This
week's interview is with the fabulous Laura Kent! Read on for all
things embellished and a word of warning about MMU's red velvet cake!
(We love cake here, can you tell?)
What did you study, where and when did you graduate?
I studied on the BA(Hons) Textiles in Practice course, at Manchester School of Art, graduating in 2015. I specialised in embroidery (which basically meant I faffed around on machines all day hoping that something magical would happen) and by some kind of miracle, in my final year, I was given the opportunity to work with a lovely lovely 3D Design tutor, Kirsteen, which ended up allowing me to combine my embroidery with glass.
I studied on the BA(Hons) Textiles in Practice course, at Manchester School of Art, graduating in 2015. I specialised in embroidery (which basically meant I faffed around on machines all day hoping that something magical would happen) and by some kind of miracle, in my final year, I was given the opportunity to work with a lovely lovely 3D Design tutor, Kirsteen, which ended up allowing me to combine my embroidery with glass.
 |
| Laura's beautiful glass beads |
Describe your work in 3 words
Bridal. Delicate. Embellished. (… or ‘really freakin’ sparkly… either works)
Bridal. Delicate. Embellished. (… or ‘really freakin’ sparkly… either works)
Tell us about your favourite piece of your work
I’m sure I could spend days
finding faults in them all (Doesn’t everybody?!). I love my final degree pieces
that combined hand and machine stitching with glass. I was so proud of myself
to be able to create my own handmade beads- gathering and blowing hot glass,
cutting each individual bead to size/ shape- it took forever, but I loved the
process. My work was very much traditional embroidery stitches for a Haute
Couture fashion context; I love the works of people like Elie Saab and Zuhair
Murad. It was something that my tutors absolutely despised because I didn’t
‘experiment enough’ with weird materials, but I knew what I wanted to do and
stayed true to myself in that sense throughout my studies.
Tell us about life after your degree
Like everyone I started my post-graduation asking ‘fuck, what do I do now?’.
My work was spotted at New Designers, and I went to Elstree Television Studios to work upon the costumes for the Netflix series, ‘The Crown’ and from there I went straight into a Bridal Couture internship, which is something I had always wanted to do, but was always told not to pursue. (Note to all, don’t listen to other people. They do NOT know what’s ‘best’ for you, only you can decide that for yourself).
In the Autumn after graduation, I volunteered as a model dresser at The National Wedding Show, and from that became part of the Girls Backstage team, dressing/ sewing/ supervising my way through all kinds of events over the past two years from The Clothes Show to Elton John to Strictly Come Dancing.
In between these I did a little bit of travelling, a little bit of pub work, little bit of freelancing, voluntary work, internships, a lot more backstage work and worked for both Nicholas Oakwell Couture and Julien Macdonald for their London Fashion Weeks…. Basically anything and everything that I can get my hands on, gain experience/ contacts/ friends. You get told to ‘settle’ and only focus on one context because APPARENTLY you can’t work in more than one sector… well let me tell you this, I think that’s bullshit. I have, and continue to cover fashion, bridal, couture, textile workshops, costume and a few other contexts and love exploring each and every one.
Currently I work for Girls Backstage and also fairly recently, I was asked to join the bridal atelier team that I interned for two years ago, now as a full-time employed embroiderer (which still makes me smile every time I think about the day I got the call)! Of course, as always, I am still looking at trying out lots of new things as and when the opportunities arise.
Tell us about life after your degree
Like everyone I started my post-graduation asking ‘fuck, what do I do now?’.
My work was spotted at New Designers, and I went to Elstree Television Studios to work upon the costumes for the Netflix series, ‘The Crown’ and from there I went straight into a Bridal Couture internship, which is something I had always wanted to do, but was always told not to pursue. (Note to all, don’t listen to other people. They do NOT know what’s ‘best’ for you, only you can decide that for yourself).
In the Autumn after graduation, I volunteered as a model dresser at The National Wedding Show, and from that became part of the Girls Backstage team, dressing/ sewing/ supervising my way through all kinds of events over the past two years from The Clothes Show to Elton John to Strictly Come Dancing.
In between these I did a little bit of travelling, a little bit of pub work, little bit of freelancing, voluntary work, internships, a lot more backstage work and worked for both Nicholas Oakwell Couture and Julien Macdonald for their London Fashion Weeks…. Basically anything and everything that I can get my hands on, gain experience/ contacts/ friends. You get told to ‘settle’ and only focus on one context because APPARENTLY you can’t work in more than one sector… well let me tell you this, I think that’s bullshit. I have, and continue to cover fashion, bridal, couture, textile workshops, costume and a few other contexts and love exploring each and every one.
Currently I work for Girls Backstage and also fairly recently, I was asked to join the bridal atelier team that I interned for two years ago, now as a full-time employed embroiderer (which still makes me smile every time I think about the day I got the call)! Of course, as always, I am still looking at trying out lots of new things as and when the opportunities arise.
If you could give your student self some advice, what would it be?
1. Listen to your heart and gut instinct, never let anybody else sway your decisions.
2. Don’t eat the Red Velvet cake in the Art School- it tastes funny.
3. Get some sleep. You’re not going to fail your degree by having an extra hour in bed every once in a while. (Chloe: this one is important!!)
4. If things are going wrong, give yourself a break. Cry if you want to, everybody does it they just don’t admit it(C: so is this. group crying sessions are absolutely allowed.)
5. You certainly DON’T have to work to bullshit ‘concepts/ contexts’ all the freaking time… make shit because you want to, and do it without a billion clever words and quotes about how ‘the glass beads symbolizes fragility and the patterns of my embroidery were inspired by the serendipitous movements of waves’ bla bla bla.
What item could you not function without?
I could function pretty much without everything. Maybe my pillow, that’s important for naps.
Bonus question: if you were a flavour of crisps which would it be?
Ooooh difficult one, I am literally OBSESSED with crisps……. Gun to my head, lets say Monster Munch. The hot ones though mmmmm.
You can see more of Laura's work and exciting adventures below!
Instagram @laurakenttextiles
Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurakenttextiles/
Instagram @laurakenttextiles
Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurakenttextiles/
Comments
Post a Comment