SIR JONATHAN PORTAL BT, MASTER 2019-20 CONTENTS NEW MEMBERS
4
NEW DESIGNERS
6
WEAVE & KNIT...
8
BRADFORD TEXTILE SOCIETY...
9
LONDON CRAFT WEEK & OPEN HOUSE 10 CITY WOMEN...
12
DESIGNER BOOKBINDINGS
14
CHAMPIONING TRUSTEESHIP
16
MILITARY AFFILIATES...
18
INTER-LIVERY SPORTS UPDATE
20
STAFF NEWS...
22
TRIBUTES
23
NEWS & NOTICES
24
Jo Bird’s work-in-progress bookbinding. Read more about designer bookbindings on page 14. © 2019, Jo Bird (designer).
2
G
reetings, fellow Clothworkers! I’m writing having just been elected and installed as your 500th Master. That is a great landmark for us all. I am looking forward to a busy year of celebration and evolution, as I outlined at the Annual General Meeting (this past June). I’m taking this opportunity to share with you some of the aspects of Clothworker business that have been of particular interest to me on my journey to the Master’s chair. I’m a chartered accountant, so it was no surprise that, when elected to the Court in 2007, I was steered towards the finance committees. I specialise in managing and growing small companies, and have also enjoyed being involved with
THE CLOTHWORKER | AUTUMN 2019
commercialising textile-related ideas at Leeds University and more broadly with The Company’s textile strategy. Helping run and grow any organisation valued at more than half a billion pounds is interesting, and The Clothworkers’ Company and its Foundation are no exception. Our evolving investment policy requires continual debate: Should we be active investors or passive, which is less expensive? What is our appetite for risk? What is the appropriate balance between using the pro bono talent pool of our livery and external (and therefore expensive) professional advice? I have also played a part in managing our extensive property portfolio, the bedrock
