Thanks to the on-going support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Drapers’ Company, Raw Materials will continue its journey of discovery with the material textiles.

Raw Materials: Textiles will examine a rich and little-known history that includes silk weaving, calico printing, jute spinning and the invention of dye colours – all along the banks of the River Lea. Like Raw Materials: Wood, the project research will be led by a steering group – enabling members of our local community to choose the stories we tell. Two resident artists will work alongside the project Freya Gabie and Sarah Desmarais, making new work for the end of project exhibition at the Nunnery Gallery in spring 2018.

We are also working with London College of Fashion (LCF) students, who are using Raw Materials: Textiles as a springboard for their research module. Hoping to exhibit some of their work, we are excited to see what the BA Fashion Embroidery and Print students produce.

Raw Materials wouldn’t be possible without our project partners. We will be exploring the archives of Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Haringey, Newham and Tower Hamlets, as well the institution archives at The Jewish Museum London, The Victoria & Albert Museum and the William Morris Gallery. The exhibition will also be touring to Valence House in the summer of 2018, broadening the reach of Raw Materials.

Keep checking the Raw Materials blog to follow our archive visits, research and activity – and to find out about opportunties to get involved!

#RawMaterialsTextiles