Our CEO attended Highgrove House to celebrate British craft and heritage
Image shows His Majesty the King meeting attendees of the Highgrove House event.
Story by Tamara Cincik
On Friday I was invited to the King's Foundation Celebrating Craft at Highgrove House in Tetbury, for a Christmas event in the presence of His Majesty the King. The King's Foundation is a charity launched by the King as a vehicle to train the next generation of skilled craftspeople – including in fashion and textiles – in heritage techniques valuable to many traditional UK industries.
Highgrove, alongside Dumfries House, is where the King's Foundation host their residential training courses in craft and creative practice. In terms of fashion they partner with Chanel on an intensive 6 month residential course based primarily at Highgrove for post graduates, currently specialising in embroidery. In an era when AI and digitisation is forecast to eat up so many job opportunities, it is clear to me that critical creative thinking and highly skilled craft based work will be more covetable and long lasting. Therefore by focusing on hand made craft specialist skills, the work of the King's Foundation is shining a light on the role of specialism in career development and valuing heritage craft skills for not only the beauty they create, but also the job opportunities they offer.
In their words:
"This specialist postgraduate-level programme will provide students with intensive training opportunities in the field of Embroidery for Haute Couture and the Luxury Fashion Industry – essential for successful progression into the industry. The Fellowship takes place at The CHANEL Métiers d’art Training Atelier at Highgrove, and over two separate weeks at Le19M in Paris. Teaching is delivered by artisans and highly skilled tutors, with mentorship and guidance by Creative Directors from Maisons d’art such as Lesage, Atelier Montex and Lemarié. Throughout the programme there are opportunities for students to expand their creative process and presentation skills through contextual studies, lectures, presentations and critiques. Only six students are selected each year and awarded bursaries to help towards the cost of living. This practice-based learning encourages creativity, builds skill-confidence and prepares recent graduates to become artisan embroiderers of the future."
After seeing the training centre and meeting students across embroidery, where Bath Spa alumna Jamila Ives is Curriculum Coordinator for Textiles, and showed me the most beautiful pieces of work by their embroidery students, I saw blacksmithing, and where the carpentry students train at the Showdon School of Design. These carpenters were creating the most beautifully redesigned Windsor chairs as one of their projects, and again showed an exemplary level of design acumen and critical creative thinking.
Walking past carol singers, I was then ushered into a room to meet with HM the King where alongside guests, there were other projects supported by the King's Foundation on show, such as knitting and a fantastic upcycling initiative where curtains from Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace have been upcycled by students of The King’s Foundation into seven one-off fashion pieces that are currently being auctioned online, alongside other collectibles and unique experiences to raise money for the charity. Each garment took 8 - 10 hours and was tailored by hand at their Dumfries House headquarters. To find out more, or to place a bid before the auction closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 13 December 2023, visit https://tinyurl.com/KFAuction2023
The King was very interested in the work we do at Fashion Roundtable in promoting fibre sovereignty, heritage skills and regenerative practice. Not only was it obviously an honour to meet him and to share the work I do, it was also fantastic to meet like minded people with expertise across design, craft and creativity, all with a shared belief in valuing our heritage and supporting the educational opportunities for future generations.
Chanel took over Manchester last week for its annual Métiers d’Art event
Last week, Chanel took over the Northern city of Manchester, for its annual catwalk – Métiers d’Art event — which is dedicated to the brand’s community of artisans. The outdoor show was staged in the Northern Quarter.
The Métiers d’Art event shines a spotlight on the artisans and craftspeople involved and showcases the hours of work and dedication from these highly skilled individuals.
Of the collection Chanel wrote:
“A TESTIMONY TO THE ARTISANAL PRECISION OF THE MÉTIERS D’ART, THE COLLECTION SHIMMERS AND SHINES WITH PLAYFUL NODS TO BRITISH MUSIC CULTURE AND CHANEL'S ART OF TAILORING. CONTRASTING AUTUMNAL AND VIVID COLOURS, ENCRUSTED TEXTURES, PURE SILHOUETTES AND CAREFREE ATTITUDES INVOKE A SOFT YET AUDACIOUS FEMININITY.”
