Designs on being different

Nov 20 2008 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Their designs offer the wearer the chance to be different, to buy cutting edge fashion or statement pieces that they, quite literally, won’t be able to get anywhere else ...

‘Producing the sort of individual clothes and jewellery only sold by the smaller independent retailers’

An exhibition of original art and one-off fashion and jewellery designs by resident artists and designers at Bates Mill Artspace in Huddersfield is being launched on Friday, November 28. HILARIE STELFOX previews the show

THE high streets are awash with mass-produced fashion of the buy-today, throw-away-tomorrow variety.

But at Bates Mill Artspace in Queen Street South the young designers who rent studios are producing the sort of individual clothes and jewellery only sold by the smaller independent retailers.

Their designs offer the wearer the chance to be different, to buy cutting-edge fashion or statement pieces that they, quite literally, won’t be able to get anywhere else.

On Saturday, November 29 the studios and workshops will be open to the public for their first-ever joint exhibition. giving visitors the opportunity to see how and where it’s made.

Artspace Uncut will feature the work of jewellery designers Heather Shaw and Maria Lau; fashion by Ruth Walker’s Snood label and Lucy Bennett’s Roc and Doll; art and sculpture by resident artists Caroline Uff, Jane C Crewe, Annie Beech, Alice Bradshaw and Alison Edmonds, as well as the creations of puppeteer Beka Haigh.

Five visiting artists will also be exhibiting work.

The weekend has been organised by Heather Shaw, who studied textiles at university but went on to become a jewellery designer. She creates collections based on a blend of new and reclaimed materials.

“We thought it would be a good idea to have our own exhibition before Christmas to coincide with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Bates Mill is a venue for parts of the festival,” she explained.

Heather is one of two jewellery designers in the mill, which has two floors of artists’ studios, bringing together 18 arts and crafts designers.

Many of them studied at Huddersfield University before launching their own small businesses.

Artspace provides them with low-cost start-up studio space and an opportunity to meet other creative people.

Maria Lau has made a name for herself with her unconventional fashion jewellery, which sells at The Fashion Textile Museum in London.

Her most recent collection, using her own name, features pieces made from skin-tone tights with metallic minerals.

Her M Label collection is made from semi-precious stones, metals and vintage materials and sold in small boutiques, such as Meem and Pixie in Huddersfield.

Lucy Bennett is the designer behind Roc and Doll. She is a fashion design graduate of Huddersfield University and her label has taken off in the past year.

She now has 14 outlets throughout Yorkshire and in London. The structured, tailored garments, with her trademark sculptured style, are stocked by Kitten Heels in Huddersfield and range in price from £60 to over £200.

Snood is the environmentally-friendly knitwear label launched by Ruth Walker after she completed her textile design degree in Huddersfield.

She wanted an ethical business and now recycles woollen garments by deconstructing them to create new designs. Ruth sells via her website and from The Left Bank, Byram Arcade.

The preview evening on Friday, November 28, runs from 6pm until 9pm. The display is open from 11am until 6pm on the Saturday and 10 am until 4pm on the Sunday. For more details visit www.marialau.co.uk, www.rocanddoll.co.uk, www.heathershaw.co.uk and www.snoodknitwear.com