Research: Liberty’s

Research: incredible talk at Liberty’s which got me re inspired. Something I’ve spent years learning and discovering about is the importance of fabrics. The fabrics hold a true key to the design process, it makes the structure, holds the colour, print, texture, it creates the movement, informs on possibilities of creation. The fabric is the true setting stone to design, seeing a place that loves and cherishes high quality fabric and has continued to do so for centuries really sets the standards of what our fabrics should be.

I loved seeing the furniture and rugs, rugs have inspired my yarns and patterns in the past, I think there is something really sacred about owning something that can last longer than your own lifetime, furniture is really designed to do this. It got me thinking. I realised in the past textiles for furniture and clothing were not too dissimilar, the quality was high, the techniques the same, only difference is the trends. Over time we have seen clothing fabric RAPIDLY decrease in quality to cater for a capitalist ideal of fast moving trends and fast selling product. Whilst in furniture, the decline in quality of fabrics used hasn’t been too drastic. For good furniture, we buy what will last us a lifetime, as usually it will be used every day for the rest of our lives. Why isn’t that mindset the same with clothes. Why are we not as a society buying what will last us a lifetime. Studies have shown that garments have an average life cycle of around 4-6 years (see graph) and it can be completely dependant on many factors. This is something i must consider in my design and structure if I really want to encourage people to be buying for longevity.

Durability is not at the forefront. I have collected old curtains from charity shops for years and intend on using them for my initial test collection.