Drapers Textile Awards

Tuesday evening saw the Shrewsbury Drapers Company hold their annual Young Textile Design Competition at St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury. A real celebratory event with guest speakers: The Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, The High Sheriff of Shropshire, Local Mayors, Adjudicators and Shrewsbury Drapers Company Members.

There was an outstanding variety of projects in the exhibition comprising of work from both individuals and student entrants from several Shropshire schools. Three of Sir John Talbot’s Key Stage 3 students attended the event and their submitted entries were based on their current projects. During their Textile lessons, the students have been working on an ‘Upcycling Monster Project’, where they have been designing small hand stitched monster key rings, before progressing onto larger cushions. The Sir John Talbot’s students have also been working hard on their ‘Sustainable Bag Project’, which had a focus on the environment, with the bags made from ethically sourced canvas and cotton.

The competition was tough and the students creations were judged by a team of textile professionals: Jane Mather, an expert in ladies fashion textiles and John Lewis employee; Sue Chand, a specialist in textile design; Jo Bloodworth a Lecturer at The University of Nottingham and Manager of Hunky Dory Bags in Shropshire and finally Jenny O’Leary who is a member of the Embroiderers Guild.

Despite the tough competition, it was a fantastic evening for Sir John Talbot’s School with every one of our students winning a prize: Polly Wales received a Commended certificate and Isobel Lamb received a Highly Commended certificate each for their monster cushion and keyring pieces; while Charlotte Perkins received a Highly Commended certificate for her sustainable bag project.

Sir John Talbot’s Design & Technology Teacher, Mrs Laura Barlow accompanied the group and commented: “We are so proud of our students’ success at this event, it was a very tough competition and our students did fantastically well particularly as only five prizes were issued in the category of over 14 students. The exhibition spanned across all age groups and the quality of the work was all of a very high standard. We are thrilled to add this accolade to our other successes within our faculty this academic year. Next year we intend to enter even more students allowing them the opportunity to take part in this prestigious event”.