I graduated  in 2010 with a BA Hons in 'Applied Creative Design' having spent five years exploring knitted fabric construction using both domestic and industrial knitting machines. My approach has always been highly innovative, seeking out unusual yarns and fibres for my experimentation. Sampling using wire, bamboo, hemp, steel and soluble yarn has led to an extensive portfolio during this time.

I am continually driven to explore the versatility of knit, both for interiors and fashion and seek out yarns from a range of sources around the country. I recently discovered a supply of surplus yarns direct from a woollen mill in Scotland that uses luxury silk, cashmere and rare ‘escorial’ yarn to manufacture cloth for leading fashion houses in the world. Like cashmere, escorial is a premium fibre in the luxury textile market, much sort after, creating a soft and feather-light fabric.

I have been using these very fine wool and silk yarns to create a range of contemporary knitted ties, samples for which I received a commendation  at the Bradford Textile Society’s annual design competition this year. Further development has led to a sophisticated range of knitted ties, using a fine 2/60nm Italian silk and 2/48nm wool, blending 2 or 3 ends together at one time. However, to really explore the true individual properties of these yarns, a fine guage industrial machine, like the 10 guage Dubied is preferable and that is what I hope to do using the facilities provided by this scheme at Hull School of Art.

Over the past three years I have won three commendations at the Bradford Textile Society’s annual design competition and have exhibited knitwear collections at both Hull School of Art and Bradford School of Art’s degree shows, as well as New Designers, Islington.