BA (Hons) Textiles & Surface Design alumni Jaime Curá will be featured alongside six Green Grads as a part of a the eye-opening Crucial Trade Talking Textiles Exhibition in the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour this February from 25/02/25 to 28/05/25!

Green Grads is a platform for new UK graduates “with ideas to heal the planet.” For this revealing show, six graduates have been carefully chosen for their common commitment to sustainable design and production, spotlighting natural fibres, dyes and biomaterials, with ways to cut waste, water and energy, plus other innovative eco-friendly techniques. Find projects by assured new professionals at the very cutting edge of textiles today.

Green Grads, the successful brainchild of renowned journalist and photographer Barbara Chandler, is now in its fourth year, supporting graduates whose final projects have in some way addressed a wide range of eco-issues. Graduates taking part in Talking Textiles at Crucial Trading will not only showcase their work, but will also be on hand for explanation, discussion, demonstration and project development throughout the week of 25th to 28th February, with special interviews by appointment.

“Each of our Green Grads – and we now have 200 listed on our website – has their unique suggested way of dealing with the environmental challenges the world faces today,” says founder/curator Barbara Chandler. “Textiles are a recurrent theme, and we are thrilled that six of our most talented new graduates will display and explain in person their ground-breaking ideas, in the intimate atmosphere of Crucial Trading’s beautiful showroom. A visit is essential for all seeking insights for the future, from industry professionals, to the media and members of the public and of course current students.” She adds that the Green Grads taking part share a love of natural materials with the Crucial Trading brand – “which makes our partnership particularly opportune.”

Jaime previously took part in the Green Grads in the North exhibition at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair (GNCCF) at Manchester Victoria Baths from 17-20 October 2024 following a successful trip to New Designers with her cohort last summer. For this exhibition Jaimie will exhibit alongside fellow Green Grads Scartlett Farrer, Joanna O’Rourke, Yahvi Duggal, Sofia Barbe and Jess Kirkpartick.

Speaking of her involvement Jamie said “for this exhibition I will have a collection of pieces that I have made in collaboration with Jules Haines – Haines Collection, which will be revealed at the event. I will also be presenting a new art work that I have created from waste wool selvedge from a weavers on the Isle of Skye. Every new piece I will be showing is exclusively made from pre-consumer waste materials.”

She continued, “it is well documented that fashion is accountable for a massive proportion of the world’s textile waste, and according to the World’s Economic Forum, fashion is the third largest polluting industry on this planet. Yet there are little known facts about the impact from the home textiles industry as little research has been done on this sector. According to Haines Collection and the Textiles Market Situation Report 2024 approximately half of the textile waste, which is now estimated to be 1.42 million tonnes a year, that is sent to landfills in the UK alone is interiors waste. This is leaving a substantial carbon and water footprint in its wake.”

“One thing that is known is that textile waste is notoriously difficult to recycle due to the fact that textiles are often made from mixed fibres. Because of this, there isn’t a simple recycling solution that works for all textile types. Through my work, I am attempting to make a small impact on the present waste situation. I am taking textile waste and recycling, reusing, and remaking it into something new that someone will get to cherish, hopefully for years to come. My work includes a combination of home interior and fashion pieces. Although I’m ultimately only delaying the inevitable through my work, there is always the hope that in the not too distant future our ability to recycle textile waste will be much further advanced and landfill will be a thing of the past.”

Keep up to date with Jaime’s work on her Instagram page @cura.jl! Further information about the exciting and innovative BA (Hons) Textiles & Surface Design degree at the Northern School of Art is available HERE