Overview
A dedicated undergraduate lecturer and industry professional with experience working across education and the Textiles industry, including as creative project manager and studio design assistant for Eley Kishimoto, and freelance designer for brands including Jasper Conran and Holland & Holland.
Alongside lecturing, I run my own design practice, lead workshops, have exhibited work across various platforms including at Premier Vision in Paris, and art galleries. I have won competitions and have undertaken a Textile residency in Oaxaca, Mexico. I am a QEST craft scholar and was awarded a scholarship for my MA in Fashion (Textiles pathway) at Central Saint Martins, along with a Leathersellers Company Educational Award.
Lecturing on the BA (Hons) Textiles Design degree at Arts University Bournemouth since 2015, where my teaching and learning has a core focus in traditional and digital print techniques, innovation through surface and material exploration, and a commitment to bridging design and industry awareness through building professional skills, experiences and industry connections. A student-focused, approachable, empathetic individual, with an understanding of young peoples individual needs. Ongoing interests in knowledge transfer through running external workshops within the wider Dorset community and specifically young people, including those who may not have easy access to a creative output.
Qualifications
Qualifications
- MA Fashion, Textiles Pathway (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London)
- BA (Hons) Textile Design (Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London)
Teaching Qualification
- Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice, PGCert (University of Southampton)
Teaching
My role as lecturer on the BA (Hons) Textiles Design degree at AUB is primarily focused with Level 4 teaching and learning, working with the students across both practical hands-on and professional preparation industry-focused units.
Delivery involves designing inspiring workshops, group and one-to-one tutorials, seminars and activities across all aspects of Textiles Design – from the initial development stages of drawing, colour and research, to design and composition, screen printing, digital design, applications and building portfolio etc.
I also have a key focus upon professional practice, industry preparation, work placements and collaborations, and I am the course's Industry Patron co-ordinator.
Courses
Research
Research Interests and Projects
As a designer-maker, research focus revolves around innovation, new practices, and combining of techniques to form both soft textile and hard surface outputs, always revolved around pushing boundaries within colour, shape and form for home and body applications.
Through my personal practice I strive to constantly learn new skills, and although trained in print design, a recent project titled Moroccan Doors, is a series of intricate hand-coloured paper collages and fabric embroideries based on the front doors and building facades seen in Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains.
Morocco’s rich, artistic and traditional history in design (and specifically textiles) ranges from traditional dyeing, leather work, intricate wood carving, rug weaving and use of colour – exquisite colour, traditional colour, effortless colour and inspiring colour. Colour is everywhere - roof tops adorned with Majorelle blue bundles of drying yarn, mountains of coloured spices in the souks, flashes of geometric ceramic mosaics and every shade of red and yellow ochre lime-washed houses.
Whilst walking through the winding streets in Marrakesh, the medina and surrounding villages in the Atlas Mountains, specifically drawn to the doors and windows of family homes and businesses, and how each one was a unique piece of art, each one different from the next – lovingly created, and becoming the opening into a traditional way of life.
Hugely inspired by the colour, geometric form and simple, repetitive shapes, this latest project began as abstract collages – combining colour and shape to echo the beautiful simplicity of the facades. To reflect Morocco’s rich history in textiles, the project evolved to include a series of intricately digitally embroidered fabrics, using carefully selected yarns and considered patterns.
Works produced exhibited at Make Southwest and Thelma Hulbert Gallery.
Professional Engagement
AUB Teaching Development Award, 2020
Awarded £1,000 towards the design and execution of a student focused teaching development project, aligning to AUB’s vision of ‘creative’, ‘collaborative’ and ‘connected’. Exploring new practices through jesmonite innovation, surface exploration and 3D experimentation, with an objective to introduce a new hard surface specialism into the Textiles course curriculum.
Knowledge Transfer and Wider Participation
Curate and lead workshops and community based activities for individuals and groups of varying ages within Dorset. Most recently this involved leading design and screen print workshops for local children/teenagers who may not usually get access to these skills. Introducing new design techniques and applications through drawing, design compositions, colour exploration, artwork generation, screen printing and product idea generation. Previous examples include working with Dorset Council to design and lead focused practical design workshops, and 1:1 design tutoring.
Awards and Prizes
Notable awards/prizes
- Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST): Became a QEST Scholar and awarded a two-year Craft Scholarship and £25,000 educational award for MA study.
- Winner of £15,000 HSBC Student Bursary Competition.
- Leathersellers’ Company Design Education Award.
- Winner of Pepsi-Co Design Competition.
- Winner of Sophie Hallette Design Competition.
- Exhibiting and selling printed samples at Premier Vision in Paris.
- Works selected by WGSN Trend Forecasters and InDesign.