UK Members’ Newsletter
Issue 1: 2011
Welcome
from Susie Hargreaves, Chief Executive Welcome to our first UK newsletter of 2011. I have just returned from participating in a new programme called „Dishaaâ€&#x;. Launched by British Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2010 in Bangalore, India, Dishaa is an initiative that will expand, enrich and energise relations between India and the UK. The aim is that by fostering discussion amongst diverse leaders it will build shared approaches to 21st century political, economic and social challenges and expand the existing partnerships, friendships and dialogues that are already taking place. 20 leaders from the UK and 20 from India were selected to take part in the first week, charged with looking at a specific challenge. I was fortunate to be selected not only on the basis of my experience but also because the SDC is seen as an important organisation and major contributor to Anglo/Indian relations. I discovered that many of the other participants and guest speakers were really interested in the role of textiles in India and how we were working with our Indian colleagues to share and disseminate good practice. There were many benefits for the SDC of my taking part; I met a very diverse group of contacts from many sectors from both India and the UK and already we are talking about future collaborative projects. Specifically, I met the British Deputy High Commissioner and he offered to host a reception for us in Mumbai to promote SDC services to industry in
India. I was also invited to speak to managers at the TATA group in Bangalore and to meet up with the Senior Vice President of UBM, which runs many international events, including Prime Source, to discuss joint programmes in Hong Kong. This was a huge honour personally, to be invited to participate, and most importantly showed how much the reputation of the SDC has grown over the past year in both the UK (where I was selected) and in India. I want to take the relationship between India and Britain to the next level. I want to make it stronger, wider, and deeper... I believe it makes sense for both of us to elevate our relationship to new heights. But this isn't just about Britain and India; this is a relationship that can benefit the world. DAVID CAMERON, UK PRIME MINISTER, INFOSYS, BANGALORE, INDIA, 28 JULY 2010
Please read on for an update on Colour Experience, regional events, some very positive news about the regional review process and other recent activities.
SDC is seeking nominations for a new Honorary Secretary In May 2011, after two years Malcolm Brown will be standing down as Honorary Secretary and therefore the Board of SDC is seeking nominations for a suitable replacement. This is a voluntary position. The actual time it takes varies but candidates should allow up to one day per week. Duties of the Hon. Sec include Chairing the Audit and Nominations Committees, acting as a cheque signatory and taking an active role supporting the CEO on HR, including leading annual staff appraisals and taking the lead on any disputes etc. We are therefore seeking someone with a good understanding of charity/governance issues and an excellent track record in Human Relations. If you are interested in the position, please email Barbara on barbarac@sdc.org.uk for a job description.
Colour Experience update from Richard Ashworth, Colour Experience Manager SDC is an educational charity. Itâ€&#x;s therefore been a real pleasure to be involved in so many diverse projects recently introducing children, students and other young people to the science of colour. I am particularly excited about our involvement in the forthcoming British Science Festival, which visits Bradford for the first time in September. Read on for an update on all these projects. (Photo: right of Richard).
AQA Applied Science - Solihull As part of their studies for the AQA Applied Science course a group of „A‟ level students from St Peter‟s Catholic School and Specialist Science College in Solihull, West Midlands recently came to Bradford to take part in a day in the laboratory and gallery at the Colour Experience. Teachers at the school were looking for some support for the unit on Colour Chemistry, so after discussion, and a look at the specification for the unit, a tailor made series of hands on investigations was prepared to support the students in their study. Amanda Crees, Director of Specialisms at the school commented: „from the teaching perspective I liked the fact that you put colour in context by explaining its physical origins and then illustrated this in the gallery. The historical context between non-synthetic/synthetic dyes and the rise of synthetic dyes was also useful to get across context/applied purpose of the learning. I thought the hands-on activity was great . . . completely open ended and that you extended their investigations by introducing the idea of dyes being halochromic/pH influences on colour. The afternoon session . . . beautifully illustrated the effect of molecular interactions between fabric and dyes, throughout the day you kept going back to the idea of dyes bonding with fabric‟. Based on the success of the day we are now offering the same sessions to other secondary schools. Please contact Richarda@sdc.org.uk for further information.
