Have been moving into more freelance design work while still making bespoke bag orders, hence a long time since posting. I couldn't resist posting about this one:
Goldsmiths BA (Hons) Design graduate Hefin, from Cardigan in Wales, created a space suit made by Welsh craftsmen from materials sourced in Wales.
A plumber has built a pressure system for the spacesuit, a traditional clog maker has made space clogs, and the last remaining wool mills in Wales have provided material for the space suit.
Hefin explains: "The Welsh Space Campaign (WSC) launches ordinary Welsh people into outer space, by finding a cosmic context for Welsh culture, skills and traditions. I aim to reveal that Wales has the capacity to explore space, and to show that off-world culturalisation can be achieved through a collective communitarian effort; as a way to allow the people involved to reconsider their role and skill in relation to these cosmic contexts."
The piece will be exhibited in the Constance Howard Gallery at Goldsmiths from 24 September - 24 October, after which it will become part of the Welsh National Museum Archive.
The Christine Risley Award is a cash prize awarded by the Goldsmiths Textile Collection & Constance Howard Gallery to a graduating Goldsmiths student for outstanding work relating to textiles, in memory of Christine Risley.
As a textile artist, Christine Risley (1926-2003) was a key member of Constance Howard's remarkable and innovative department of textiles. In the 1960s Christine pioneered the teaching of machine embroidery and established one of the most exciting courses of the period. A great teacher, and writer on the subject, she encouraged her students to be adventurous in both work and life.
Christine retired in 1990 and died in 2003, and her special collection of clothes helped to fund acquisitions for the Goldsmiths Textile Collection. Each year, an outstanding Goldsmiths graduate working with the medium of textiles is awarded a prize in her memory.
