Researcher's resume
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Institution: University of Brighton, School of Architecture and Design
Employed since 1990 in the Department of Fashion Textiles at the University of Brighton I have been involved in the delivery of technical knitting tuition on the Master of Design and B.A.(Hons) programmes, with a specilaism in CAD/CAM.
Prior to this my experience was in knitwear design and particularly its practical interpretation into industrial production.
In Spring 2009 I was awarded a University Fellowship in Teaching a Learning, which will enable me to develop learning aids for knitting CAD/CAM for use alongside my teaching remit and explore general good practise within this field.
After graduating in 1981 with a B.A.(Hons) in Knitted Textile Design with Business Studies, I was initially employed by a private label company to develop their men’s knitwear range. Being placed in front of what was then a ‘state of the art’ computer and asked to design a collection and get the sample garments made, was a turning point for me. In 1983, computers were not part of everyday life in the UK and certainly had not been included in my design education, so the learning curve was exceedingly sharp.
Latterly, working freelance with companies in the UK and abroad, in both knitwear design and consultancy, I developed my own design consultancy business.
During my time as an undergraduate, whilst on a 'sandwich' year spent in industry I designed and sampled circular jacquard fabrics in the mill of Jonothan Thorpe and Sons Successors Ltd., near Huddersfield. It was here that my fascination with the mechanics of knitted textile production was fostered into a productive skill.
Designing men’s knitwear design in industy introduced me to different production methods, and as the studio was situated within the factory, I integrated this accrued knowledge into the design process, in a symbiosis of skills, each taking their contextual preference. Understanding how something is created increases the likelihood of being able to alter and improve it.
It was also during my time as a student, whilst employed in Selfridge’s of Londons' Outsize Womenswear department that my professional interest in body shape and clothing sizing first emerged. Having always been a larger size myself, the selection of clothing available and consumer choices in this market already held personal fascination.
As a young person finding desirable, affordable clothes was a challenge and this did not change with age. Hovering between a UK 16 and 20, in the doldrums between ‘normal’ sizes and ‘outsizes’ for most of my life, finding huge differences between retailers ‘standard’ dimensions, I made a large proportion of my own clothing and rarely bought anything that did not need altering to fit. With the Internet came my discovery of women (particularly those in America) who were not satisfied either, among them Sandra Betzina and Barbara Deckert, both of whom recognise non-standard women’s shape. Domestic pattern making software became available and I embraced this alongside knit design software. Training on commercial pattern making software at the University further enhanced my skills.
Awareness of changing body size and shape is evident in the media, and the existence of programme like Trinny and Suzannah’s ‘What not to Wear’, which together with the launch of new magazines aimed at the older woman (Bust in the USA) and the ‘thinking’ teenager (??Sense??) lead me to believe a sea-change may be underway. It will be a slow process, requiring fresh strategies but eventually clothing retailers will be persuaded to cater for the full range of female body shapes, enhancing not only the consumer’s choice, but their own turnover.
It may one day be possible to wander into a clothing shop, choose something, slip a smartcard containing your body details into a terminal, see a screen visualisation of yourself in your chosen style and order it online as a custom made item. In order to enable communication between designer, manufacturer and consumer verbal and visual description of a larger range of body shapes will be required alongside electronic data. Part of this vocabulary in the knitwear industry may stem from this research.
In pursuit of my belief that the aesthetics of design and the mechanics of production are intrinsically interdependent, I have trained to programme and operate flat-bed industrial CAD/CAM knitting machinery from a design perspective which has necessitated engagment with technical issues as well as purely aesthetic or commercial ones. My experience in industry was on Dubied Jet2s and the Ducad design system, Universal MA design systems and MC machines and older Dubied JDRs, plus RTRand SPJ circulars. Latterly at the University of Brighton my involvement was with a Universal MC611 and a range of manual and electronically controlled hand flat machines. SInce 2000 I have progressed to the latest Shima Seiki SDS1 programming system and a Shima Seiki SES102ff machine, which is where my practise now resides. A brief outline of this project is available on the University Research Student Division website.
I also practise on and teach PC based Designaknit 7 Pro software.
Throughout my career as a designer I have lectured in Knitted Textiles and Knitwear design in educational institutions at B.Tec, H.N.D., Degree level as well as in Further and Adult Education.
In the late 1980s and early 90s I established and delivered the City and Guilds Course in Creative Machine Knitting at Lewes Tertiary College.
During 1990 I facilitated workshops in Creative Knitting and lectured on Designing for Industry at "Threads '90", The International Textile Arts Festival in Bradford.
Exhibitions
A garment from this research project entitled "BIG on Detail", was exhibited as part of 'Blurring the Boundaries: Innovation in Contemporary Knitting' at the Fairfield Gallery, Australia, summer 2006.
Curator, British Hand Knitting Confederation Student Awards Exhibition, NEC, 2006, 2007, 2008
Organiser of The Big Knit In, Brighton, 2005, 2006, 2007 , 2008
Conference Presentations
IFFTI* International conference, London, April 2009
'Include 2007', Helen Hamlyn Research Centre, Royal College of Art, London 2-4th April 2007 (read the paper)
'In the Loop' , WInchester College of Art, July 2008 (see the image and read the abstract)
Knitting 2005, Global Challenges, Innovative Solutions, William Lee Innovation Centre, University of Manchester, UK, June 20-12, 2005 (see the image and read the abstract)
Consultancies
Design consultant for:
"Rooster Pattern Book One", Rooster Yarns, 2006
Publications
Profiled in Selvedge, September 2006
"The Cool Girl's Guide to Crochet", Parragon, (contributor), 2006
"The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting", Parragon, (contributor), 2005
“Double Bed Machine Knitting Explained”, University of Brighton, 1997
“Woolcraft”, BBC publications, (contributor), 1993.
Guest appearances on ITV's "Woolcraft" programme, (August 1990, and May 1993
Qualifications
Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methodology, University of Brighton, 2004
Stage 1 Certificate in Education, Thames Polytechnic, 1987
BA(Hons) Fashion Textile Design with Administration, Brighton Polytechnic, 1981
Awards
Postgraduate Student Research Prize - IFFTI conference 2009 (read article)
Award for Excellence in Facilitating Teaching and Learning - University of Brighton, 2008
Royal Society of Arts - HIghly Commende, 1980
*International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes
Text, images and information ©Vikki Haffenden 2009. Any reproduction can only be with the written permission of the copyright owner.