researching ready for Self Negoitated Unit 3

Karen Spurgin spoke to us on 9 May.  She is a textile designer and she reignited my enthusiasm for working sustainably. 

Constance Howard Embroidery
 

Karen began her career working as assistant to Constance Howard, embroiderer.  Interestingly, Constance considered that we were at our most creative in WW2 because we had nothing.

Karen has her own company - Karen Spurgin Ltd and also began a collective called ao textile ltd. Her clients include Bruce Oldfield, Clements Ribiero and Richard James.

Disullusioned with the world of fashion, she was re-enthused when she began working with Christina Kim of dosa on sustainable projects which included using only organic textiles and natural dyes, recycling and upcycling.


ecouture - designed by Karen in a dosa and Aveda partnership

 
   Karen has worked in partnership with Aveda to create beautiful ecouture dresses using sustainable techniques and materials.

Karen believes in open source techniques -  sharing ideas to improve manufacturing thereby benefitting producers, consumers and the environment.