My Journey Manufacturing My Winning Competition Design by Gabriella Collins

Day 1

I have just completed my three years of study with my end of year graduate fashion show, and showcasing at Graduate Fashion Week and I am now on my way to visit Hockley to begin the process of manufacturing my design. With me, I have draft patterns and a toile that I have been working on for this design. I am very excited to meet the team at Hockley and share my vision with them and start bringing my design to life!

My first day at Hockley was truly amazing. I got to finally meet the team there and see the workshop. My day began with showing the team the toiles that I had been developing on my own, and reviewing the amendments that needed to be made and discussing the processes for each of the techniques. We went through the jacket first. After trying this on a person, we realised that something had to be corrected in the positioning of the sleeve. I had been working with a kimono shape sleeve for this toile, but there seemed to be a lot of excess fabric under the arm in particular. We pinned this back and reverted back to the pattern. We initially tried the kimono style sleeve again, taking out the excess and repositioning the arm hole. However, after toiling this up again, we realised that perhaps it would be an idea to work with a set in style sleeve that may take out the excess on its own, and where I will still be able to have my decorative stitch work in between the arm hole of the jacket and the sleeve head. There seemed to be a lot of back and forth, re-toiling and amending the sleeve to get it sitting perfectly and proportionally. In the end, the set in style sleeve proved to be the best method and after a last fit meeting, discovered that we had achieved the desired aesthetic that I was after. This was a great feeling, going through the process of trial and error and getting it to where I wanted it to be in the end.

Once this pattern was finalised, we were able to start marking up where the pocket should sit and how long to make the opening in order for the hand to get through it comfortably. We discussed the direction of the opening and how this would affect the drape of the sleeve, and decided to go for a vertical jet opening, meaning less disruption of the sleeve itself. After trying it on a person, we got the correct opening we needed, and transferred this to the pattern. We also looked at the amount of flare at the bottom of the fluted sleeve, and after trailing this out and looking back onto my initial illustration we got it looking subtly getting wider at the cuff. It was great to get everyone’s opinion on how the sleeve was looking and talking to the team about how this silhouette would transfer into fur whilst in the process of toiling.

With the changes of the sleeve and shape of the sleeve head, Manuel and I had to re-look at how this would also affect the shape of the armhole on the bodice of the jacket itself. We had to look at the jacket pattern and begin to rework and match it up with the sleeve in order for the sleeve to fit in perfectly. Working with Manuel is truly amazing as he is extremely knowledgeable about garment construction and pattern making, and I am learning a lot from working with him on my design.

After adapting the jacket pattern, we then worked together to produce another toile including the adapted sleeve to visualise how it looked as a complete entity. We cut the pattern out, sewed it together and tried it on a person to see how it was sitting. We found that it looked a little too large in correlation to the sleeve, and so we started to pinch away fabric to make the bodice a little bit more fitted. We went back to the pattern again, repositioned the darts into the style lines I drew, and were able to take out the excess fabric from them.

We have now begun to put together the new toile of the jacket bodice since we have made the amendments which we will continue on next week when I visit again.

It has been really wonderful today to meet everyone and I am looking forward to my next visit and the progress that we will make!

Day 2

I am on my way to visit Hockley again today and have been thinking about the types of fur that I would like the main bodice of the jacket to be in. Initially, I wanted the bodice of the jacket to be in red leather and there to be a long haired fur trim incision through the bust and through to the back on either side. However, I am now thinking whether it would look more interesting if the bodice was in a sheared fur in red while the long hair trim incision remains the contrast. In doing this, I feel that the outfit will be more cohesive and I can play around with direction of the fur in order to make it either looking darker and more matte against the light and also more glossy and bright against the light.

I am really excited about discussing what the jacket should be made in today, whilst finishing the pattern for the jacket after the amendments we made previously. I think that it is great that I am able to truly develop and realise my design with Hockley and openly discuss changes that I feel should be made and listen to what they also feel would perhaps work better.