British Science Festival 2011 The British Science Festival is one of Europe‟s largest science festivals, and brings the latest developments in science, technology and engineering. It boasts over 250 events, activities, exhibitions and trips, and is unique in the UK as it moves around the country. Last year it took place in Birmingham. From 10-15 September 2011 the festival will visit Bradford in partnership with the University of Bradford. At SDC we are proud and delighted to be involved in the festival, and we hope to be hosting a number of events at our headquarters – Perkin House in central Bradford. The programme offers something for everyone – families, schools, adults looking for entertainment and professionals hoping to access the latest research. Richard Ashworth, Colour Experience Manager will be delivering a presentation to secondary schools entitled „Get up and glow‟ as part of the Young People‟s Programme. The presentation looks at the chemistry behind glowsticks. He delivered the presentation last year in Birmingham as part of the Festival to around 560 children. For further information please contact: Richarda@sdc.org.uk
Flag project – Brighouse High School The Colour Experience has recently delivered a number of chemistry sessions at Brighouse High School. Based within the school, around 200 pupils from a number of local primary schools took part. The sessions, organised through Calderdale LEA, are part of a project linking primary and
secondary schools together focusing on creating a school flag. The colour based activities helped to kick start the project and get the pupils thinking about ways to apply colour on to cloth.
Marks in Time project Linking to the Marks and Spencer „Marks in Time‟ exhibition at Leeds University, the Colour Experience is providing a series of activities for pupils from neighbouring primary schools to be delivered over three days at the university. Together with Dr Jim Nobbs and Dr Matthew Clark from the Department of Colour Science at Leeds University, Richard Ashworth will be helping children to investigate new dyes for new fibres, find a simple way to dye coloured patterns and discover how hard it can be to find a matching pair of colours.
Education Administrator – New post at SDC £20,000 – 23,000 plus benefits We are currently recruiting for the new post of Education Administrator. We are looking for a dynamic, outward-facing person to act as Administrator to our education activities including the Colour Experience and training programme of the Society. The post is full-time and based at Perkin House in Bradford. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, we‟d love to hear from you! Please email: secretariat@sdc.org.uk or telephone (01274) 761774 for further information. The closing date for applications is 18 March 2011.
Day of Celebration Book your place now! Title: Day of Celebration Date: Friday 13 May Time: registration opens 11.00am Venue: City Hall and Midland Hotel, Bradford Just a reminder that booking is now open for SDC‟s forthcoming Day of Celebration. The daytime programme of events includes the AGM, awards ceremony and a great line up of speakers. Dr Beau Lotto is a Reader in neuroscience and head of lottolab at University College London. He received his undergradate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in anatomy physiology, a PhD from Edinburgh‟s Medical School in cellular and molecular developmental neurobiology, and was a research fellow at
Duke University. He is co-author of the book Why We See What We Do, and his colour illusions have been used by many other scientists, artists, teachers and science museums internationally. Public engagements work includes presentations and installations at art galleries, science museums and on radio and television (including BBC Radio 4/s Leading Edge and BBC 2‟s Coast programme). Our other speakers are Sean Cady, Vice President, Product Stewardship and Sustainability at VF Corporation and Bart van Kuijk, Chief Marketing Officer at DyStar Group. Not to be missed! The daytime activities take place at City Hall, Bradford. One of Bradford‟s landmark buildings, this is a Grade 1 listed 19th century town hall with a landmark bell tower and Venetian style exterior. The evening reception and dinner take place at The Midland Hotel which boasts some of the finest Victorian interiors in the city. There is no charge for attending the daytime programme of events, but booking is essential. The cost for attending the reception and black tie dinner is £43.00 per head, or £36.00 for two tickets or more. If you‟re interested in taking an entire table, then please get in touch. For further information and to book your place, please email: secretariat@sdc.org.uk (photos: taken at Day of Celebration 2010)
Graduate Fashion Week – George announced as new sponsor Graduate Fashion Week was launched in 1991 and is a forum to showcase the best graduate fashion design talent in the UK. It celebrates its 20th anniversary from 5-8 June this year. George, one of SDC‟s corporate members, has recently been announced as the title sponsor for 2011, replacing River Island.
