Weave and Knit at Central Saint Martins

Anne Marr, Programme Director of Jewellery, Textiles and Materials

The Immediate Past Master John Coombe-Tennant led a group of Clothworkers and their partners on a visit to the Central Saint Martins (CSM) BA Textile Design course. CSM is part of the University of the Arts London (UAL), at its relatively new premises in Granary Square, King’s Cross (where it moved in 2011).

The Textile Design programme at CSM has a unique philosophy of educating ‘flexible specialists’ through a holistic curriculum that covers print, weave and knit across fashion, interior and product-led material applications. Course philosophy is based around teaching a cutting-edge design approach, in-depth technical knowledge of textile processes, as well as sound employability skills.

The course is popular and has a highly selective application process. Currently, Home (UK) and EU students make up approximately 65 per cent of enrolments. The Clothworkers’ Company is generously supporting students in financial hardship through the Clothworkers’ Print Bursary as well as 10 students through Material Funds.

The course has very strong industry links, and students have been engaged in projects with companies such as Pink Shirtmaker, DAKS, Timothy Everest and Dashing Tweeds.

WEAVE AND KNIT AT CSM

The Clothworkers’ Company first began supporting CSM in 2010, when a large grant for a STOLL digital knitting machine was match funded. This was followed by a second grant in 2015 to fund three new digital TC2 jacquard looms from Norway. Accessing the latest textile technology has enabled more than 1,000 students to learn vital skills for future employment in weave and knit industries.

Both weave and knit are constructed textiles. However, they are made quite differently. A woven piece of fabric is created on a loom, which is a threedimensional frame that holds a vertical warp of individual yarn strands. At CSM, looms can hold 3,600 separate strands across 80cm of fabric. A shuttle with a yarn spool shoots across the warp to create the horizontal weft. The process uses the natural tendency of fibre to adhere, interweaving them into a fabric that is generally quite dense. Plaids are a well-known example of a woven fabric.

In contrast, a knitted fabric is made from a single string of yarn. By hand, two needles are used to create interlocking loops. If cut, a knitted piece of the fabric can easily unravel. Knitted fabric is airy and elastic – jersey T-shirts are a typical example. Machine knitting is much more complex, involving a double bed of up to 240 needles to create a piece of fabric 100cm wide.

CSM has an international reputation for being at the forefront of research developments in textiles, and has produced many famous graduates such as Ptolemy Mann, Wallace Sewell, Rita Parniczky, and Elizabeth Ashdown (who designed the 2019 Charity Governance Awards trophy textile). The new Experimental Weave Lab led by Pathway Leader and researcher Philippa Brock will explore both traditional weaving methods such as Ikat techniques, 3D-surface creation on looms, and even future technology such as 4D-weaving to create multiple inter-connected layers of materials.