Stroud International Textiles & Stroud College presents ‘Slow Textiles’ a Two Day Conference.

Stroud International Textiles & Stroud College presents ‘Slow Textiles’ a Two Day Conference.

Part of the Textile Festival in May (1 – 23 May)

In partnership with Stroud College  

Saturday 8th May and Sunday 9th May

Speakers: Keynote Speaker Rebecca Earley, Dr Emma Neuberg, Clara Vuletich, Philippa Brock who are all at the forefront of textile recycling and new technologies.

Chairperson Helen Carnac.

Conference Day 1

Saturday 8 May

10 am – 6 pm

Stroud College, Stratford Park Road, Stroud GL5 4AH

Workshops Day 2

Sunday 9 May

10 am – 5 pm

This two day conference will tackle the topical and challenging area of new textile technology and look at future textiles with a conscience. How ‘Slow Design’ focuses on ideas of well-being

Three of the speakers, are associated with the slow design network, and they will consider the impact and drive behind this dynamic forward looking initiative.

Slow design outcomes encourage a reduction in economic, industrial and urban metabolisms, and hence consumption, by: serving basic human needs; creating moments to savour and enjoy the (human) senses; designing for space to think, react, dream, and muse; designing for people first and commercialisation second; balancing the local with the global and the social with the environmental; demystifying and democratising design by re-awakening individual’s own design potential; and catalysing social transformation towards a less materialistic way of living.

Day 1 will be presentation and discussion and Day 2 will be workshops with Emma Neuberg and Clara Vuletich

 Rebecca Earley: Keynote speaker

Top 100: Up Close and Personal, 1999 - 2009

Becky Earley is a London based designer and Reader at Chelsea College of Art & Design, University of the Arts, London. She currently produces hand and digitally printed textiles for her own label, undertakes public art projects and commissions, and is an educator, facilitator and curator.

 
Emma Neuberg

‘Make Sense Not Stuff’

 ‘Upcycling and Long Life Design – From Straw to Gold’, artist and designer, has been imbuing plastic materials – both recycled and ‘environmentally-improved’ - with luxury and new meaning for over ten years.

Emma Neuberg is founder of Slow Textiles.org

Clara Vuletich

‘Upcycling and Digital Craft’

Clara Vuletich is a printed textile designer and researcher in sustainable textile design at the Textiles Enviroment Design (TED) Project, Chelsea College of Art & Design, exploring ideas of material reuse, digital craft techniques and Slow design.

 
Philippa Brock

‘SMART Textiles’

Philippa is known for her 3D woven jacquard effects – she explores the potential to create innovative woven textiles which explore colour, yarn, structure and surface effects in the weaving, which then only require minimal finishing when they come off the loom.

Philippa Brock is an International Woven Textile Designer and Researcher, who also runs the Woven Textile Department at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, University of The Arts London.

Her most recent projects ‘Nobel Textiles’ and work for the ‘Warp Factor 09’ Exhibition in Japan and China  involved working with Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company in Sudbury Suffolk.

 
The day will be chaired by HELEN CARNAC

Helen Carnac is a maker, curator and academic who lives and works in London. Drawing, mark- making, the explicit connections between material, process and maker and an emphasis on deliberation and reflection are all central to her practice as a maker and thinker. She has co-curated the national touring exhibition ‘Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution’

Doors will open at 9 am and registration will be from 9.15 am.

Chrome Yellow Books will have a bookstall.

Tickets for day one includes refreshments on arrival, a delicious homemade lunch and a closing drink - a networking opportunity.

£50.00 Student (student concessions £30.00)

 A booking form will be on the festival website soon www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk

Until then call the festival office on 01453 808076 / 01453 755421 for details

Conference Day 2

Workshops

‘EXTENDED LIFE TEXTILE TECHNIQUES INSPIRED BY JAPANESE EMBROIDERY TRADITIONS’

TUTOR: EMMA NEUBERG

Sunday 9 May

10.00 am – 6 pm

Gallery 2

Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud GL5 4AF

An exciting, practical workshop that will introduce you to three traditional Japanese embroidery techniques to be explored in a fashion that relates to upcycling and extending the life of your old textiles and clothing.

The first two techniques, Sashiko quilting and geometric Satin Stitch badge-making, will build you up to the more sophisticated final technique: Lattice embroidery work.

Emma Neuberg, who runs the Slow Textiles Group workshops in London, uses a teaching structure that includes practical, symbolic, sustainable and immaterial content. She has developed this as it makes for more sophisticated learning and exploration and greater likelihood of future application and development.

Through the act of sewing other areas of learning are shared. The underlying objectives are, apart from having fun and developing skills, to reflect upon and gain insights collectively into craft practice, slow processes, sustainability, the combining of different schools and traditions, the processes of thinking and reflection during practice, ideas around well-being, material and immaterial value and textile ‘maturation’.

Materials will be supplied on the day, however, if possible please bring your own light-coloured fabrics, pencil, embroidery thread, pins, needle and scissors.

Ticket for each one day workshop £35

Conference Day 2

‘BRICOLAGE’

TUTORS: CLARA VULETICH and KATHERINE MAY

Sunday 9 May

10 am– 4 pm

Stroud International Textile Studio, Five Valley Foyer, Gloucester Street, Stroud GL5 1QG

Individually, Katherine May creates new upcycled quilted textiles using pre-loved fabrics while Clara Vuletich hand prints wallpaper and textiles using both new and traditional print techniques. Collectively, Clara and Kate are part of Bricolage, a textile collective made up of five designer/makers, all graduates from Chelsea College of Art & Design.

Creating bespoke textiles for interiors, they share an aesthetic which favours a bold use of colour, an appreciation for traditional craft skills and the use of sustainable materials and processes. Bricolage is passionate about passing on craft skills and sharing personal ‘textile stories’

This workshop will be an introduction to creative upcycling using traditional patchwork and quilting techniques to create modern designs from pre-loved fabrics. Participants will create a small sample quilt piece or will be encouraged to begin a larger piece to be finished in their own time. Pre-loved fabrics will be provided but you are also encouraged to bring your own favourite textile pieces to use, and participants will be encouraged to join in a discussion about the stories and memories associated with these pieces.

Sewing threads and needles will be provided.

Ticket for each one day workshop £35.00

Tickets for Day One: £50.00 concessions £30.00

Tickets for Day Two only £35.00

Tickets for two Days: £70.00

Numbers are limited for the workshops so it is advisable to book early