Being in Sweden was a fantastic experience for learning about textiles in another country. They used to produce 40% of the worlds textiles, so everything was quite textile based in and around the town I was living in, so there was always a focus on design around me which was really inspiring. The way of life in general was of a much slower, calmer pace than in London, and I really enjoyed having the time to think clearly about my work and take inspiration from my surroundings. Swedish people were really keen to involve us in their culture, and were always planning evenings where we could go and take part in their traditions and festivals. It was a great way to see what life is like for them and to meet local people too. I feel I learnt a lot about their way of life, and especially in terms of how different the school was there. We still had projects to be getting on with, but had a completely different structure as to what we have at Chelsea, which took some getting used to, but was actually a really relaxed way of learning. There was a focus on the design process, which helped me tackle some of my weaknesses in design and helped me deal with how to get my ideas onto paper, and how to communicate them to people. I took classes in Knit, Print and Embroidery, and a short theory/concept course. The Knit class was more of an extension of what I had already learnt at chelsea, where we were making samples rather than working with a project, but I got to learn how to use computer technology with the knitting machines, and learnt how to knit on a more industrial level. They had a huge amount of machines at the school which was great to be able to use, and I feel I gained a lot of experience with using them. I specialise in print at Chelsea, so I don’t have any plans as of yet to use the skills I learnt in Sweden, but I know I would be able to use them competently if I wanted to in the future. The Print classes were again an extension on what I already knew from my first year, but I really gained in confidence, especially during the screen printing workshops where we could be really experimental. When I returned to London, I was able to use the skills I had improved in Sweden, with the Indigo project and used a series of techniques through open screens on some of my prints. I had never experimented with embroidery before, so the workshops we had for hand and machine embroidery were really interesting. I don’t think I experimented with these techniques as much as I could have, however, I am now able to use the software and have an understanding of how to use embroidery and I am looking forward to doing some experimentation in future projects, in combination with print. The Theory/concept course was a really interesting course to learn how to express the design process behind a project, how to communicate ideas through a presentation, and to get to grips with the research of a project. We worked in groups for this class which was a challenge in itself - only one of four other girls had a good understanding of English, but we helped each other and managed to communicate really well. They were happy to have improved their english by the end of the course, and I feel so much more confident in talking to people and communicating/expressing my ideas.
There was such an avid interest in fashion and textile design in Sweden, it was such a resourceful place to study for Textile students, and there were a lot of fashion shows and markets regularly organised, that were selling textiles by local designers. This was really inspiring, but also a great opportunity to see what people were making in the ‘industry’. There were a lot of opportunities for the students at the school, as they had great links with local businesses and companies who offer sponsorships to fund their projects.
I feel that I learnt a lot over all about myself as a person, and how I work, which has helped me greatly in returning to Chelsea, with being focused on the next stage of my degree, and eventually what I want to do after my graduation. I have grown in confidence with my practice, and I now feel capable of producing work that will hopefully provide me with a long career in the Textile industry.
My blog has been really helpful during my exchange studies because it allowed me to really reflect on the work I had been doing and I also really enjoyed updating it with what I had been up to. I think I learnt more about the exhibitions I went to, the shows I had seen, and the work i had produced by writing about it, and I can now look back over the things I did in an informative way, and use my experience with my projects back home.
