Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Skirt: project with the Roma Support Group


The Roma Support Group is based in Newham
Exciting to be starting a project with the Roma Support Group looking at the long skirts worn by many Roma women.
We're at the initial brainstorming stage at the moment. The aim of the project will be to increase understanding and break down prejudice.
As with other projects that we've done around dress and  fabric -  issues of identity and cultural heritage will take centre stage.
“The origin of the word ‘cloth’ probably comes from the root ‘kil-‘, to stick or cling to, which makes cloth ‘that which clings to the body or that which is pressed or ‘felted together’. The idea of cloth as a second skin is thus intrinsic to its meaning.” Soft Logics and Material Worlds (2009), Pennina Barnett



Thursday, 24 October 2013

Shilpa Rajan catwalk show....

The catwalk at Cottrell House, Wembley, poised and ready for Shilpa Rajan's Spring Summer 2014 collections unveiled tonight ....http://www.houseofbilimoria.com/
All soon for sale on her website -

So brilliant to see this: Shilpa was one of the winners of the British Sari Story 2007 and has gone from strength to strength.  See more of Shilpa's lovely clothes here....


Saturday, 19 October 2013

House of Bilimoria - spring/summer 2014 collections

Looking forward to next Thursday (24th October) when Shilpa Rajan will be unveiling Spring/Summer 2014 collections for her House of Bilimoria label.  At Cottrell House, 53-63 Wembley Hill Road, HA9 8BU on  from 7.30pm - email Shilpa for more information.

Shilpa, who is the designer and founder of House of Bilimoria, was one of ten winners of the British Sari Story - the 2007 Bridging Arts project which marked the 60th year of Indian independence by seeking British Asian patterns for the sari.  Shilpa's vibrant print of mangoes (left) was inspired by market sellers on Ealing Road, Wembley.

Click here for more about Shilpa. Click here for a gallery of the exhibition, featured in the Guardian.

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo: a portrait of two towns by Monica Alcazar

Good to have an update from Monica Alcazar about her photography project in Mexico - Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo- Double Vision.  Monica produced films of our project Stitch in Harrow - interviewing the Royal School of Needlework tutor Rosa Martyn, who was working with us, and also women creating embroidery.

Monica's work in Mexico looks at two small neighbouring towns on a stretch of coastline in the state of Guerroro - Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. Though close, they are worlds apart - separated by what Monica describes as an 'Upstairs-Downstairs' relationship. Ixtapa is the ritzy resort town; Zihuatanejo is where the workers live. Some examples of Monica's photos giving a glimpse of the different life styles are up on her blog. The rest will be on display at an exhibition in 2014.

Funding for this was raised via KickStart - a great way to generate interest as well as financial backing. If you want to support the project, you have the choice of donating at different levels. At each level, you are offered various incentives. Wish I could have afforded £200 - as in return for that you get a real bumper offering in exchange:

"An A3 (approx. 12x16 inch.) Giclee print on Hahnemuhle 310gsm paper from the project. You choose from a special set of ten images. A credit on the book. An invitation to the private view of the exhibition in London in 2014. My grandma's personal recipe for guacamole. And a lifetime credit in the exhibitions of the project. PLUS: A huge thank you from me, the Double Vision blog, the screensaver and the postcards."

Very tempted by the idea of the guacamole recipe....

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