Today we managed to finalise my jacket patterns after one last fit review, and begin to discuss what fur this should be in. Tina suggested that my design would work well in mink. We discussed using both sheared and unsheared mink in both colourways blue and red, and where I envisioned them on the bodice of the jacket. We then had another meeting, to discuss what fabric should be in the sleeve of the jacket, and whilst looking at my design and picking out all the fabrics and furs that will be incorporated, we decided that it would be really interesting to have an eclectic mix of texture and colour. As I am planning on using denim, suede, fur and leather within my design, we thought that it would tie everything together and make a dramatic aesthetic if we were to put all of these fabrics within the sleeve in the process of intarsia. This way, we could also allocate smaller pieces of fur to be used elsewhere in my design too. It is great that I am able to have frequent meetings with the furriers to get practical knowledge on whether my design can be achieved and what works best for them as well as what my design intentions are. I am able to get all round knowledge from design to construction.

We have now started to work on the dress pattern for my design. As I have gone for a trapeze silhouette, Manuel and I have decided that in order for the trapeze to sit elegantly underneath the jacket, there will have to be darts on the back and front of the garment to pull in the fabric at the waist so it can sit flat. We toiled this up and then put it on the mannequin to see how it was fitting, and decided to take a few centimeters off of the arm hole and reshape it, take the excess fabric off from the bottom of the arm hole so that sits flat beneath, take about 1 cm off from the side seams, reposition and take more out from the darts to make it ever the more fitted. The shape of the dress itself was perfect with how much flare we achieved, but we decided to add on another 5cm at the hem with another 5cm for the hem itself baring in mind the height of the models!

Today has been extremely successful and as we have discussed types of fur for the jacket, finalised that pattern and have almost now got the dress silhouette together and completed. We now need to work on the collar and I need to start putting in my style lines and intarsia design for the sleeves. I am going to take the sleeve pattern home with me and work on my design for this, labelling what fur I want in each panel for the next time I visit.

Day 3

I am back up in Hockley and have completed my design for the intarsia sleeves, however, whilst in the process of this, I felt unsure as to what fur to use where on each individual shape. I want to get more guidance and advice of this so I will be asking Manuel and the furriers views on this today. I have been colour coding each of the shapes however to see what all the colours would look like as one final piece, and as I am only using red, denim, blue and merlot, I had to be careful that the colours were spread out and not too much of one colour in one place. I am also looking forward today to start to look at how the colour will sit for the dress part of my outfit, and how I will start to section the dress pattern up in order to get the patchwork effect that I am after.

I am  feeling really confident about the decisions that we have made today with regards to what fabric/fur to use where on the intarsia sleeve. Although this can still change once we get the skins and fabric, it is good that the furriers have a draft pattern to go from to see how it may all fit together. When making the patterns for the sleeve, I went for a symmetric design, using both angular shapes and rounded shapes to make the sleeve look almost like a stain glass window. In the meetings about my design, Tina also suggested that I could have a pocket within the sleeve to act as a phone holder, so that the wearer can attach their headphones to their phone and listen to music. This I feel would be an interesting feature and make my design which has many traditional elements, more modern and utilitarian. I have also been discussing with Manuel today, about the finish of the sleeves. We went through some of the types of finishing’s that Hockley have used and are currently using, and I discovered that the raw edge finishing that is lined makes a sleeve look less bulky and has a more current feel to it. Because of this, I decided that this would be the type of finishing that I would like to have on the sleeves as the sleeves themselves may prove to be quite heavy and this might make them look more refined.

Now that we have discussed what fur/fabric is going where on the sleeve, we were able to have a meeting with the furriers about the quantities that we would need to order. By knowing roughly the dimensions of the mink skins, and that we wanted to use female skins, the furrier was able to estimate a quantity for the base of the sleeve which was in sheared red mink and the shapes which was a mixture of blue sheared mink, long haired red mink and blue long haired mink. As there could prove a lot of waste in this process of intarsia to get both sleeves symmetric, I brought up whether we could reverse the sleeve on the other side to use the base of the shapes cut out from the opposite sleeve and then use the cut outs within the other sleeves design. However, by doing this it would compromise the design aesthetic and would no longer look like my original plan. We decided to go ahead with what we had originally thought as this would get a better outcome and the waste fur I could transfer onto other designs.

Whilst we were discussing this, I noticed a pile of a merlot coloured pink suede in the corner of the studio and asked Manuel what they were using this for as it was the exact weight, colour and material that I was after for my design. He said that it was left over suede that they had previously used, and that I could use it if I would like. This was really great as I had now managed to source some suede that would have been discarded otherwise. As part of my design, my theme is of course to stitch things together, the old and the new to create something awkward that seemingly works well while equally questioning whether it truly does work well. In utilising the suede that is already there, reflects my theme while I have equally outsourced fabric and leather that appears more new and modern.

