“The best things in life aren't things.”

― Art Buchwald

Textile Awards 2013: profile on Bradford College website‏

Kate Whitehead explores discarded materials to create unusual artefacts – a creative form of re-cycling. Her unusual submission gained her a commendation in the Clothworkers’ Foundation Award ‘for a fashion or interiors product, created by non-conventional means’.

'The camera always points both ways. In expressing your subject, you also express yourself'. (Freeman Patterson)

"The Beauty Of Poor Materials"

"The Beauty of poor materials" reflects the environment of the visual research and the materials that have been used to create my final collection. I expanded the theme of paper designs on walls used in the previous semester to consider the environment where the designs are found; city back streets. My project involved patching and mending, it has a feel of materials found, restored and repaired and objects abandoned, forgotten and overlooked. I selected poor materials such as Calico, muslin, scrim, various salvaged fabrics and vintage curtains. I combined thread kindly supplied by Madeira through their sponsorship with those that I collected from antique shops and second hand markets. The textile areas I have explored in my final collection are embroidery, weave, print and ink drawing. The areas that I feel are particularly successful are my woven string bracelets, hand drawn concertina book and the later embroidery. The less successful elements are the digital prints and my first attempts at embroidered patching. As a textiles designer I will continue to work with poor materials and overlooked items.

'The Beauty Of Poor Materials' - My final collection - Degree show

Photography by Louise Barry