Inspiration for a textile print design can come from anywhere and Melanie Bowles' latest idea for her bespoke print design service came from the humblest of materials - cardboard. Working with the owners of new interiors boutique Circus, in Brixton Market, Mel was inspired to make a new print from the cardboard that has been used to construct the whole interior of the new boutique.

The fabric was then made up into a simple apron-style skirt and is being worn by the owners of the boutique.

The Wallpaper Dress project

TED member Mel Bowles has been working on a very interesting collaborative design project exploring themes of customisation, emotional attachment and local design/production.

In The Wallpaper Dress, Mel has worked with collaborator Sarah Dennis, who had found a sample of old block-printed wallpaper at a car boot sale. Mel scanned the sample and put the design into repeat using Photoshop, which she then digitally printed onto cloth here at Chelsea on our Mimaki printer. The fabric was then made up into a simple vintage-inspired dress and some of the motifs were hand-embroidered to add a handmade element. The entire process took place in an area of 4.5 miles in South London and utilised local skills and services.

The process enabled Sarah to be part of the entire journey from the initial discovery of the print, to the reworking, printing, and making of the garment. This a wonderful example of a co-design fashion production process where the customer and designer work together on making a garment that the customer will truly value and cherish.

Digital hands project

Several members from TED are currently involved in a new project trying to link craft and technology in textile production in India, called Digital Hands. Clara Vuletich wrote a TED postcard from their initial trip to India in November, where partners were found to work on the project.

One partner is Bodhi, a block print company from Gujurat, run by the inspirational Mala and Pradeep, a couple who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of traditional print processes for saris. Mala designs her own patterns for saris and other garments and the designs are hand carved into wood blocks and then hand printed on the long print tables in the factory. Sari fabrics are also dyed in the factory and then printed on.

All the water from the factory is sent through a closed-loop water filtration system developed by Pradeep. Once the water has been cleaned it would only need the addition of chlorine to make it drinkable. This filtered water is then re-used and because they also save gallons of rainwater in their large water tanks during the monsoon, they rarely need to turn on the tap.

This is amazing considering that they are using synthetic dyes and also considering the vast amounts of water that are used for block and silk-screen printing and for dyeing of fabric. It also interesting that they have chosen not to use natural dyes. They believe that natural dyes do not work reliably at this scale of production and that there is a lack of consistency in the colour. However, if the water is able to be filtered through a closed loop system like this, and the performance of the synthetic dyes meets their requirements, it makes the use of natural dyes seem redundant, which is controversial to say the least.

For more images of the Bodhi factory see the TED Flikr site and more updates on the project will follow on this blog.

TED goes to China

TED member Professor Kay Politowicz was in China last week presenting a paper at 'Design for Tomorrow's Customers Today: ', a conference organised by Creative Connexions, who aim to promote the benefits of using the UK's creative talent to China.

Co-written with Rebecca Earley, the presentation was titled Sustainability and Enterprise:Testing the Theories with Design and explores several 'sustainability design stories' that TED has developed.