I have now begun to work on the style lines in the patchwork and will be taking the patterns home to work on it for the next time I am in London. Something that I will have to be aware of is to make sure the seam lines are matching through the front to the back when the darts are closed, as if they do not match up completely this would not look very good!

Day 4

Today I am looking forward to start to finalise my dress pattern. I have been drawing in the style lines on the front and back for the patchwork effect and will be discussing with the team, what method or technique we will use to get the blue lines between the seams of the patchwork. I have also drawn up the style lines for the leather opening panels on the lower part of the dress which will be corded through.

I discussed with the furriers a technique that may be able to be used for in between the patchwork, and they have suggested very fine strips of long hair mink to be sewn in between the patchwork. This I feel would look really great and add another interesting dimension to my design. Manuel and I have been making sure that all my patchwork seams match up and have been correcting anything on the pattern that looks awkward. We have begun to trace off today, and transfer the patterns onto card and adding the appropriate seam allowances. This may prove to take a while as both my jacket pattern and dress pattern have a lot of panels and pieces that all individually need to have notches, seam allowances, grain-lines and labels. I have begun firstly to trace off and transfer the sleeve onto card today while Manuel has been tracing off the jacket pattern and making any last final amendments and corrections.

This week

I have just finished tracing off the very last pieces of the pattern and transferring them onto card, so the only thing left to do now is to make the lining pattern and show Tina and Manuel when denim I am thinking of using and also try to get two swatches of the colours that I would like the mink to be dyed in.

Work in progress:

REBECCA BRADLEY’S JOURNALS: LOVING GREEN

Supported by one of the many initiatives of the International Fur Federation (the Fur Futures program), Rebecca Bradley travelled North and encountered a fantastic world that provided her with plenty of inspiration and traditional Inuit knowledge for her new collection. This program aims to provide support to the next generation working with fur. On this occasion, the IFF helped support Fur Futures member Rebecca Bradley from the UK in her incredible journey to Greenland which she described to the Guru as a “life-changing experience”.

Rebecca learnt traditional techniques; hunted, worked and ate seal. She filled her body and spirit with folklore and love for the wild.

‘It is the morning of my first Seal hunt, as the sun rises over the horizon, it’s rays strike the sea, creating golden and orange sparkling beams across the water. We are in a relatively small hunters boat, its cold, very cold, compounded by the arctic breeze that blows across us. As I look out across the ocean, taking in the natural beauty of the landscape, I catch a glimpse of the hunter’s rifle and I’m reminded why I’m here.

I am excited, and of course apprehensive but I’ve learnt so much here already, I’ve done the research, got independent opinions, met the hunters and their families, and relentlessly studied the numbers.

I am pro fur, of course I am, I am a furrier, but the seal story is one that has captured my imagination like no other. Farming fur is one thing, and I fight this corner relentlessly, but for me seal has this almost inexplicable stigma. The propaganda of the 1980’s has tainted everyone’s views and opinions but I needed to see for myself. Why do people feel so strongly about it and are these horror stories true?

Much of the bad press and associated stigma stemmed from a Greenpeace anti-seal hunting campaign, however in recent years they have become supportive of the right for Inuit communities to hunt seal. They have stated, “Indigenous communities have shown time and again that they understand how to protect the Arctic ecosystem they call home, and their hunting practices have never been a threat to seal or whale populations. They do not hunt seal pups, and their hunt is conducted with respect for the animal. They hunt because it is a crucial way to sustain themselves and their families in the harsh Arctic environment.” *

In the UK we treat animals as a commodity, modern farming methods are a race to the bottom, often leading to horrendous conditions for the captive animals during their short lives. I am always astounded by the hypocrisy of people’s views against fur, opining the fur industry to be shameful and cruel, whilst they gleefully munch into their cheap takeaway, celebrate their supermarket mass consumerism haul, and paint on the latest makeup wonder products, all tested on animals.

I also continue to be perplexed by human discrimination between different animals, and the usage preceding their death. The animal has no awareness or understanding of this and so the animal welfare when the animal is alive is surely more important than its subsequent use.

