An eight-day ‘Design and Make’ workshop at LCF’s Golden Lane site saw eight candidates learning valuable industry craft skills.
As part of LCF’s Better Lives initiative, the course was in aid of Art Against Knives which helps young people with limited access to higher education to learn new skills. Art Against Knives was started when a fashion student was unexpectedly attacked with a knife outside Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design over five years ago.
The workshop was aimed at proving that areas typically associated with knife crime are not necessarily so, and hoped to teach trainees useful craft skills which would change the association of violence and knives in the region.
The eight-day sessions have been a huge success and students felt that they learned a lot from the classes: “The course made me realise that I have a passion and a talent for design which I didn’t know I had and is making me reconsider what I want to do in the future” said one pupil.
A representative from Art Against Knives thanked the LCF and said: “Access to professional facilities and the expertise of LCF staff was an incredible opportunity for the young people involved in the project.
“This was reflected in their overwhelmingly positive feedback. We would like to thank everyone from LCF who helped make the project such a success. We are really looking forward to continuing to work together in the future.”
Andrew Lee, Subject Leader, Fashion Film Practice, Graduate School also celebrated the workshops as a success: “It would be a crime if the creativity and commitment of the participants was left unexplored – and for two weeks, Dai Rees and the team helped each one with that exploration. They exhibited skills and personal outlooks that would make any educator or employer proud.”
The apprentice-style learning was led by LCF staff who had all volunteered to work on the project, a number of whom had never worked with initiative like this in the past such as Tracy Kench, LCF Accessories Technician who said “I felt very proud of all the young people involved for what they achieved in such a short space of time.
“Each bag was so different and unique and it was exciting to see each design progress to the finishing stages. Because they had no experience of working with leather before they were much more inventive in their approach to surface decoration and finishings.”
The Better Lives initiative is constantly working to use fashion, as a discipline, to drive change, build a sustainable future and improve the way we live.
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