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Extra Warp Patterning Repeat with Spun Silk and Organic Cotton

Harriet Paulat-Brigg

From the heart of West Yorkshire (Keighley), Harriet has a deep connection to and appreciation of woven textiles.

The overarching concept for ‘Craftisan Florals’ is innovating new ideas for luxury hand-woven designs intended for SS22 womenswear. The concept draws inspiration from 19th century Arts and Crafts ideals, where designs for the applied arts were meticulously crafted by hand into beautiful and decorative pieces. Garden florals provide the inspiration for patterns and colours, then applying my own take on a modern interpretation to these principles resulting in contemporary designs more fitting for today’s tastes, yet still retaining the style, elegance, spirit and quality associated with Arts and Crafts. The colours and patterns are chosen from a collection originating from floral photographs taken by myself in the initial research and concentrate on the flowers themselves. The colours chosen relate directly to the petals, quora and stamens in the photographs and are zingy orange, light and royal blues, lilacs, white and apricot. For my collection, I incorporated decorative weaving techniques including extra-warp patterning and weft trapping. Together I paired this with luxury yarns including silk and organic cotton as well as some carefully selected man-made fibres chosen for their visual appeal, altogether resulting in embellished and striking outcomes.

Final year project

Craftisan Florals

Awards

2019-2020 Diploma in Professional Studies.

Work Experience

I took the option of going on a year in the industry with the intention to gain useful and practical experiences and to learn first-hand how my degree applies to various roles in the textiles industry. From July 2019 to March 2020, I interned variously at Whitchurch Silk Mill, Rare Thread, van Clewe Sun Protection GmbH and C&V- Cord und Velveton GmbH both in Germany. Across the four companies, I’ve gained invaluable experiences working across tourism, design, manufacturing as well as in purchasing and marketing, a real all-around set of useful and practical experiences.

Some highlights from the year included Whitchurch Silk Mill when my spun silk scarf design was selected to be woven in silk on one of their 19th-century power looms and later sold to visitors in the mill shop.

At Rare Thread the majority of my time was spent producing hand-woven samples some of which were selected to be included in their portfolio. It was exciting working for a real woven design consultancy potentially designing for high-end interiors and haute couture.

More highlights included experiencing working abroad in Germany, learning a new working culture with everything spoken and written in German. At both companies, I was treated as an Apprentice after the German formal dual apprentice system, which was a real honour. Being half-German, I already had very good German language skills (both written and verbal) which were further enhanced through acquiring specialist textile and business vocabulary at Sun Protection and Cord und Velveton.