Animal welfare is of upmost importance to me, and at Rebecca Bradley London I encourage my team to constantly question origin and welfare, the more this is done throughout the fur trade the better standards will be.

Throughout my time in Greenland, I became overwhelmed by the Inuit relationship with their environment and indeed its creatures. This is best described as ‘Inuit Sila’ which has no direct translation into English, which perhaps for me ironically echoes western attitudes.

Seals are not endangered, and now due to strict regulations and quotas it is unlikely they ever will be. For example Inuit never hunt ‘whitecoats’ (baby seals). It is estimated by Great Greenland (the fur house taking care of all the seal skins in Greenland) that there are 12 million seals in Greenland, and due to its inhabitable areas in the north and seal migration it is estimated there could be up to 20 million.

Inuit hunt the seals predominantly for food, and therefore the skin is officially classed as a by-product. A seal can feed an Inuit family for many meals, and it is a rich dark meat with a heady, fishy taste which is extremely rich in nutrients. Not only did I eat the seal we caught (that was cooked for us by a hunter and chef at Great Greenland), but I genuinely enjoyed it.

seal, hunter, Greenland, fur, inuit, dinner
Learning to use the Ulu, a traditional knife for removing the fat from the back of the skin/ Jens, our fantastic Hunter guide who demonstrated a wonderful sensitive integrity throughout the trip, true ‘Inuit Sila’/ Seal Dinner and red wine.

The prejudice against the usage of seal fur has meant unsustainably low skin prices meaning hunting seals has begun to decline within Inuit communities, with many hunters opting to catch fish instead. This has directly led to overfishing and over- population of seals, only adding to rapidly declining fish stocks, as fish are the main food source for the ever growing seal population. The native ecosystem has therefore become unbalanced with diseases and illnesses in seals rising. In fact, biologists have urged Great Greenland and indeed the Inuit to cull as many seals as they can to rectify these issues, something which they are struggling to do.

arctic, seal, fur, Inuit, Greenland, travel, hunter, tradition
One of the Beautiful and truly breathtaking Icebergs that has secured my love affair and passion for the Arctic, a place which I intend to spend much more time.

Seal is a fantastic product, it has become one of my favourite pelts to work with, I have been enlightened about its durability, warmth and water resistance, it takes dye spectacularly producing a wonderful array of colours. Its qualities are so versatile, that we found ourselves with endless possibilities for the new collection. Our creations already include, full garments, homewares and decorative work, bags, stationary and footwear.

We will continue to work with seal and push its boundaries, with some new collection ideas already in the pipeline, the results never fail to excite and amaze us. The need to support sealing is greater than ever: balanced prey and predator ecosystems preserved these environments and Inuit communities. I am passionate in encouraging people to reconsider their views and make informed and educated decisions when consuming products that may have had an effect on any living creature and the environment.

 

seal, rebecca bradley, london, biker jacket
Rebecca Bradley LONDON Lime green Seal Biker with woven sections

 

*https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/structure-of-the-livestock-industry-in-england-at-december

*http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/where-does-greenpeace-stand-on-seal-hunting/

If you are interested in finding out more on the Fur Futures program please visit:

www.wearefur.com/skills-and-careers/

 

Kopenhagen Fur Sorting & Grading Course By UK furrier Ninx Flanagan of Bewitched Couture

Kopenhagen Fur are the most prestigious producers of mink in Europe and it is a privilege to be selected by Kopenhagen Fur to attend their ‘Fur Sorting & Grading Course’ in Denmark.

The first major element of the course was an illuminating presentation in the auction room on the key statistics and areas of business that makes up Kopenhagen Fur.  We covered diverse areas from policy to finance, business structure to global reach, and welfare to traceability.

Our afternoon session ran with a tour of the auction house and warehouse facility with an opportunity to get to know our skins experts who will become our tutors over the next few weeks.

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My first impressions:
• The vast size of the cooperative;
• The smell of the undressed pelts!
• The volume of skins and turnover for each auction is vast;
• The cavernous feeling of the place when not full of customers during the auction periods;
• The computerised grading machines can sort Type/Sex/Colour/Clarity/Hair Length.  The machines are the future but they have been in development for 15 years and they can’t yet achieve ‘Quality’ assessment.  Therefore, the key aspects of ‘quality’ must still be done by anexperienced grader.