TRIP: Textiles Research in Process Call for papers and electronic posters!
We are pleased to bring you information about this international symposium, organised by Loughborough University, one of our college members. The symposium will explore the role and relevance of traditional „hand skills‟ in contemporary textiles, and the value and status of craft process. Through a series of presentations and panel discussions the symposium will seek to explore and define the role of hand skills and the value of process in contemporary textiles. Submissions are now invited in a number of areas. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 30 April 2011. Anyone interested in further information should contact: Emma Nadin, email: e.nadin@lboro.ac.uk, telephone 01509 228901 or Kerry Walton, email: k.walton@lboro.ac.uk, telephone 01509 228935.
Regional event review London Title: London Region World of Colour Date: 27 January 2011 Venue: London Metropolitan University, London Sue Williams reports on this recent SDC event: This was the first time we have held this event at this venue and we had a good turn out of 45 students. Gina Pierce, Course Leader of BA Textile Design said „I'd like to thank you and your colleagues from the SDC for the event last week, the students benefited so much from hearing from people in the industry‟. Students were heard to say it was „truly inspirational‟ and „fantastic‟…. There were four speakers as follows: Introduction to Colour - Richard Ashworth, Colour Experience Manager, SDC Richard gave an interactive presentation about the evolution of vision using examples of animals as well as humans. Human colour perception was described and how the brain interprets colour. He also explained how the eye/ brain could be deceived and defective colour vision. Communicating Colour - Georgina Boulter, Sales Manager Verivide Limited Georgina expanded upon the perception model explaining that if there was any variation in the three elements then the colour changed. She detailed the need for controlled lighting cabinets and gave a live demonstration of metamerism. The best practices were described for viewing, sample presentation and vision testing. Georgina described the colour language used for communication and described the Munsell and Pantone physical colour systems. She detailed the use of colour measuring instruments and the pass/fail reports used by many retailers. Finally the use of Digital Imaging was described to communicate the appearance or texture of garments as well as the colour. Colour Psychology - Angela Wright, Colour Affects This interactive talk began with the definition of the Psychology of Colour, which is the effect of light and colour on human mood and behaviour. Even blind people can feel the different energies coming from different colours. Angela has developed her own system of colour harmonies and Ronnie Luo from Leeds University has put numerical values to it. Her theory has four different colour families and within each family the colours harmonise but do not harmonise with colours in different families. There are also four basic personality types and each has a natural affinity to one of the colour families. She advised designers to identify the characteristics and decide on the colour groups ensuring the colours were from the same family so there were no mixed messages. From Inspiration to Product - Kathy Lewiston, Design Consultant Kathy described how she started her career in fashion and how she became a designer using CAD within Courtaulds specifically for M&S in order to reduce sampling time. Courtaulds‟ ambition was for the buyers to buy from the print outs of the garments. Kathy discussed the process of looking at trends and selecting colour palettes. Trend boards were discussed and physical samples were shown from last season at M&S. The garments in high street shops and brands were compared looking at the detail, style, colour, fabric, shape and print. The drawings, printed garment and/or the actual garment would then be displayed to the buyer. The CAD prints were shown on paper, on fabric and the final garment. Special fabrics were discussed from climate controlled fabric for NASA, to Ultra Sport fabric for water management.
