Warp + Weft: from handloom to production

From the great Northern cotton mills with their rows upon rows of noisy power looms, to the Harris Tweed home weavers in Scotland, the silk weavers of Spitalfields and the modest water-powered Welsh mills making flannels and blankets for the local market, the weaving of cloth is a key part of the British cultural and industrial heritage.

In recent decades the textile industry in Britain has depleted dramatically. Higher salary expectations in the UK coupled with the overwhelming competition from cheap overseas imports meant that many mills just couldn’t survive in the cut-throat contemporary marketplace.

Nevertheless, the resilient have survived by embracing new ways of working and responding to new markets. Niche areas such as technical textiles or luxury fabrics for fashion or furnishings have given British mills a key competitive advantage where quality is paramount and price point is less of an issue.

One such market is the production of short runs for a new generation of entrepreneurial textile designers who have developed their practice from hand weaving into the batch production of luxury woven goods. The eight textile designers featured in this long overdue celebratory exhibition have all cultivated close working relationships with forward-thinking mills to commercially produce their designs that are rooted in a craft tradition. Mutually informative, these craft-industry relationships have been rewarding for all concerned both in terms of business development and in extending practical knowledge.

Throughout the exhibition these dynamic dialogues are self evident by virtue of the successful production of these extraordinary woven fabrics, each demonstrating intelligent approaches to yarn, construction, colour and finishing techniques. Alongside the garments, interior accessories and fabric meterage on show, you have the rare treat of viewing the usually unseen hand woven samples that mark the beginning of the design and production process.

Exhibitors: Eleanor Pritchard, Donna Wilson for SCP, Wallace Sewell, Margo Selby, Tim Parry Williams, Cefyn Burgess, Dashing Tweeds and Fran White, The Linen Shop.