Farm visit
Day two took us out on the road with a morning visit to the University Research Farm led by Associate Professor Connie Matthiesen of Copenhagen University.  This was a very information rich session where we could really get to grips with understanding how scientific farming techniques and excellent animal welfare completely drive the quality of the fur.
The mink farms are light and airy – The mink breeding cycle is driven by day light and ovulation is triggered by the equal length of day and night at the Spring Equinox.  Therefore, mink need constant access to fresh air and daylight.

Dressing plant visit
We were very privileged to visit to the last dressing plant in Denmark that specialises in producing some of the world’s best chinchilla skins.  The plant is lead and run by Huseyin Karadayi who was very generous with his time and knowledge so we could really get to understand how good dressing is imperative to creating a beautiful, long lasting skin.  It was fascinating to see how much traditional, highly skilled craftmanship is still required in this process.  One of the key lessons I took away from this session is the importance of keeping the leather supple and ‘alive’ with no fat left on the leather as this can cause stiffness and eventually rotting.

Grading
From day three onwards we hit the grading floor with our practical sessions learning about the different quality factors.  The first session was very hard as to the untrained eye it often difficult to see where the cut-offs are between quality levels but, after the second session I felt much more confident with what I was looking ‘and feeling’ for.

We continued with our practical sessions learning to recognise the three main Kopenhagen Fur label qualities: Ivory, Burgundy and Platinum.  The fourth category, Purple, is later pulled out of the Platinum label when enough skins represent a ‘premium’ quality.

I really enjoy the challenge of grading – stepping to a new workstation with totally different mink skins makes me excited to see if I can improve my judgements from previous challenges.

Mantra learned from the tutors… “Pick out the best and the worst skin and then… Compare –  Compare – Compare!”

Grading irregular and low-grade skins
Our introduction to ‘irregular skins’ began on day six with learning about listings in the ‘Supplementary Information’ section of the auction catalogue and these must be graded into lots as irregular skins can still be used as they might come out of the dressing process perfectly, so there are potential bargains, but there is a risk.

The ‘low grades/damaged skins’ are worse quality than ‘Irregular skins’. They can still be used for purposes such as trimmings and smaller fur accessories.  These skins have a lot of different categories to grade by and the hard part was learning which category ‘trumped’ another for grading purposes as some skins had elements of more than one type of damage.

Grading test
The big individual grading test arrived on day eight! This exam took all morning – we moved through a sequence of test stations where sometimes we were grading overall quality and other just for very specific elements of quality such as ‘surface’ or ‘wool’.  We were also working to a time pressure to complete the test.  The test was gruelling without the usual support of the tutors to answers our queries as we went along.

I was really pleased with the results of the grading exam – score of 69 and came 4th out of 23.  I was happy to note a little bit of ‘girl-power’ as three out of the five girls on the course came in the top four.

Auction test
After completing our catalogue training and auction practice we all received customer orders from the Commercial Department and we had to use the new auction catalogues for the upcoming June auction and historical pricing from the April auction to prepare a buying strategy, with backup plans.  The final auction test came on day 11 with Stig Reinhold, Sales Manager for KF, as the lead auctioneer.  It was a real eye-opening process to how the buyers work and how quickly they have to make ‘Plan B’ decisions within the fast pace of the auction.

Graduation
On the morning of day 12 we met Jesper Uggerhøj the CEO of Kopenhagen Fur to receive our Sorting & Grading Diplomas, raise a glass to toast our course tutors and the whole class successfully graduating.  Our course leader Sheila Wagner also entertained us with some anecdotes of the course and our fellow students.

Live auction
The 10-day auction with the largest offering of mink to date began on the final Thursday morning with cautious bidding sometimes 9% below the previous auctions sale prices as the skins this time of year are less fresh compared to the December skins that arrive soon after the November pelting.

To conclude…
It has been an honour to be selected for the Kopenhagen Fur Sorting & Grading Course.  I have learned so much and made many new friends and work connections who I will cross paths with many times in my career ahead.

The skin knowledge I have gained on the course will positively impact my career as a furrier – influencing my choice of skins, including how and where I buy them and how I market them to my customers.  I will also be passing on my knowledge gained to my assistants and interns educating them further about skin types, quality and welfare.

