Calling all future design innovators!

Are you a textile or fashion design student or recent graduate who is interested in the exciting ideas being explored around sustainability and innovation within textiles and fashion?

TED PhD student Jen Ballie is organising the first in a series of workshops exploring co-design for textile and fashion design and she needs some participants.

If you were born between 1977 and 1997 (Generation Y!), are familiar with the latest digital tools such as Twitter, blogging and Facebook and you are available from February 7th - 18th in central London, then Jen would like to hear from you.

The selected participants will be invited to a design meeting where the project will be pitched and they will play an active role in defining the overall brief. You will leave with a goodie bag of design tools, tips and tricks to get started on your design research and development. The following week we will meet again and get to work collectively designing a collection of fashion fabrics and accessories.

This is an exciting opportunity for you to participate in a live research project and play an active role in defining new design approaches, and an excellent CV opportunity!

Visit http://thetextilesampler.blogspot.com/ for updates and further information.

The work that comes out of the Textile Futures MA course over at Central St Martins is always surprising and original and it consistently pushes the boundaries of the role that textile design plays in society. The Interim Show was last night and the work on show was no exception.

Projects explored ideas as diverse as the value of air as a material and tool, the role of superstition in our use of technology and the role of textiles in expressing our unconscious minds.

Laura Martinez 's project was titled 'How can traditional textile craft inform the aesthetics of tomorrow's rapid-manufactured textiles?'. Small pieces of 3D printing had been hand crafted into beautifully, jewellery-like pieces.

Hyun Jin Jeong explored natural dyeing, with a twist. She could not get access to many plants over the winter season so instead she turned to soil, or 'earth dyeing'. She compared the soil and resulting dye colours of the soils from both her native South Korea and from parts of the UK, testing the colours by dyeing fabric and also hand printing with the dyes.

CCW Design Lecture Series

Chelsea is now part of CCW (Chelsea/Camberwell/Wimbledon) and there is a new Design Lecture Series launched this month, with some well-known names from the design and craft world.

The first lecture is Glenn Adamson, titled 'Effective Objects: Design and the Re-Invention of Craft', on Monday 31st January at Chelsea Lecture Theatre. Adamson is Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies at the V & A Museum, where he leads a graduate prgramme in the History of Design. Adamson is also the author of Thinking Through Craft (2007).

The next lecture on Monday 7th February, will be by Yuko Kikuchi, CCW Reader, who's work focuses on modern design and crafts in East Asia.

Finally, on 21st March Tomoko Azumi will talk about her work as a designer and founder of t.n.a Design Studio. Azumi is also involved with design project TEN, which involves ten designers who work each year on a sustainable design challenge, using limited or found resources.

All the lectures are free and open to the general public. They all start at 6pm, in the Chelsea Lecture Theatre, entrance via Atterbury Street. For more information contact: y.kikuchi@chelsea.arts.ac.uk

Becky Earley will be talking about her use of digital technology within her textile practice, at Metropolitan Works next Wednesday 12th January.

Metropolitan Works offer a whole host of digtal technologies including digital printing, 3D printing, laser and water jet cutting. The event will also include a tour of these facilities.

The event is free and you need to book here.