Forthcoming regional events Scotland
Title: Day of Colour Date: Thursday 10 March Time: 12.00 noon to 17.00pm Venue: Gray‟s School of Art, Aberdeen Speakers include: Richard Ashworth – SDC Colour Experience Manager – Can you believe your eyes? Malcolm Campbell – Retail and Textile Co. Malcolm will be talking about textile design, the psychology of colour and the changing elements of fashion and marketing. Amy Stephenson – Amy is a recent graduate from Central St Martins where she studied an MA in Textiles for Fashion Coco Violet – local fashion accessories boutique owner and buyer, with backgrounds in web design and sculpture. Tickets cost £5.00 and include canapés and a goody bag. For information and tickets please contact: Rachel Heeley, telephone 01224 263678, email r.h.heeley@rgu.ac.uk
London Region
Title: Everything you need to know about children‟s wear. Date: Friday 15 April Time: registration opens at 9.00am and the seminar starts at 9.45am Venue: London College of Fashion, Room G05 Lecture Theatre, 272 High Holborn, London This is a joint event with The Textile Institute. It is FREE to students, costs £5.00 to SDC and TI members and £25 to non-members. An impressive line up of speakers includes: Sonya Thomas – M&S – Children‟s wear Technologist Rob Croskel – SGS – Global Technical Consultant Oliver Dyer – Skew Studio – Licensed Product Design Dr Jo Lloyd – REACHReady – Technical Director Sue Bolton – Convenor of CEN Group on Safety of Children‟s Clothing Chair – Jean Perry – CText FTI - Consultant For registration please email: sdclondonregion@coloursmith.co.uk
A date for your diaries… Title: The chemistry of textiles Date: 17 November Time: registration opens at 14.00pm Venue: SCI Headquarters, Belgrave Square, London
We are delighted to be running this half day joint event with SCI, to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. The conference will be chaired by former MP Brian Iddon, and will include speakers from industry and a panel of retailers. For details please email: marketing@sdc.org.uk
Other events Title: Functional Raw Materials and Coatings Date: Monday 7 March Time: registration and buffet from 12.00 noon, presentations start at 13.00pm, finish at 16.30pm Venue: Salford Innovation Forum at the Salford University Business Park The Manchester Section of OCCA will hold their 10th Annual half day seminar, and SDC members are able to register at the OCCA member rate (£45.00 or £25.00 for students). The theme of this year‟s event is functional raw materials and includes a great line up of speakers. For information and registration: website www.occa.org.uk, email: Yvonne@occa.org.uk or telephone 01525 372530.
Update on the Regional Review from Peter Diggle SDC Board Trustee (Membership) I am delighted to announce that our third UK regional review meeting, held on 19 January, resulted in a “brief” and “mechanism” for taking the UK and its regions forward. The 27 topics highlighted at our previous meeting had been prioritised and assessed by Roger Wardman (Board Member responsible for Education) and the senior management team at Perkin House. These were then reviewed in the morning session by the regional members at our meeting on 19 January. We arrived at the top ten most crucial items to be considered for our future. The afternoon session was spent agreeing the scope and constitution of a UK Committee and how we take the role of the UK regions forward. It is proposed that the UK Committee (which will also be responsible for UK events) will be chaired by the SDC Board member responsible for membership and will include a representative from each of the UK regions as well as representatives from Ambassadors, Colleges, Companies and Perkin House staff. It is intended that the Committee should meet mainly by conference call and electronically with at least one full meeting per annum at Perkin House. All the recommendations were approved unanimously at the Board meeting on 9 February. As I am due to step down at the next election, this will be my last newsletter and I would like to thank you all for your help and support over the years. The last couple of years of change have been difficult for all concerned but I believe, from the background work done and the platform presented with the UK Committee, we have the opportunity to take the SDC forward for future generations. I extend my best wishes to you and my successor. Society of Dyers and Colourists, PO Box 244, Perkin House, 82 Grattan Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 2JB, England. T: +44 (0)1274 725138 F: +44 (0)1274 392888 E: info@sdc.org.uk W: www.sdc.org.uk