Lesley-Anne Pace

44-year-old Lesley-Anne Pace from Low Fell in Gateshead, who studied a BA (Hons) Textiles and Surface Design degree at the northern school of art, drew on her intimate thoughts and feelings when her eight-year-old daughter received a new liver to create a very personal final major project for her final year exhibition.
Lesley-Anne has been chosen to represent CCAD at New Designers in London at the end of June, a national exhibition which showcases the work of emerging new talent in design. Her tutors have also nominated Lesley-Anne for TexSelect, a mentorship program for UK textile designers for which she has been shortlisted for interview to present her work to industry experts. After graduation Lesley-Anne is continuing her studies with a PGCE specialising in post compulsory education, and after recently purchased a printing press, she is looking to spend the summer fine tuning her letterpress skills.

Tara Cavanagh

Tara is a textiles and surface designer and her concept for her final major project is Anatomic and looking closely at how humans are all the same beneath the skin. Tara says, “I think it is important to express how beauty is beneath and people should not be judged just by the way they look on the outside.” Her area of expertise is laser cutting and embroidery and she has utilised these techniques to design a collection aimed at haute couture fashion.

Harriet Morrison

Harriet is a designer with a fondness for the whole design process; from the initial evolution of the concept to the ultimate presentation of final designs. Hatti says, “in my final year at CCAD I have flourished both artistically and in the expansion of my skill set.” Whilst developing a range of work in response to her brief, ‘Frozen in Time’, Hatti has examined how the preservation of an object can act as a tactile stimulus for a personal memory or provide illustrative evidence of a historical event, place, emotion or living thing. She has specialised in furnishing prints for fabric and paper, using both digital and hand rendered techniques such as screen printing and embroidery to create bold and complex designs for interior.

Lucy Antill

Lucy is a textiles artist specialising in soft sculpture, embroidery and embellishment whilst dabbling in print every so often. Her project is based on the fishing industry and how important it is in today’s society and economy. I n order to translate this concept through her work she has focused on sea creatures, in particularly crustacean and different species of fish. Lucy says, “The inspiration for this project stems heavily from the fact that I was born in a small fishing town on the East Coast of North Yorkshire called Whitby. I also find a lot of inspiration from artists such a Joana Vasconcelos, Mister Finch and Frederique Morel.

]Samantha Burns

Sam is a contemporary textiles artist exploring the man-made and the natural. She has a wide range of printing skills and specialises in embroidery. Her collection concepts focuses on the aftermath of human disappearance and how nature and wildlife would its course. Sam’s aim is to demonstrate the beauty and strength of the natural by mixing architectural, botanical and nature illustrations. Her products are large scaled, embroidered and embellished pieces for interiors. Sam says, “I have discovered that I enjoy working in large scale and with a range a mixed media. I am experimenting with antiquity, collaging and using machine and hand embroidery techniques whilst incorporating 3D elements.

Lizzie Skipp

Lizzie has developed her skills in printing and embroidery as well as making. She has always had a passion for recycling and making old things lovely and reusable. For her final major project her concpet is about the growth of new layers in the environment around us and within ourselves as human beings and how when something is broken or decayed, new layers start to form and build new life. Lizzie says, “I have used my own personal experience with mental health as a starting point. I was broken and had to rebuild myself but with each step forward a new layer of me was formed.

Rebecca Eltingham

Rebecca’s concept for her collection looks at brutalist architecture and the primarily negative connotations attached. She hopes to reverse these ideas by looking beyond the grey concrete walls and into the homes of the people living within while exploring the hidden beauty of this practical architectural style. Rebecca is particularly drawn to a bright, bold and geometric way of working and has been exploring digitally printed fabrics that are layered with screen printing techniques such a foil and pigment. “Throughout my final major project i have enjoyed exploring new techniques such as stencil screen printing and illuminated discharge as an alternative way to translate my designs onto fabric,” Rebecca says.

Abbie Charlton

Abbie’s final major project explores the concept of happiness and for her collection she has created fabrics that are inspired by the things in life that make her smile. Abbie has a passion for bright colours and bold prints which she enjoys expressing through her work. She is also using digital designs featuring embroidery and embellishment techniques to ultimately convey feelings of fun and happiness in the form of fashion.

Olivia Kiss

Olivia creates hand painted surface designs for interiors featuring eccentric and unconventional imagery due to their eerie curiosities. Olivia is particularly inspired by techniques and methods used in traditional wallpaper manufacturing. Olivia says, “It is important to me that these traditional techniques are not forgotten in this digital age. this is why my final collection is hand rendered.

