Sasha's Story
I have an MA in Spanish and Linguistics from Wadham College, Oxford and ten years of personal and professional experience in special education and autism.
I am a full time carer for my son Theo, a very lively non-verbal boy with autism. Theo is very sensory seeking, a visual learner and attracted to very strong smells and colours. The vibrant, colourful and hyperreal style of my designs is influenced by Theo’s intense sensory perception of the world.
Theo feels happiest in nature and it was by taking Theo to Harrogate’s parks and gardens that I first became inspired to create patterns. All my designs are based on photographs of exotic birds, animals and flowers taken on excursions with my son and represent a means of expressing and recording the time we spend together.
My MA: The Arts & Crafts Movement in the Digital Age
My MA Creative Practice investigates the relevance of the ethics and aesthetics of the British Arts & Crafts Movement to contemporary digital pattern design. Current trends such as slow fashion, sustainability, the rise of locally sourced artisan products can be traced back to the British Arts & Crafts Movement that emerged towards the end of the 19th century.
One of the most influential advocates for the superiority of artisan handmade objects over machine produced goods was the artist, designer, poet, novelist and socialist, William Morris (1834-1896). The lack of good quality, aesthetically pleasing furnishings led Morris to decorate his home in a medieval style. Morris’s Red House was almost entirely decorated by Morris and his friends. It was this experience that led them to set up the home furnishing company Morris, Marshall, Foulkner and Co. in 1861.
My motivation to become a designer parallels Morris’s journey. Unsatisfied by badly made fast fashion and cheap ornamentation by exploited labour in developing countries, I decided to create my own brand of clothing.
Morris’s patterns are all nature based and were inspired by long hours of observation in the gardens of the Red House and Kelmscott Manor. Like Morris’s textiles and wallpapers, all my designs are nature based, influenced by long hours of observation and photography practice in local gardens.
