PROJECT / FREEDOM PRISON WORKSHOP

I went back into prison for S/S14 where I was running a creative workshop with some of the inmates. This time I was working with about 10 guys who were all serving long sentences in Wandsworth prison. 
I decided to base the work on FREEDOM, something they of course are lacking massively. I was told to change to something else as it perhaps could be too sensitive a subject, but I am stubborn and decided to stick to it. Firstly the point being to challenge the guys, and secondly to communicate their stories. The guys were all up for getting involved and they produced some great drawings during the work shops, which they later translated into hand embroidery and prints for the collection. 

Thanks to everyone who took part!

Prison Production

A/W13 embroidery kits ready to be hand stitched by inmates in prisons all over England. Every stitcher is getting paid for his time and we support the charity Fine Cell Work financially, who are the people behind the training of the craft. 

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Prison Project

For A/W13 we have teamed up with the great charity Fine Cell Work for embroidery. They are a charity working with over 40 prisons in the UK. Fine Cell Work train around 400 prisoners each year in the craft of needlework. 75% of the stitchers are men. Some of these guys will be producing all the embroidery from UK based prisons for the upcoming collection.

KENTE -VENUMERSC, GHANA

The first trip to Ghana, where we are working closely together with local weavers. We work with a small family business called Venusmerc, located in Accra. Their traditional textile called Kente is an amazing craft, which is very time consuming to produce.

RECYCLED SILK

For AW12 we used a lot of old recycled silk which were carefully painted and treated in all possible ways, to allow it to be used in a new contemporary way for waterproof coats etc.