At the collection’s core is a visceral connection to British music culture and with Manchester’s rich musical history (think Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses) the location makes sense, but broaches a larger question of whether other luxury fashion houses will follow suit and explore locations outside of London for future shows?
The Environmental Audit Committee launches: Environmental change and food security report
The Environmental Audit Committee launched their inquiry in November 2022 with terms of reference spanning the projected effects of environmental change on food security; the UK’s readiness; and securing a sustainable food supply. Nearly sixty organisations and individuals contributed written submissions and they held five oral evidence sessions, hearing from academics, food producers, retailers, and current and former independent advisers to the Government including the Climate Change Committee and Henry Dimbleby, founder of the food chain Leon and author of the recent independent review into the UK food system.
Co-legislators have reach a provisional agreement on the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation
Last week co-legislators finally reached a provisional agreement on the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
The new proposal, presented by the Commission on 30th March 2022, builds on the existing Ecodesign Directive, but propose new requirements such as product durability, reusability, upgradability, and reparability, presence of substances that inhibit circularity; energy and resource efficiency; recycled content, remanufacturing, and recycling; carbon and environmental footprints and information requirements, including a Digital Product Passport.
This "Digital Product Passport" will provide information about products' environmental sustainability. It will help consumers and businesses to make informed choices when purchasing products and help public authorities to better perform checks and controls. The proposal also establishes provisions regarding transparency and prevention of destruction of unsold consumer products.
The General approach introduces a direct-ban on the destruction of textiles and footwear. Small and micro companies will be exempted of this ban, while medium size companies will benefit of a 6-year exemption.
The Commission will also be empowered to introduce new bans for to the destruction of other unsold products by delegated acts.
Job opportunities at Oxfam
Oxfam has two new open roles available.
The first is for a Private Sector Senior Advisor in Finance. They are looking for an expert to lead their engagement with private sector actors in finance. This role will help deliver their Climate Justice Strategy. More here.
The second is for a Private Sector Senior Advisor. The focus of this role is to advance their aims on business and human rights. The candidate must engage with key stakeholders in multiple sectors including food, agriculture, and apparel industry. Develop comprehensive strategies for corporate lobbying and secure industry support for climate justice and gender justice; by utilising their experience in lobbying, corporate engagement, and business & human rights. More here.
TAMARA CINCIK in conversation with #20 CHARLIE PORTER
This is a headshot image of Charlie Porter. Charlie wears glasses and a bright red shirt with white tiles in the background. Credit: Richard Porter.
For this episode of the Front Row to Front Bench podcast, Tamara Cincik speaks with writer, fashion critic and curator Charlie Porter about his new book, ‘Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion’ published by Penguin Random House.
Charlie is one of the most influential fashion journalists of his time, and has written for the likes of the Guardian and iD magazine, as well as co-running the London queer rave Chapter 10.
The book, rather wonderfully, uses clothing as a way to look at six iconic Bloomsbury figures, while seamlessly addressing the evolution of how we dress today. This leads on to the fact that clothing can be an intellectual and sexual liberation, or conversely an instrument for patriarchal power.
The book came about after Charlie was asked to curate an exhibition called ‘Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion,’ at Charleston in Lewes. Through the inaugural exhibition Charlie explored the dynamic relationship between the Bloomsbury group. Here, clothing provided a route into learning more about the key figures in the Bloomsbury group and how, for some, fashion provided a language with which to explore their break away from tradition. This ultimately fed into the process of researching and writing his book.
The conversation centres around the beginnings of the Bloomsbury group, who were at the vanguard of a social and sartorial revolution. Virgina Woolfe and her sister Vanessa Bell escaped to Bloomsbury from an oppressive and abusive upbringing, rejecting the fashions of the time for something new and this is unpicked.
To learn more about Charlie’s amazing work or to buy the book, click below:
Buy the book here
Follow Charlie Porter here
Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion: Exhibition details here
Book tickets to visit Charleston House here
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