The quality and depth of knowledge offered on the course has been fantastic and a huge ‘thank you’ goes to our esteemed course leader, Sheila Wagner, for donating so much of her extra time, knowledge and resources throughout the course.  Our grading tutors, Jan, Eddie, Hannah and Rikke also deserve a special mention for their ‘unending patience’ teaching us the finer details, touch and instinct for grading mink… “Compare – Compare – Compare!”

T:  +44 (0)7747625066
E:  ninx@bewitchedltd.com
W: www.bewitchedltd.com
F:  www.facebook.com/bewitched.couture
Instagram: bewitched_couture

 

Animal welfare or animal rights? By BFTA CEO, Mike Moser

It is often said that the end justifies the means. And many people may be thinking this when they turn a blind eye to the methods used by animal rights activists. “After all” the argument goes, “they are standing up for animals that don’t have a voice. If their methods are a little extreme then sobeit. Society needs to be told!”

What is the difference between animal welfare and animal rights?

There is a broad scientific consensus as to what constitutes good animal welfare. It is based on four welfare principles: Good Housing, Good Feeding, Good Health and Appropriate Behaviour. From these principles come over 20 specific and objective measurements of the welfare of the animal.

Animal rights has the core presumption that animals have rights similar to those conferred upon people. That is, that animals are completely independent of us and that we have no moral right to use them in any way.

Consequently many animal rights organisations, like PETA, care less about animal welfare and much more about chasing a vegan agenda. They campaign to abolish all form of animal use and products, including meat and fish, leather, silk and wool, milk and cheese, along with horse riding, working dogs (including guide dogs) and, in some instances, pets.

Real face of animal rights

Most of us would agree that we have the right to make our own choices in these matters and to have our views respected by others. No one, for instance would dream of forcing someone who is vegan to eat meat. But vegan activism, which aims to deny personal choice, seems to be growing. The recent case of a vegan restaurant that banned parents from bottle-feeding their babies with animal milk on the premises made news.

If animal welfare is the best that it can be, should it not be an individual’s right to decide whether to eat meat, wear leather, silk, wool or fur, go fishing, ride horses – or not?

A new website shines a torch on some of the more extreme views and actions of animal rights organisations and individuals. realfacesofanimalrights.com

PETA Slays 1,411 Dogs and Cats in 2016

The latest new figures from the Center for Consumer Freedom revealed that last year 1,411 cats and dogs died in Virginia at the hands of PETA activists that claimed to be collecting money for animal welfare.

PETA raise millions of dollars in charitable donations by promising to find new homes for pets that their owners could no longer look after. But while many well-meaning donors left legacies and donations, believing that their life-long savings would be used directly to fund animal welfare, PETA shamelessly killed nearly 3 out of 4 dogs and cats that came to their centre. To put this into context, this is almost four times more than other animal shelters in Virginia.

While people expected their hard-earned cash to be put to a good use, PETA on average kill 1,895 animals per year. Since 1998, thirty six thousand animals became victims of PETA’s slaughterhouse.

Opaque? Hypocritical? Deceitful? You decide………

 

My Journey with BFTA by Edda Gimnes

My name is Edda Gimnes I am a womenswear designer who graduated from London College of Fashion in 2015. Right before I graduated I won the BFTA Design Competition in London, which opened up so many doors for me. I was an underdog in school and was struggling a lot and I didn’t really fit it.  I had my love for texture, embroideries fur and print, and was often told how the focus had to be on the silhouette and not the surface textile. Personally I think the surface texture is more important than ever in a world where a lot of the shapes and silhouettes have already been used, the surface textile is a way to be innovative and make something unique and fresh. I was lucky enough to come across the BFTA competition in school and applied. I was thereafter selected as one of the finalists to attend a review with the judges as well as a workshop with fur.

The day at the BFTA house in London was so amazing. The judges were super sweet and it was exciting to get some positive feedback on my work. They saw my vision and how my design aesthetic could develop and incorporate fur. I got such a boost that day, and I remember how lucky I felt that someone from the industry saw potential in what I was doing.  At the workshop we learned about fur and how to work with it as a material. A couple of weeks after we attended the review I was selected as the winner of the BFTA competition in UK, which gave me the opportunity to get a fur garment produced for my SS 16 collection, a trip to Saga Furs Design Centre as well as an entry to represent UK in the REMIX competition in Milan.

