Image: Bess Neilsen.

Join us on Zoom on Wednesday 13 January 2021, 6-8pm GMT, for an evening of talks about collecting textiles. Have you ever wanted to turn your love of textiles into a collection? Or to make your fabric stash more organised? Discover why and how textile collections are built with Sophie Roet, Esther Fitzgerald and Bess Nielsen of Khadi & Co. They will explain why they collect textiles, how their collections are used, and will answer any questions you may have. The talks will be recorded and shared with any ticket holders who are not able to join us live.

Image: Antique ribbon designs.

Sophie Roet, of Sophie Roet Textiles, works with the world’s top fashion and interiors brands, inspiring and helping develop their collections through her constantly evolving and exquisitely curated archive of vintage and antique textile designs. She also frames her unusual textiles and original textile artworks for private clients. Sophie’s own original textile designs are held in collections worldwide including the permanent collection at The Victoria & Albert Museum, Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and the Berlin Technic Museum. For over fifteen years, Sophie worked closely with Signor Nino Cerruti, providing colour and design inspiration for Lanificio Flli. Cerruti’s textile collections. She also collaborated with Sfate et Combier in Lyon and RB Enterprises in Kolkata, designing exclusive textile ranges which were purchased by leading fashion designers including Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Marni, Givenchy, Calvin Klein and John Galliano.

Image: French silk woven designs.

Esther Fitzgerald handles textiles of exceptional merit, from all cultures, covering a time span of 2000 years and has done so for the past three decades. She has been fortunate to place textiles, and collections of textiles, in major museums and institutions throughout the world. Bess Nielsen, a Danish-born fashion designer founded Khadi & Co in 2005 to cultivate her fascination with hand-woven textiles. For more than thirty years, she traveled India to work with many textile artisans.