Collezioni Trends: interview with Matthew Briggs
21 January 2019 by Editor in Alumni Stories, Fashion, Sponsors, Judges & Champions
Collezioni Trends has supported TexSelect for many years, generously giving gratis a full-page advert in the magazine twice annually.
Giulia Bulgarelli, Editor in Charge at Logos Publishing, publisher of Collezioni Trends, said: “It is with great pleasure that we support the TexSelect initiative, and the young designers who participate in it. Wanting to further support their creativity, we planned an additional initiative by dedicating their own pages to the designers in the magazine. Our first such feature will be on Matthew Briggs – winner of the The Woolmark Company TexSelect Award 2018 – for the issue on Pitti Immagine Filati in Florence. The article includes his thoughts on the theme of the season, and his research and creative experience.”
Reproduced with kind permission in advance of Pitti Immagine Filati:
TexSelect aims at encouraging and supporting innovation and excellence in the textile sector, granting numerous awards to young designers, sustaining the transition between the academic world and the industry.
Collezioni Trends has long been a sponsor and promotes the initiative and the projects of the participants on its pages. Matthew Briggs, winner of The Woolmark Company TexSelect Award 2018, judged and presented in September 2018 at Première Vision Designs, showed his creations in the prestigious Parisian event, and at Intertextile in Shanghai.
Matthew tells us about the path that led him to be recognised as a young talent and a promise for the future in the field of knitwear.
How do you create your pieces?
”I specialised in the production of graphic knitwear collections, with a sophisticated use of colour and fibre. Originally from a textile engineering background, I use graphic imagery and textured weft insertion techniques on computerised knitting machines to create knitted complex and elegant fabrics”.
How would you describe your work? ”I see my work as a celebration; an intimate and satirical look at social classes. My work often touches on kitchen sink realism, using my knitwear platform to showcase my tongue-in-cheek view of British-ness”.
What are your hopes for the future? ”I’d like to continue to have a career in luxury knitwear design. I feel the world of luxury has changed a lot in the past 10 years. Streetwear is now luxury. Anything that has a level of difficulty to obtain can be luxury. I feel my graphic, urban style fits into the modern view of luxury very well”.
