Meet GFF Talent, Tamsin Lines, a textile design graduate from the University of Leeds. Tamsin explores her identity and cultural background through the contrasting aesthetics of Eastern and Western styles. Using deadstock materials from her visit to the Oxfam Wastesaver as well as other waste materials, Tamsin transforms the second-hand fabrics into a couture collection with sustainable design thinking at its core. Read more below.
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
Critical thinking is something I have learnt to embrace within my practice, to make sure that my work is always meaningful and appropriate for a contemporary context whilst also reflecting myself as a designer. It really helps when we have been able to share our work with one another, giving different perspectives on ideas – I think this is what shapes and enhances a project, and the way that I think about design altogether. I have really valued the use of various mediums to work with; creating both physically and digitally has definitely taught me new skills whilst pushing my optimistic outcomes into reality.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
The initial concept was MULTI-LOCAL, so inspiration came from my own photo archives from when I went travelling in both Europe and East Asia. Contrasts of Eastern and Western aesthetics are a major part of the inspiration, since both cultural backgrounds are connected to my identity. Identity is central to fashion and I was very inspired by the uniqueness, resilience and beautiful work of Frida Kahlo’s identity – Making Herself Up hereby became another key theme to my project, as I wish to create beautiful cultural and crafted fabrics for fashion, which people want to treasure forever. I wanted my final project to feature transformative colour which brings craft to life, so when sourcing waste and dead-stock materials, I went for the brighter, more textural ones. The project is really about bringing things together, and stretching the potential of unwanted materials.
What form will your final project take?
Garments within my final collection are all fully hand-crafted and made using only waste and dead-stock materials. Because of the limited nature of using dead-stock and used materials, each design features a unique selection of colours and waste materials, to express both individuality and unity.
I am making a ready-to-wear collection using the limited materials I already have; my final couture collection will feature these fabrics on digital bodies, expressing emphasised volume and silhouette of the desired looks I would have created if it wasn’t for the lockdown. Once the collection is complete, I then plan to take some editorial images which can be digitally manipulated as if a virtual photoshoot took place, to show the imagined reality that I envisage my garments to be in.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
All materials used within my final project are second-hand. They are either domestic waste (i.e. electrical cables), or industrial waste and dead-stock materials which companies have no other use for and would otherwise go to landfill. Industrial waste materials include various ribbon and rope, which hold value from the journeys that they have been on. Dead-stock materials have been sourced as well as donated, including cords and various selvedges.
For example, Wallace Sewell kindly donated some waste selvedges from their lambswool throws, which are manufactured in a mill not too far from Leeds! Colourful synthetic cables are stripped by hand and sourced multi-locally. Hand-processes are applied to all materials to show their qualities to their best potential as they are crafted into functional yet decorative fabrics. I love that all the materials have their own history and I think it is these stories which make my garments a little more desirable.
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
I hoped from the start that I was going to design exquisite and extravagant garments and bring at least one to life! Initially, I focused on how to craft 3 dimensional structure and silhouette into the fabrics by tailoring the macramé techniques directly to the shape of the body (sleeves became a theme because they’re such a feature within a garment!). I soon realised that making full garments wearable was equally important, so I began experimenting with different ways to integrate and knot together panels and pattern pieces to tailor a garment’s silhouette, for example, making tubular structures.
Since working more digitally during the lockdown, I have noticed that my Photoshop skills have developed a lot more as I am having to find new ways of presenting my fabric draping ideas without having enough material or a mannequin to use. Dead-stock materials I have sourced have always been limited in quantity, yet since not being able to buy more in lockdown, I have had to use what I have and thoughtfully spread out the leftover colours and textures between my different final looks.
What are the messages and themes behind your project that you want people to take away? Do explore any topics like diversity, sustainability or politics in your work?
I am all about craftsmanship and I hope that all my designs express this quality in a cultural and contemporary light. All the materials I use came from around the globe, they were intended for other things and would have ended up in other places; I hope that the stories which waste and dead-stock materials hold can add value to garments, and inspire consumers to think generally about where their clothes come from. I believe that it’s so important to have a connection with your belongings, as in, there should be a reason to want to keep it forever. So, in terms of garments, I want them to display the time-intensive craft that has gone into each piece. I want to highlight the potential of using waste and dead-stock materials and encourage consumers to cherish quality over quantity.
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
Sustainability – it’s a term that can often be misused, so within this I’m really passionate about making garments last longer to ultimately reduce waste. Specifically (what my current work focuses on is), enhancing the craftsmanship and availability of garments to make buyers value them more. This was the topic of my dissertation, because I want more consumers to realise the intrinsic values of garments, since it is consumers who determine the rate of unsustainable consumption and unethical production of clothing. As a designer I hope to emphasise craftsmanship to consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly brought positive change to light within the fashion industry, yet it still remains in the consumer’s hands to demand these changes.
What is your plan once you finish your BA?
After I have completed my BA, I hope to broaden my experience within the fashion industry, in doing something hands-on, creative and which matches my morals of sustainable design. I’ll keep experimenting with the macramé techniques I have developed throughout this project as I feel that there is still so much to be done with the waste materials. I am very passionate about more sustainable design and would like to explore fashion and design in an even wider context. The MA Material Futures course at Central Saint Martins really appeals to me because it engages sustainability diversely through various fields which I feel I would benefit a lot from.