The Knitting and Stitching Show 2012

  I was lucky enough to be selected for the UK Hand-knitting awards which enabled me to exhibit in AllyPally! I had a lovely week meeting the other finalists and knitting enthusiasts...and we'll find out who won in a few weeks in Harrogate.

 

                              

http://www.ukhandknitting.com/KTA_showcase_2012.php

Photo's from Rainbow Valley Crochet

Website

http://www.megan-sharkey.com

Knitwear- Megan Sharkey

Photography- Luke Sampson

Model- Daisy

Motoi Yamamoto

I have just discovered the work of Motoi Yamamoto who makes the most incredible sculptures out of salt. His work is delicate and intricate, forming masses of patterns out of a medium which is so common. What I like about the idea of using salt is the lack of permanence it ensures; it instantly gives the work a transience and a connection to the time and place it was made. Yamamoto states that the salt sculptures began after his sisters death from brain cancer, and was his way of exploring complicated patters like that of the brain, the salt is relevant as it is used in traditional death customs in Japan.

Forest of Beyond, July 2011

All images from Motoi Yamamoto's website.

LFW Knits! AW12

From top- SISTER by Sibling (from dazeddigital.com), Mark Fast (from Vogue.com), Simone Rocha,  Fred Butler (both from dazed), Derek Lawlor (dereklawlor.com), James Long Womenswear (dazed), Eleanor Amoroso (eleanoramoroso.com).

Narelle Dore

Women at Sitting Rock 2011

The Glazy Days of Sun Rays 2010

Narelle Dore is an Antwerp based designer who seems to follow the beat of her own drum, which I find is a good quality to have! Her 2011 collection (she doesn't work seasonally) plays with macrame and crochet to build up feminine and unusual outfits. From the pictures of her 2010 collection you can see that she isn't afraid to cross the boundaries between fashion and performance/ art. Her blog project Coated Arms is an artistic collaboration which explores the colour spectrum, month by month and is an amazing colour recourse- extreme colour library which any textiles student would be proud of. I am interested to see how Dore's artisinal collections develop and what characters emerge from her work.
http://www.narelledore.com/

Paris

Leutton Postle

 

Leutton Postle are a knitwear duo who debuted at LFW in September. Their collection consists of layers of knit, crochet and fringing. They are unlike anyone else I can think of showing in London at the moment and I love the way that the outfits look as though they have been designed by children's scribbles! I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next....

www.leuttonpostle.com

top images from fashion156

bottom 4 images from fashion daydreams

Susana Bettencourt

A/W 2011

S/S12

Susana Bettencourt is a new knitwear designer, who graduated from CSM a few years ago, and is already gaining a following for her designs which fuse technology with traditional crafts. Her design ethos is so similar to mine that it is a bit scary, and I have never seen anyone use the techniques that she has used so successfully (the techniques which I am trying to perfect). For her S/S 12 collection she seems to have expanded away from the black and gold to use geometric patterns and shapes which move away from the mini-dress, which i feel is a good thing. 

www.susanabettencourt.com

work

one of my photo's for the project. I like the hazy-ness and the colours melting through.

Brooklyn Pigeon Project

I have become interested in digital mapping and the possibilities of new cartography. I find it really interesting how people are creating graphics from intangible things, such as the internet, and trying to make visuals which reflect how we live.

One of my favourite examples of digital mapping is the Brooklyn Pigeon Project, by Aranda/Lasch. They attached GPS devices and cameras to pigeons to capture their movements.

I don't know why I like these so much, I think it is because it is a bit silly, but quite fascinating. I'm particularly drawn to the photo's, a proper pigeon's eye view!

Dis-connected

Some inspiration for my final year project...

For this project I was interested in exploring how today's society is a series of networks, where everyone is connected but there is less and less human interaction. Within my knit this translates to a mixture of translucent, complex, futuristic looking knits mixed with traditional handcraft techniques.

(Images from top: Stuart Franklin- Kennedy Airport, from a book of Magnum landscapes. couture lace by givenchy (i think) in vogue (i think)-i will check. Work by the artist Gego, from a book called 'Thinking the line'. From Dazed and Confused Vol II/96 by Anthony Maule. unknown artist. image from patternity. Lucy Orta's 'Nexus Architecture'. Ben Farnsworth from a CSM Architecture Postcard)