Textile Designer graduate chosen to exhibit in London, now Paris!
Mon, 17 Aug 2015 01:00:00 BST
Having been selected to exhibit in London, graduate Nicola Costello has now become one of just 24 UK designers to go on to the Première Vision Fabrics exhibition in Paris
ORIGINALLY she was set on a life in music, but University of Huddersfield student Nicola Costello discovered that her true passion was for textiles and weaving in wool. She changed direction and has now become one of an elite group of promising young designers selected to display their work at prestigious exhibitions in London and Paris.
Nicola has just graduated with First Class Honours from her BSc course in Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors. In the closing stages of her studies, she was nominated by tutor Nicola Redmore – who is Senior Lecturer and Subject Leader for Textiles – as a candidate to become one of just 24 UK students selected to display their work at Texprint London, an exhibition that is established as a major showcase for young designers.
To earn her place at the exhibition, Nicola travelled to London and displayed a portfolio of her work to a panel of industry experts. They were impressed and she duly took part in the two-day Texprint show, with some 25 samples of textiles – including upholstery and blankets – woven in colours and textures that were inspired by her love of snowboarding in the French Alps.
Now, Nicola is one of Texprint’s 24 star designers who will take part in an exhibition in Paris – in between 15th to 17th September – named Première Vision Fabrics. Trade buyers and media commentators will be in attendance, making this a major international showcase. Nicola hopes that her collection – named Les Deux Alpes, after her favourite winter sports resort ... see examples of Nicola's work below ... photos courtesy of Robert Kenyon – will receive plenty of attention, because this is an opportunity to sell her designs.
Aged 26, she is a double graduate of the University of Huddersfield. As a pianist, violinist and double bassist she first completed a Bachelor of Music degree. However – while she still enjoys playing – Nicola realised her passions lay elsewhere.
“I always liked to do art and my mum helped me decide that I needed to do something visually creative. So I decided to go back to the University to do textile design,” said Nicola, who has now mastered the practical as well as the design dimensions of weaving, with a special preference for working with fine British wool.
“My family have been in Lancashire for generations,” said Nicola, who is from Rochdale. “A lot of them grew up with weaving, with mills in every town, and I grew up with stories about the local textile industry.”
Now she aims to enter the industry herself, with her University of Huddersfield degree and Texprint success as a launch pad.