Sarah Walker

Sarah specialises in digital and screen printing and designs across the disciplines of fashion, interiors and gift. inspiration for her final major project came from her photographs or her travels to the vibrant and colourful city of Barcelona. “The busy fruit markets filled with colour and noise led me to develop my concept of growth and decline, researching into the decline of markets and rise of supermarkets in the U.K. I am presenting this concept through a collection of surface designs on fabric, combining graphic and illustrative prints,” Sarah says.

Hannah Bew

Hannah’s concept aims to bring back the underlying philosophies behind photography – experiencing a moment, living it, feeling it and finally capturing it. Combining this with her passion for travel, Hannah’s ultimate aim is to capture her ‘search for moments’ using the mediums of photography and sketch. She took inspiration from coloured skies, electrical lines framing the clouds, ear deafening music and driving aimlessly as a means of escape from the anxieties of everyday life. Hannah says, “I live and breathe the ideas behind my work. My concept is all consuming, driving not only my artwork but every aspect of my life.

Poppy Crooks

“The most effective education is that a child should play amongst lovely things” – Plato. Poppy is a textiles artist who specialises in illustrative stitch. She feels that art should be about storytelling and should bring an essence of nostalgia. Her final major project concentrates on Poppy’s children and their discovery of wildlife. The focus is bespoke interior art pieces displayed for exhibition and has been heavily influenced by their family days out to local sites such as Thorpe Perrow, Hardwick Hall, Saltholme and Wynyard Woodland Park. Poppy says, “I believe that children should be encouraged to play in the woods, experience the world on a very tactile basis and I want to create work that evokes childhood memories showing the wealth of nature in the North East.

Alex Booth

Alex’s final major project is inspired by the world of travelling and exploration. A number of elements that inspried her was the idea of a special ‘interactivity with the world’. Within this project, Alex’s designs are aimed to portray the perception of freedom and how a person can connect with everyday life and Alex wanted to show a variety of experimentation and creativity by injecting vibrant colours to portray a sense of happiness. The wanderlust concept is interpretted through unqiue and individual print designs where she’s experimented with quirky illustrations mixed with energetic colour.

Aimee Monkman

In her final major project, Aimee aspired to capture aspects of the world through her eyes by exploring her personal vision limitation. Aimee says, “As someone who has had poor eyesight from the young age of months old wearing my glasses is my normality and the way I see and interpret the world is unknown to others. My vision is portrayed through the surface design on her final collection.”

Studying contemporary textile products has given Aimee the opportunity to build and create her vision through mixed media textiles. Although her work is profoundly textiles based she is experiential with techniques and materials designing on a variety of scales to create interior and installation pieces.

Natasha Tennant

Natasha explored Photography and Fine Art before specialising in Contemporary Textile Products. Her concept focuses on collections and their significance to their owner both past and present and she finds inspiration in natural objects and settings, in particular vintage and unique treasures that can be found in flea markets or car boot sales. Natasha says, “I have always had the desire to create beautiful things,; from an early age i was fascinated by art, which prompted my creative future. In regards to my FMP, a collection is a memento of places, people, experience or past times; everybody has emotional attachments to the objects that surround them, sometimes even subconsciously.

Anna Cain

The main inspiration for Anna’s work comes from natural patterns, shapes and textures and looking for beauty in everyday surroundings that might not be noticed or appreciated. The imagery that is used throughout my work originates from photographs of natural forms. Anna hand draws her imagery using various types of dry media such as pens, shading pencils, graphite and charcoal, however Anna’s speciality is screen printing. She enjoys experimenting with different printing techniques, layering one on top of another to achieve something visual and unique.

Lynsey Bertram

Lynsey is a textiles designer who specializes in digital print for fashion, interior and gift. Her final collection is based on the concept of dreams as she was inspired by the idea of a dream that can transport you to a place of calmness and escape;  Lynsey said she began to take inspiration from the things around her that brought her happiness and relaxation. Initially focusing on florals, foliage and the night-sky; as the project progressed she began to look at meditation as a source of inspiration where she was inspired by sounds in nature that bring peace and tranquility to people. Lynsey cites Mary Katrantzou as a designer who’s work has been inspiring to her, ” I love her quirky prints and the exciting use of colour throughout her collections; the Fall 2017 collection is one of my favourites”.

Daniel Thompson

Daniel is a surface designer who specialises in interior settings. He has a wide range of printing techniques as well as illustrative and digital art; his skills include manipulating hand rendered designs digitally and creating unique compositions as well as hand painted layouts using mixed media. Daniel’s inspiration for his final major project stems from portals; the definition of a portal is a doorway, gate or some form of entrance. He has looked deeply into both theoretical and historical viewpoints and his end goal was to create a series of designs, using his inspirations and translations, essentially creating my own portals, converting imagery into doorways, merging landscapes and using natural doorways that can be found in nature.