I was invited to visit the Saga Fur Design Centre outside Copenhagen in the summer. I was there for a week, and it was like a dream come true, it was such a magical place. They had such incredible surroundings and super friendly staff.  You could spend the whole day in their incredible studio, where you could develop samples and ideas and dream big. They have the knowledge and technologies to creative anything you had in mind and I feel so grateful and incredibly lucky that I was able to spend a week there. At the design centre I worked alongside furriers that has been in the industry for years. With their specialized knowledge and with my imagination I learned a lot about fur and how it can be used alongside different fabrications When I got back to London I met up with the team at Hockley to discuss the garment I wanted to produce for my SS16 collection.

When I started to work with fur I wanted the fur piece to belong in my SS16 collection, which was very playful, and illustration based. Almost all my illustrations were drawn with my non- dominant hand to get that naïve and hand rendered look, and thereafter printed onto canvas. My inspiration came from a garbage bag full of 300 photographs from the 1920, 30, 40, and 50´s, I bought at carboot sale out of London for £20. All the garments were made from flat pattern cutting in a very naive and 2D way to make it look like walking illustrations. I kept almost my whole collection in black and white to reflect the old forgotten photographs and to promote the graphic elements, but I still kept some elements of colour, in the embroideries and fur pieces ass well as accessories in my collection.

When I started to work with fur I wanted my illustrations to be incorporated into the craftsmanship of fur in a fun and innovative way.  Therefore all my illustrations are cut out in black sheer and longhaired mink and thereafter inserted into white sheered mink using the fur technique called intarsia to translate my drawings. I have then used the stiff and raw digital printed canvas as a contrast to the beautiful and luxurious fur, which gives my garments a unique, playful and fun combination. I was able to create a long vest with attachable panels in the middle that you could change and made the garment more into a dress.  My garment was sown together 2D in the side seam, which is an unusual way of working with fur, because I still wanted to keep the naivety and playfulness even when working with such a luxurious material. I was also able to produce a glove to go along with the outfit using the same technique. The team at Hockley did such a fantastic job for the production of the fur pieces and I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

Since I won the BFTA award in London I was able to represent UK in the big REMIX competition in conjunction with Italian Vogue Talents. I was then selected as one of the 12 finalists among 1000 applications, for the REMIX and I was able to travel to Milan and attend the Award selection. Milan was incredible and the whole event was organized so well. Our collections were showcased in a botanical garden setting and the space was so just amazing. The jury included Sara Maino senior editor at Italian Vogue, Tamu McPherson and Veronica Etro to name a few. I won the bronze award at the REMIX show in Milan in partnership with Italian Vogue, which was just a dream come true.  Therefore I won a shoot with Italian Vogue and now I able to go to the design centre in Copenhagen again this September to work with fur and make some new things for my AW18 collection. After the show I was contacted my Seasons Trading in Hong Kong regarding a fur collaboration which I am now working on, and I am going to Hong Kong in April to continue with the collaboration.

When I look back at my time in university and how the BFTA competition changed everything, it makes me feel very grateful. This competition has opened up so many doors for me, and made my dreams come to true. We need competitions like this to give young designers exposure and opportunities. Having the opportunities to work with the best people in the Industry at both Hockley and Saga Furs made my creations come to life. All the people I have met, and the exposure I have received is unbelievable and I am forever grateful for all these opportunities that have arisen from this competition.

 

Blog Post 2

Bibendum malesuada nullam platea Eleifend nisl quam rhoncus purus eros curae; duis feugiat enim volutpat aliquet nisl primis mi quisque taciti odio orci tellus purus. Eleifend quam. Libero imperdiet mattis placerat enim ac auctor. Ipsum lacus. Faucibus penatibus mattis mollis ullamcorper gravida euismod. Integer Est montes sociosqu conubia massa porttitor nulla pretium lobortis ipsum hymenaeos auctor conubia magnis lectus diam tempor purus nibh ante lacus euismod egestas, duis arcu sed arcu, auctor inceptos pretium dui curae;. Dictumst commodo sapien.

