This exciting opportunity is still available for the next week. Carmen Garcia has kindly offered to share her experience in just such a collaboration to give us an idea on how it may work. Her report can be found below.
This scheme will run from the end of March to August.
It has come to our notice that the form to apply for this collaboration has to be filled out by our GANS representative, so if you want to apply, please send an email to Annika Berglund, one of our two reps, and she will facilitate the application. Her email is annika@annikaberglund.com.
This is Carmen’s report and a photo of the beautiful result of their cooperation:
In 2019 I took part in a cooperation project between The Council of Irish Fashion Designers and The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.
The idea of these cooperation projects is to randomly pair a designer and a craft maker to produce a design working together. I was paired with the talented designer Charlotte Lucas.
We designed a wedding dress with hat inspired by Balenciaga. We mixed the fluidity of Charlotte’s style with the rigidity of the felt.
We found our common ground, what we shared in our approach to design, and we both moved towards the other. It was a very interesting experience.
We felt stretched in our approach to the design, and found the limitations in the process were stimulating for the creative process and both were very happy with the result.
I totally recommend the experience to any Feltmaker that might be considering it.
Of special note is the following. The dead line is very close, but all you need is to express an interest. Further details will follow.
CIFD / GANS Collaboration Project 2022 – 3rd March for expression of interest – Expression of interest are being sought from DCCI GANS to take part in the Council of Irish Fashion Designers and Guilds Associations Network & Societies (GANS) collaboration project. This is an opportunity for all GANS that are interested in exploring the potential of working with fashion designers to create interesting collaborations. Form to be completed by 3rd Marchhttps://www.cognitoforms.com/DesignCraftsCouncilOfIreland1/ExpressionOfInterestCIFDGANSCollaborationProjectlaunch will takes place by zoom on Friday March 4th 12.15 pm to 12.45pm
Report by Breda Fay- GANS rep (edited by Tamzen Lundy)
GANS & CIFD collaboration
Since the beginning of April, some members from Felt makers Ireland have been working with designers from the fashion world on a collaborative project linking craft persons and designers.
Today – August 29th– was the culmination of our work, when our projects were modeled as part of the CIFD Fashion Show/ Media Day. The fashion show itself was amazing and one could only be inspired by the address and commentary of Eddie Shanahan, chair of CIFD, a truly enthusiastic and inspiring speaker.
For the last few months, Carmen Garcia, Niki Collier and Breda Fay have been engaging with our partner designers from the council of Irish fashion design. We had been randomly matched to “accentuate learning and ensure innovative engagement”.
I worked with Michelle Kearns, a milliner from Tuam.
Breda Fay/ Michelle Kearns
Breda Fay/ Michelle Kearns
Breda Fay/ Michelle Kearns
Breda Fay/ Michelle Kearns
Michelle and I shared stories of our likes and dislikes, dreams and history to come up with a theme for the design. We also discussed different textures and shades of felt. Samples and photographs went back and forth until we finally decided on a very fine and feathery black Merino and Silk with embellishments of cerise Tussah silk that Michelle would incorporate into a wire structure. The finished work would illustrate overcoming adversity (thick and gnarled branches) growing into more open structure with birds and blooms of hope and resilience.
In all, 15 pairs brought their projects to completion and the resulting hats, baskets, dresses, scarves, etc were amazing. The crafts of calligraphy, metal smith, lace making, felt making, basket making, crochet, textile art and embroidery were all represented.
GANS & CIFD collaboration
This is the second year of the collaboration and I would urge members to watch the GANS page of the website and read the blog posts for notice of next year’s event, when we will once again advertise this opportunity. For those that managed to get along this year and became involved it was certainly and enriching and lasting experience.
The below was received from the Council of Irish Fashion Designers
Ladies & Gentlemen,
On behalf of all of us in CIFD I wish to express our gratitude to you for the skill, inspiration, dedication and creativity you brought to our collaboration project.
It is not often that one of Ireland’s most eminent journalists declares an event as ‘Triumphant and emotional’ – but those were her first words at the end of our presentation on Thursday.
My colleagues and I have enjoyed the process, our respect and admiration for your skills is difficult to put into words. Design and Craft came together last week in an engaging evocation of Irish culture, proving beyond doubt that our heritage crafts can be extremely engaging in a contemporary context.
I hope you too enjoyed the project and the presentation.
I know Mary has exciting plans to give the work further exposure and I will also be seeking extra opportunities in the coming months.
We can expect some newspaper and magazine publicity in the coming weeks. In the meantime I am sending you a hi res image of your contribution by WeTranfer. I hope to have some video clips of the pieces in the next short while and will also forward those in due course.
I look forward to the possibility of working with you again in the near future.
Feltmakers Ireland 