Jenny Harries
What do you think makes a good Textiles student?Individuality is really important, being themselves and not trying to be what the tutor expects or not following a group. Work ethic is really important, passion and being aware of what’s going on around them, not just what’s going on in textile design but being aware of the latest music etc. They should have a feel of what’s happening in the creative world, having their eyes open and their creativity open to other things. On a stereotypical level, the more they are here, the more they get out of it
What do you look for when you interview students?All the basic things are really important so drawing is a must for Textile Design or any design discipline. They should have ideas, they don’t necessarily need to have had taken any textile design as such, but show potential that they can. Personality is really important and their enthusiasm. I don’t think students should bring too much work to an interview. I think they should really look and think about what work they want to take and talk about. They should have 4 or 5 things they want to talk about and not just rely on the questions we will be asking them. I think it’s really positive to be interested in other things.
Why should a student choose to study Textile Design at HCA?
Lots of reasons, it’s very individual and it’s a professional based degree. I think there are loads of benefits to being in Hereford because it’s smaller, the teaching hours are important as we can focus on individual strengths but then equally we have lecturers like myself who have the industry experience so we set live briefs and agent briefs where we have sold work in New York so we can offer industrial placements within Hereford and industrial placements that are international. I work for a company called Margaret Muir and I’ve employed a graduate from New Designers every year and there’s no reason why that graduate can’t come from Hereford. If you are in a big city all of the time you can be bombarded by what’s going on and sometimes being away can actually make you more creative I think.
What activities can students do to broaden their opportunities in Textile Design outside of their studies?Going to things, get on the train and go to London, Cardiff, Birmingham and go round the shops. Look at patterns when you’re buying clothes, you can get loads just from walking round shops in Hereford. I do shop reports, going round and looking at the way prints are placed on garments and that feeds back into their work and it can be everyday things, look at magazines, look at different art and design disciplines right across music to film. Clothes in Monsoon are all Indian based and Slumdog Millionaire was a massive film so there’s a massive Indian trend going on at the moment. Look at front pages of magazines and it’s all about Indian design so it does follow on. Any big blockbuster feeds into clothing
What are the benefits of doing a degree in Textile Design?You become a specialist practitioner, not only creatively but technically. I studied every day, worked every day and it’s quite a professional setting. You’re set up to go into industry with a realistic outlook whereas other degrees you only go into University for a lecture. I used to go in at 8am and work until 9pm in my final year and it’s just more industrial.
Could you go into more detail about your career as a Textile Designer?I started freelancing for print fashion and through that I worked for an agent, InDesign, that the students now work for. The industry is really small and you have to keep in touch with people even if they turn you down. There may be times you go to interviews and they don’t want to have you but it’s about knowing people as things change. Indesign thought they had an appropriate job for me but it was in Hong Kong. I researched into the company ‘Margaret Muir’ and I really liked the work they were producing, so I lived and worked in Hong Kong for 18 months. I came back from Hong Kong and set up ‘Margaret Muir’ studio in the UK and employed a graduate from New Designers to work with me. If I go off with ‘Margaret Muir’ and research trends at trade fairs, I then come back to the students so it does all feed in but likewise a student might research something on a designer and I might think, ‘oh yeah’ and that might feed back into me so it actually works quite well
