About me
Lucy Ilsley is a Mixed Media Textile Designer specialising in the exploration of colour, using innovative materials and fabric manipulation. She produces one off bespoke products and textile materials for fashion but likes to leave her work open for interpretation.
Lucy’s work tickles the senses by her continuous investigations into texture, bold colour schemes and 3D structures. She takes her inspiration from anywhere and anything, finding the beauty in every imperfection and curious feature within her surroundings.
Every project begins with research trips and a starting point, generally a word or definition that she can break down. She visits many galleries, museums and places of interest collecting imagery and drawing inspiration. Here she analyses her discoveries, extracting colours and revealing unusual patterns and shapes.
Lucy can apply her textile practice to hard and soft surfaces or a combination of the two, forming unique materials that could work for either fashion or interior purposes. These combined traditional and contemporary techniques along with Lucy’s perceptive eye for colour and alternative materials are used to create her quirky fashion accessories and 3D fashion fabrics. Lucy has also been selected as one of the 24 designers for the TexSelect mentorship programme 2018.
Projects
- SWITCH OFFThis project seeked to explore anxiety and promote the awareness of mental health. Lucy wanted this project to be personal and reach out to others who suffer as she has with anxiety. It is something that affects many people's wellbeing and is often stigmatised. Her main aim was to produce textile samples for fashion and fashion accessories that can help the wearer get through the day feeling happy and positive. The resulting pieces are distracting and provide reassurance. She believes this has b
- Life's ComponentsA project inspired by computing, circuits and coding. Lucy gathered her main primary research from the Robots exhibition at The Science Museum in London and The National Computing Museum where she was drawn to the amazing structures, textures and shapes found beneath the surfaces of machinery. Secondary research came in the form of artists such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Paco Rabanne and Issey Miyake. Her aim was to explore the concept of what we would look like wearing the technology we rely so heavily on today. We lead such busy lives you could say we behave robotically, Lucy wanted to expose these ‘mechanisms’ from under the skin in a playful, tactile and colourful manner.
Work history
Fabrics ConsultantMisan Fabrics
London, United KingdomFull Time
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Studio AssistantJane Bowler
- London, United KingdomInternship
Working as a Studio Assistant for fashion designer, Jane Bowler. I experienced how to run a successful business and assisted with new collections both designing and making. This included choosing colour schemes and producing work that would be sold to customers. I was also given the opportunity to interact with clients and arrange meetings.
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Skills
- Digital Embroidery
- Embellishment
- Fabric Manipulation
- Digital Print
- Laser Cutting
- Mixed Media
- Colour Compositions
- Design Innovation
- Experimental
- Alternative Materials
Education
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BA (Hons) Textile Design ARTS UNIVERSITY AT BOURNEMOUTH (AUB)
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
First-class honours.
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Art and Design Foundation Diploma Bucks New University
- High Wycombe, United Kingdom
Distinction
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Awards
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The Dean's Prize for the Faculty of Art, Design and ArchitectureARTS UNIVERSITY AT BOURNEMOUTH (AUB)
Lucy presented an interesting project challenging conventions and using innovative methods and textures to explore the boundaries of materials and design.