I got the chance to go to three of the big London degree shows – Chelsea College of Arts, Central Saint Martins and The Royal College College of Art. It was a very inspiring day full of beautiful textiles, art and design.
Each university seems to have its strengths:
Chelsea College of Art – the knit was very inventive and creative. Having specialised in weave, I don’t know much about what can be achieved technically with knit and was very impressed. Each knit student’s work was so different from the next. I also found that a lot of the knit looked like a woven fabric with the yarns and textured used.
Central Saint Martins – I loved the experimental nature of the weaves, although the more traditional weaves were beautiful too. I found myself drawn towards the more natural, textural work and remembered my love of rust.
Royal College of Art – or course this work was all MA courses but I was completely blown away with what I saw across a multitude of disciplines. Again the weave was very experimental in approach. Here all of the students were present next to their work giving me the opportunity to talk to them about what they have been doing. There was a variety of different things with a student weaving copper and rusting it, weaving sheer fabrics, woolen jacket fabric, even mixing knit and weave to produce interior fabrics. Not only was the textiles incredible but the jewellery and ceramics were just perfect. If only I was rich enough to have bought a few pieces.
There were a few trends that seemed to feature across the three shows… bonding of fabrics, particularly for waterproof fashion. Many fabrics knitted and woven fabrics were bonded with a plastic for outerwear, or they were bonded with other fabrics to produce a thicker, stiffer fabric for a 3D interpretation. I also noticed a lot of linen used, this is something I have been drawn to recently. I haven’t woven with linen before but I will definitely be giving it a go soon. Within the weave fabrics and some knit there was a lot of hairy yarns woven amongst smooth yarns and then brushed in areas to create either stripes or patches of long, fibrous hairs.
In terms of the print, I found that the print was not what I expected. A large majority of it was not what I would call ‘traditional’ print such as screen printing or digital printing on flat fabric. I was surprised how much 3D printed was at the shows, in terms of plastic 3D structures. Many of the print pieces were fabric with a3D pattern or holes. The less ‘traditional’ print was really interesting.
Looking forward to the shows next year!