Hand Me Downs

Ethical clothing label Howies have launched a new clothing range called Hand Me Down. It comprises of a small collection of 'long life' garments including a jacket for men and women, and three types of bags – a backpack, messenger bag and a satchel.

Each item is guaranteed for 10 years from the purchase date but is expected to last a lot longer than that. The idea is also that you can hand it on to someone else when you are finished with it. As it is designed to have a future heritage value it may inspire you to treasure it more, adding to its emotional value. Your choice of recipient is likely to be careful selected, and its modern design (laptop pockets etc) mean that this is also a functional, practical item.

As most companies would prefer you to buy new goods from them rather than keeping something for a decade or more, this collection is somewhat an anomaly in the retail world.

Howies look upon it as good use of our limited resources. These items also have Slow Design connotations, as the materials and design have been chosen to have longevity – the organic ventile cotton is exceptionally tough, the location and environmental production values are taken into consideration - the tweed is produced in Scotland and dyed with woad, a natural dye with an indigo style colour to it and the zips, buckles etc designed to be rust-proof and long lasting. All part of Howie's desire to make people think about the world we live in, and, in my opinion, a good way to do it.

Digital Textile Design book published

TED member Melanie Bowles has co-authored a book called Digital Textile Design. The book provides the know-how for students and professionals who wish to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as design tools. There is a series of inspirational tutorials, presented in step-by-step format, to guide you through the process of creating designs that will be suited to both the traditional textile production process, and to the new industry of digital printing onto fabric.

The book also contains a designer profile on TED member Rebecca Earley, and several graduates of the textile course at Chelsea including Helen Amy Murray and Chae Young Kim.

'Cultural Collage' project second stage

The second stage of the Cultural Collage project took place at Chelsea recently. As mentioned in a previous post, the project is a collaborative one between designers at UTS in Sydney, Australia and Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. The first round involved all the groups choosing a plastic object and making some sort of 'design intervention'. These objects were then sent on, and we have just received the objects chosen by the Chilean designers.

The group had assempled in a room and the package sent from Chile was ceremoniously opened. The object that each designer chose by 'lucky dip' , is the one they now have to work on. Most of the objects seemed to be parts or forms from old shoes, either trainers or footbal shoes.

The designers have all taken their objects and will now go away and make another 'intervention' before it gets sent on to Australia.

TED member Chairs Jerwood Craft Prize 2009

TED member Rebecca Earley is the Chair of the Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize 2009. The Prize chooses a selection of contemporary makers and between them they are awarded £30,000 to make new work. This year, Earley has chosen IMPACT as the theme for the Prize.

"Whether they develop and negotiate international industrial resources or work with both the amateur enthusiast and the brilliant scientists, they all create extraordinary things in radical ways."

The work will include a new collection from product designers Committee which imagines a future where plastic has become a rare material; a site-specific wall of interactive tiles from textile designer Linda Florence and glass work from Geoffrey Mann, who mixes new technologies like CAD modelling and rapid prototyping with hand craftmanship.

The exhibition launches at the Jerwood Space on June 10th and there will also be a series of talks and panel discussions led by Rebecca Earley. For more information see Jerwood Contemporary Makers.