CIC BTB21 - Making Matters x Levi's Digital with British Council
Monday 25th October 2021 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM
Blackburn Cathedral, Cathedral Close, BB1 5AA
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This Conversations in Creativity Talk for British Textile Biennial features Amber Butchart and guests from British Council, Levis, Envisions, Store Projects and more.
Creative Lancashire is collaborating with Amber Butchart to present a series of Conversations in Creativity talks to further explore the themes responded to by artists & makers contributing to the British Textile Biennial programme.
Earlier this year Levi’s with British Council invited interdisciplinary designers and artists to submit creative proposals for reimagining Levi’s post-consumer materials as part of the Levi’s by Levi’s initiative and British Council Making Matters programme.
Exploring circular design and material transformation, the digital residency also has a focus on exploring the social and cultural values that underpin different geographical relationships with textiles around the world.
This session will be an opportunity to meet the international collective selected to collaborate digitally with a UK-based practice for the duration of the residency and hear more from those connected to the project.
The panel will be hosted by Amber Butchart and will also include contributions from experts and practitioners to share exciting and innovative ideas for a more sustainable production.
The panel discussion is being present in two parts . The first part features Temar Biratu (Levis), Hannah Robinson (British Council), Frederik Deschuytter (Envisions) & Theo Tan (Designer & Lecturer). The second part of the event features a discussion with Justine Aldersey-Williams (North West England Fibreshed) and Pammi Sinha (University of Leeds).
Conversations in Creativity is Creative Lancashire’s series of talks and insightful interviews, where creatives from across the disciplines explore how inspiration, often from around the world, informs process.
Booking Info:
Free to attend, but registration essential.
About the Participants:
Amber Butchart is a fashion historian, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the cultural and political history of textiles and dress. She is a former Research Fellow at the University of the Arts London, and is a regular public lecturer across the UK’s leading arts institutions. She researches and presents documentaries for television and radio, including the six-part series A Stitch in Time for BBC Four that fused biography, art and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore. Amber is an external adviser for the National Crime Agency as a Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles. She has published five books on the history and culture of clothes, including The Fashion of Film, Nautical Chic, and a history of British fashion illustration for the British Library.
Hannah Robinson is an Architecture Design Fashion Programme Manager at British Council.
She joined British Council in 2018 to curate, programme and commission international projects across the disciplines of architecture, design and fashion. She is developing global programmes focused on sustainable fashion, new materials, designer incubation and circular economy. Over this time, Hannah has developed multiple creative collaborations with organisations including Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Ma-tt-er, Fashion Revolution and Design Museum.
Hannah has a background in Design Futures, previously consulting for Impossible, a design & innovation group focused on planet-centric design as well as leading a multidisciplinary team during her position as Art Director of The Future Laboratory.
Justine Aldersey-Williams is a textile artisan and teacher specialising in botanical fabric dyeing. In 2017, she launched a comprehensive online training in natural dyeing which has since reached 2000+ students in over 40 countries and she is a visiting lecturer delivering my her curriculum, ‘Make it Sacred: Regenerating Fashion with Natural Dyes’. Justine is the founder and Regional Coordinator of North West England Fibreshed, advocating for the reintroduction of bioregional textile crops and is one of three partner organisations on the ‘Homegrown Homespun’ flax and woad growing project in collaboration with the British Textile Biennial and social enterprise Community Clothing.
naturalfabricdyeing.com northwestenglandfibreshed.org
Pammi Sinha is an Associate Professor in Fashion Management at the University of Leeds. Having trained as a fashion designer, her PhD examined the fashion design process across the UK women's wear sector. This research led her to teach strategic fashion design management in various forms at the universities of Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds, across undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Textile Institute, she has been an external examiner and advisor for various institutes at BA, MA, MBA and PhD levels. She has advised on fashion & textiles design and training issues for the Creative Industries Development Services/Manchester City Council, Tanzania Gatsby Trust (part of Sainsburys Charitable Foundation) and UK Govt/DEFRA (for their Sustainable Clothing Roadmap initiative). Her volunteering encompasses reviewing funding proposals for grant funding bodies, being a trustee at Swarthmore Education Centre and helping develop marketing plans for a local small charity’s fashion range.
Temar Biratu is a Senior Marketing Manager at Levi Strauss & Co. Based in Amsterdam, she’s been with the company for just over 6 years and is currently leading Public Relations, Collaborations and Social Media for the brands North European Cluster. Her work focusses on amplifying the brand, product platforms and values-based initiatives. She’s responsible for developing key marketing initiatives and partnerships to drive the brands growth while making a positive social impact. Before joining Levi Strauss &Co., Temar worked in the advertising world for brands operating in the US, Europe and Internationally.
Theo Tan is a London based designer and an associate of Store Projects. The majority of his practice deals with understanding traditional craft techniques to the point at which he is able to mis-use and reappropriate them. These investigations range from leathercraft, ceramics, precious metals amongst others. The projects being pushed further with the use of computer aided design and manufacture. Digital techniques feature in his work through both input (scanning spatial data) and output (CNC).
