Yesterday evening, Craft Central launched Craft London ‘Emerging New Talent’, an exhibition of new and emerging artists and designers expressing the relevance of craft and design in London. The public had a chance to experience the freshest craft and design talent going on in London town – and we were there to find out more…

The tightly packed crowd had gathered around one installation of work that explored the age-old discipline of ‘passementerie’, a process dating back almost 6 centuries, which had been innovatively re-awoken by artist Jessica Light. ‘Passementarie’ is the delicate and elaborate process of making complex and highly decorative trimmings and edgings, including braid, gold and silver cord, embroidery, and beadwork.

More usually found in interior decoration, ‘Passementerie’ is the origin of bobbin lace, created from white linen thread, and is today still used in military dress uniforms. The artist Jessica currently works with the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Giles and many other fashion houses creating fashion trimmings, truly bringing the discipline bang up to date.

Jessica is one of the last working ‘trimming weavers’ in England creating contemporary ‘passementerie’, and the only one in London. Her installation, here in the galleries, of an oversized ‘pompom’ did not instantly draw the crowds, yet after a while of staring at this “object with no purpose”, as Jessica described it, the crowds found themselves drawn to discover more.

12 designers and artists displayed their work here in total, from ceramicists to textile designers and jewellery makers. Delicate cobwebs made from reflective threads, caged under glass, greeted visitors. Laura Felicity, a contemporary surface designer, exhibited hand printed wallpaper lengths and ceramic tiles with imprinted lace and raised detail. Ceramic designer Ruth Babajide exhibited designs with gorgeous organic prints and fabulous colour palettes, whilst the illustrator Julie Vermeile showed an intriguing display of lace and fabrics depicting a story. Each designer and artist displayed attractive work, but there was something very different with Jessica’s work.

Jessica’s 1.25m long ‘Haversham Tassel’ was created using traditional techniques, with even the cord having been hand-spun by Jessica. Influenced by Victorian interiors, the only modernity found in this piece was the high-tech and high-shine light reflective yarn used amongst viscose threads. Beadwork also emphasised the shimmer of the piece, with the ends having been dip-dyed from silver to gold, representative of Victorian luxury. In the piece, intricate beadwork, cord, knots and ribbon work were gorgeously detailed and representative of Jessica’s great talent.

The installation was by no means perfect, but this was a fantastic way of expressing technique and displaying the lost art of the ‘passementerie’ process. The Haversham Tassel is in no way everyone’s cup of tea, and I think the artist understands this, but Jessica strives to keep the disciplines alive and display as many techniques as possible - after all, it was a fantastic way to exhibit her skills and services!

This London Fashion Week YshLondon bumped into Alice, co-founder of ethical brand The North Circular. Excitingly, this coming Autumn Winter season, The North Circular will be launching a new ready to wear line 'Sea Cables', alongside their bespoke knitting grannies pieces. Alice kindly showed me two examples of their r-t-w line and I was weak at the knees when I saw them.

The latest concept at The North Circular is based on the idea of the unique fisherman jumpers that used to be used to identify each fisherman. Much like Scottish family tartans, each fisherman had a knitted sweater with a unique knit pattern to decipher each man and thus their identity. The reasoning behind this was so that if, by unfortunate chance, a fisherman died at sea and his body was found, the sweater would bear his identity.

Five of The North Circular knitting Grannies have been asked to develop a personal signature technique. It can be something they invent or a pattern they design or a technique they have really enjoyed; for example Granny Knitter Sheila enjoys knitting a twisted cable, Elaine has a signature cable knit and ladder detail. No other granny can use this technique. The technique will be applied to accessories such as scarves and shrugs. The aim of this is to create a personalised bespoke product. Each piece hand knitted by this ‘Star granny’ will have a gorgeous hang tag attached, with a hand drawn portrait.

As mentioned, the r-t-w line alongside these accessories is created using hand knitting machines through a bespoke hand-knitting factory in England. The british cashmere sweater dress is sourced from ‘Izzy Lane’s Sheep Sanctuary’ in North Yorkshire and is thus ethical cashmere. It is blended with recycled blue-faced sheep wool, also sourced in the UK. The cashmere is extremely rare, yet extremely desirable, and so this particular sweater dress may be incredibly limited.

The ready to wear lines’ colour palette is much darker this season, with rich dark cocoa, navy and greys, with streaks of warm natural too, which ties the range as an ethical natural line. The accessories still include scarves, beanies and gloves but we will see more hoods, like the knights hood and snoods (scarves that can also be a hood), necklaces and headbands.

Alice has mentioned that the knitting granny team is 80 strong and also includes men, there is a waiting list of around 30 grannies and The North Circular are still looking for more! You can buy the S/S range online but there is a waiting period of 14-21 days for pieces - it is, however, worth the wait, as the pieces are gorgeous, luxurious and unique!

Images; Delphine Thwaites

Alice in Wonderland is the highly anticipated film by Tim Burton and one of the MUST see films right now.

Not only is this classic story revived by Tim Burton's wonderfully surreal world but the weird and beautiful costumes take you into the wonderland.

Why not get into the 'Alice in Wonderland' mood at the Claire's pop up shop at 18 Maddox Street?
11am - 6pm, Friday 26th February - Friday 5th March 2010

Sibling, Autumn Winter 2010 menswear collection

Orschel-Read Menswear Autumn Winter 2010 collection - Fageln

Studio 805 Autumn Winter 2010 collection

Menswear Designer Komakino's Autumn Winter Collection 2010

JW Anderson Autumn Winter Menswear collection

Carolyn Massey, Autumn Winter 2010