south at their end of life, graduating student, Kialy Tihngang (embroidery), has created a collection of objects that mimic the aesthetics of e-waste and mock the movements of machinery. Useless Machines takes the unexpected combinations of colours, textures and shapes found within electronics as his inspiration reflecting how the garish and ugly innards of discarded laptops and phones contrast greatly with the sleek designs of their outer shells.
Scottish Knitwear Textile Designer Jessica Turnbull is currently exploring digital applications of knitwear. With sustainability at the forefront of her design decisions she has created a zero-waste collection made of donated and deadstock yarns using digital knit technology as a way to eliminate waste. Fellow knitwear designer Jessica Hay focussed on exploring bold pattern and colour while using traditional knit techniques in a contemporary way. With a keen interest in sustainable design, through each project she has striven to take a zero-waste approach to her work. For her graduate collection she created samples using mostly wool, a more sustainable yarn choice, and explored its qualities through each sample.
Megan Allan’s embroidery work explores responsible textile design methods focusing on experimental zero-waste fabric manipulation and patchwork techniques. She utilised offcut and second-hand fabrics to develop her ideas and sourced surplus fabric from a local Scottish linen mill to create her final collection. Motivated by the increasing popularity of textile repair she used several techniques traditionally employed to reinforce a textile and prolong its life. Meanwhile, from coarse cliff formations to organic seaweed imagery, embroidery student Harvey Youngs’ ‘The Tactile Coast” is a collection of surface designs inspired by textures found along the shoreline. Manipulated surfaces are juxtaposed with discarded fishing nets found on walks along the beach. Named ‘ghost nets’, these synthetic materials have been lost or abandoned by fishermen, left to wash up – often entangled amongst the seaweed and rocky shore. He endeavoured to utilise these found nets as an alternative to embroidery yarns, highlighting compositional design patterns whilst simultaneously emphasising the extent of plastic waste in the ocean.
Rowan Tothill’s (print) Ode to Colour collection of designs was created with the home interiors context in mind. Her outputs, which feature bold designs on a scale for hangings and wallpaper, were underpinned by a sustainable design manifesto devised for a responsible textile designer. She printed only on second-hand or waste fabric resourced from charity shops in an attempt to reduce waste and maintain a design practice within the circular economy. Also featuring work designed for interiors, Japanese designer, Yoko Hara (weave), has created a collection using her favourite colour – pink. Through it she explores the relationship between colours and emotions, her identity and her Japanese culture.
“Our students have created an exceptional body of work which has been unveiled to a global audience on our Graduate Showcase 2021” says Professor Penny Macbeth, Director of The Glasgow School of Art. “The Showcase illustrates powerfully the imagination and inventiveness for which GSA students are renowned and enables people to see how different disciplines are approaching the shared concerns of today’s creative thinkers”
See collections and new work by the 2021 cohort of Textiles Design students until June 2022 at:
https://gsashowcase.net/glasgow/school-of-design/textile-design/
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Further information:
Lesley Booth
07799414474
press@gsa.ac.uk
@GSofAMedia