THE WEAVE SHED

Eleanor Pritchard used to say she was the only weaver left in Weavers Ward [an area in Bethnal Green]until one day someone turned round and said to her -No you're not. There's another-
I met Eleanor at a meeting at The Orleans House Gallery in Richmond. We got talking, found we were both weavers and then discovered we practically lived next door to each other.
-It's you- Eleanor said -You're the other weaver-
Eleanor designs beautiful, calm luxurious blankets on her George Wood loom [the Rolls Royce of hand looms] that are manufactured at a traditional woolen mill in Wales.
Her latest project along with Phillipa Brock, Woven Textiles Specialist Leader at Central St Martins School of Art, has been to launch The Weave Shed, a must see resource site for weavers.

Converse Trainers made with tweed designed by Dashing Tweeds.

Find out more from The Weave Shed.

There are sections on advice, education and research, and suppliers and services. In fact everything any weaver needs to know and all under one roof. The site also runs an active blog which features weave related news, events and people.

www.theweaveshed.org

CHRISTMAS POP-UP SHOPS

Jessica Light Trims and Tassels are going to be putting it about a bit this Christmas by being involved in not one but two pop-up shops.

If you're up West on the 3, 10, or 17 December make sure you wend your merry way to the Social on Little Portland Street from 1-6pm for some off the High St shopping and maybe a small restorative tipple.

You will find our festive tassels, baubles and trinkets on the Empress of Arcadia's stall. The Empress is a woman of high fashion pedigree having worked for Jasper Conran and John Galliano as well as running her own couture bridal and occasion wear business. She will be showing hand beaded and embroidered jewellery.

Beaded bird brooch from the Empress of Arcadia.

If the only glittery thing that interests you is the minnow at the end of your line then head to the Andrews of Arcadia stall where you will find antique and vintage fishing tackle.

The second pop-up shop will be on the weekends of 10-11 and 17-18 December at Unit 1, 269 Kingsland Road, E2 [entrance in Phillip St] from 12-5pm with a late night on Thurs 15 from 6-930pm where Jessica will be giving a tassel making workshop. We will be selling our luxe Christmas decorations [see the collection on our shop] as well as a few other goodies

For more info go to www.productofyourenvironment.co.uk

JESSICA LIGHT SHOP AND CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Due to popular demand Jessica Light Trims and Tassels announce the launch of our online store Jessica Light Shop.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS 2011 

It's nearly the season of mass slaughter of various foul ,deforestation and wanton over indulgence- another Snowball vicar?.

We here at Jessica Light are all for cashing in on the crass commercialization of Christmas with our bespoke baubles and gift tags.

Clockwise from top left;

14cm Wine Tassel £5.25, 9cm Net Tassel £4.75, Net Gift Tag £4.00,

9cm Silver/Wine Tassel £6.00, Net Bobble £4.75, 

Ribbon Gift Tag £3.75, 14cm Silver Tassel £4.00

This is our first collection of products to be featured on our new e-shop, but keep checking Jessica Light Shop and our blog for updates and look out for Formosa Diffusion, inspired by one of our best loved collections [see the original on our website] which will be coming soon.

TENT LONDON 2011

Tent London is now one of the big boys of the London Design Festival. Even though it has tripled in size and now includes Superbrands, which featured global brands like Moroso and Swarovski, the show still retains it's original premise of showcasing original and directional design. The result? The most inspiring and exciting show this side of Saturn.

I was particularly impressed by the plethora of textiles. Every breed was represented, from weave to print, knit to crochet. There was even the odd bit of passementerie. Ta dah.

Naomi Paul's sculptural crochet lampshades

What I loved about Suzanne Goodwins vibrant, abstract florals was that she hadn't gone down the ubiquitous retro/vintage route that a lot of print designers seem to be doing at the moment, so her textiles bounced from her stand with a delicious freshness.

Jo Prices inventive,colorful and quirky upholstery.

Serene prints from Original Little Bird.

Annabel Williams' interesting weaves. 

Happy prints and wallpaper from The Colourhouse.

One of Abigail Edwards' opulent wallpapers.

Exquisite engraved glass from Heather Gillespie.

Anthony Hartley's candy stripe furniture was good enough to eat.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm not a phone person. If I reply to a text within a week it's a miracle, but Justadzero's bamboo phones were so beautiful that they may change my habits. 

I have a bit of a vested interest in Curiousa & Curiousa as the tassel on the right comes from yours truly.

Jessica Light Trims and Tassels again had a very successful show. This year we took a much bigger corner stand which really showed off our products. Our two new collections, Bexley and Newport  received great feedback from both trade and press.

The Bexley Collection

The Newport Collection

We also re-showed Hampstead which we launched at last year's Tent. We added a new colourway and designs along side one of our signature looks: dip-dying.

We started the dip-dye look while working on Giles Deacons 2004 Spring/Summer collection and first showed dip-dyed fringes and tassels at Tent 2008. Since then it has become an integral part of our collections.

The Hampstead Collection

Our stand attracted some high caliber visitors especially Tricia Guild of Designers Guild whose work I've admired for a long time. We also had the managing director of Lelievre, the design manager from Blendworth and Gary Searle from St Leger and Viney one of the biggest interior companies in South Africa on the stand.

With interest from interior designers to carpet manufacturers it was a busy four days and the icing on the cake was being awarded one of the best stands at the London Design Festival by House and Garden magazine.

More images from our stand.

It was great to catch up with the regular Tentites, especially those gorgeous Mini Modern boys and the ever effervescent Miss Margate, Zoe Murphy, and meet the new recruits. Then it was over and we all toddled off to our respective corners of the world

Big Thank You

To:

Everyone who visited my stand.

Gabi, Olivia, Ruth, Florence and Jennifer from House and Garden.

Rachel and Jimmy. 

PR Girl.

My fantastic intern Katie Davis.