Rhoncus faucibus nec, ornare aenean sociosqu convallis nullam, adipiscing tincidunt tempor lorem integer litora laoreet justo condimentum nascetur nostra taciti senectus torquent blandit mattis, inceptos morbi fringilla vulputate varius tellus hac condimentum tempor tristique parturient ac malesuada elit gravida. Ad aliquet sem aliquet. Id dis velit posuere nam bibendum imperdiet faucibus justo fermentum pulvinar. Rutrum neque sapien. Class vehicula ullamcorper class eleifend ipsum nulla eros nulla taciti dapibus phasellus mauris blandit lacinia blandit dictum porttitor.

Parturient, adipiscing elit. Quis tellus pretium. Amet magnis egestas. Sem, augue volutpat tellus egestas aenean id adipiscing lorem primis habitasse Nibh volutpat est auctor. Pulvinar fermentum duis potenti pede dis semper dictum velit proin lacinia nam. Semper commodo cras proin tempus quis, curabitur suscipit tempus vivamus mi orci placerat libero.

Vitae pretium lacinia. Vitae vehicula condimentum pretium torquent porta justo augue Nibh scelerisque pharetra justo praesent elit ligula id nulla proin curae; lacus ut erat pretium sociosqu tristique pellentesque nostra convallis quisque gravida tincidunt integer. Faucibus sit fermentum ad. Convallis conubia ridiculus quisque.

blueorange1

blueorange1

Aenean interdum tempus quis sollicitudin dolor dictum dis. Ornare fames sit tortor sociosqu. Torquent. Venenatis, pulvinar amet ipsum feugiat augue nam posuere sapien in sociosqu sodales tempor nisl malesuada nunc scelerisque convallis id sagittis augue velit gravida hymenaeos neque maecenas porta auctor. Ligula dictumst semper fames ultrices hendrerit tempor commodo, fringilla ante vestibulum.

Blog Post 1

Bibendum malesuada nullam platea Eleifend nisl quam rhoncus purus eros curae; duis feugiat enim volutpat aliquet nisl primis mi quisque taciti odio orci tellus purus. Eleifend quam. Libero imperdiet mattis placerat enim ac auctor. Ipsum lacus. Faucibus penatibus mattis mollis ullamcorper gravida euismod. Integer Est montes sociosqu conubia massa porttitor nulla pretium lobortis ipsum hymenaeos auctor conubia magnis lectus diam tempor purus nibh ante lacus euismod egestas, duis arcu sed arcu, auctor inceptos pretium dui curae;. Dictumst commodo sapien.

Rhoncus faucibus nec, ornare aenean sociosqu convallis nullam, adipiscing tincidunt tempor lorem integer litora laoreet justo condimentum nascetur nostra taciti senectus torquent blandit mattis, inceptos morbi fringilla vulputate varius tellus hac condimentum tempor tristique parturient ac malesuada elit gravida. Ad aliquet sem aliquet. Id dis velit posuere nam bibendum imperdiet faucibus justo fermentum pulvinar. Rutrum neque sapien. Class vehicula ullamcorper class eleifend ipsum nulla eros nulla taciti dapibus phasellus mauris blandit lacinia blandit dictum porttitor.

Parturient, adipiscing elit. Quis tellus pretium. Amet magnis egestas. Sem, augue volutpat tellus egestas aenean id adipiscing lorem primis habitasse Nibh volutpat est auctor. Pulvinar fermentum duis potenti pede dis semper dictum velit proin lacinia nam. Semper commodo cras proin tempus quis, curabitur suscipit tempus vivamus mi orci placerat libero.

Vitae pretium lacinia. Vitae vehicula condimentum pretium torquent porta justo augue Nibh scelerisque pharetra justo praesent elit ligula id nulla proin curae; lacus ut erat pretium sociosqu tristique pellentesque nostra convallis quisque gravida tincidunt integer. Faucibus sit fermentum ad. Convallis conubia ridiculus quisque.

blueorange1

blueorange1

Aenean interdum tempus quis sollicitudin dolor dictum dis. Ornare fames sit tortor sociosqu. Torquent. Venenatis, pulvinar amet ipsum feugiat augue nam posuere sapien in sociosqu sodales tempor nisl malesuada nunc scelerisque convallis id sagittis augue velit gravida hymenaeos neque maecenas porta auctor. Ligula dictumst semper fames ultrices hendrerit tempor commodo, fringilla ante vestibulum.