Sara Nevay Textile Designer

Main Designs and Developments: Visual CV To Date

Amazon Wish List

My design work has led me most recently back to my concerns as to the notion of preciousness and attitudes towards care and value of possessions. Research into textile preservation has pointed me in the direction of a rather fantastic book which is top of my Amazon Wish List:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0750667907/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=110XTJ3HC9N331V589PK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

One day. One day...

Cutting away Seams:

Ordinarily these would be thrown away, but I have rescued them. I am unsure as to what they will emerge as as I develop my ideas but for the moment I am enjoying photographing them and getting lost as to what they could be or could mean, having been severed from their original state.

Re-Worked

Compact by Nicola Reed

Re-Worked

A recent success in my own work has come via a collaboration between myself and my good friend, and talented jeweller (also a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone 2010), Nicola Reed. Nicola and I, having cited one another as inspiration/competition (!) throughout our final year, (as we both employed techniques from one anothers disciplines in creating our final collections), applied to Craft Makers Award: Dundee with our 'Re-Worked' brief:

‘Re-worked’, is a collaboration between Sara Nevay and Nicola Reed, First Class Honours graduates of Duncan of Jordanstone, Textile Design and Jewellery and Metal Design respectively. We plan to examine the process of reworked and reused vintage materials and how the destructive process of rusting, used in our case as an organic ‘print’ and deconstructive element, can highlight the idea of preciousness in modern materials. We aim to combine disciplines which will, as we adapt to working independently of University, arm us with further knowledge and skills as each of us plan to enlist techniques and materials traditionally associated with the other’s specialism; we each touched upon this in our final year projects which were shown at the Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show this May. We plan, too, to explore the process of working between two cities, Sara based in Dundee and Nicola, Inverness, strengthening the craft links Dundee has with its graduates. The project aims to work constructively with the nature of our chosen materials and processes, (rusting being a lengthy process and our working in separate studios for the most part), allowing us to explore in depth, the growth of our project and chart our own progress as new designers chronologically. The project will take place by posting designs, as well as swapping reworked materials, at different stages to see how they can be incorporated effectively into designs and used for their mark-making potential. Posting will act as markers in time of the decaying process, allow for regular revision of our work and growth of our designs and ideas as they are realised, and test the strength of our reworked samples as they are exposed to our design processes. We hope to learn much through adapting to circumstance and working further with our materials as they change in each other’s hands. We plan, too, to collaborate and document the project stage by stage, in an online blog where we can share ideas in a more immediate platform and in a sense ‘work together’ whilst living in separate cities.

http://re-workedproject.blogspot.com/

We were both elated to recieve support from the Craft Makers Award: Dundee, as both a boost in confidence and an opportunity to push the project further than we could have ourselves in terms of finance and backing.

Post University - The Day Job

I am currently employed by Halley Stevensons Dyers and Finishers Ltd in Dundee who are a leading manufacturor of waxed/oiled cottons.

http://waxedcotton.com/

Being based in Dundee and having international contracts means I have the best of both worlds; I can stay in Dundee, (a city I am convinced is on the cusp of some wonderful creative BOOM), and have experience in preparing for design shows and conventions across the globe.

My primary role within the factory is based within the Sample Dept. where i collect, cut and mount new colours and qualities of waxed cottons. It is a time-consuming job but with Spotify as my most immediate colleage, a pair of pinking shears and a long to do list, my day is full. I learn lots. The repetitive nature of producing large quantities of any given sample requests is, I find, rather therapeutic and I enjoy the design processes I employ to get the job done to a high standard. My role fulfills my love of research, collecting and collating, organising, recording and observing.

I make these using various cutting methods/machines:

And I make them by the bucket load...

These are the most basic form of sampling that I fullfill - a broad spectrum of colours and finishes to cater to all. When working with the designers here I can help in the preparations for big design shows like Premier Vision and Milano Unica and work on more specific forms of presentation to contextualise the fabrics for designer brands like Barbour, Preen, Prada, Gloverall, Topshop Unique. It is very interesting to be at one of the fore stages in a fabrics life - all the various different routes it may take, and to see how a large business prepares for an event such as Premier Vision, having been a visitor to the show in the past myself. I find it odd that I must have encountered my new colleagues as a student in awe all that time ago!

JUDE

During the degree show, I was approached by my friends Erin Ward and Lisa McLean who were at the time working on their MDes collaborative project , JUDE magazine. I knew a little of what they had in mind already so was very pleased to have been asked to be a part of their venture.

http://www.judemagazine.com/index.html

http://www.judemagazine.com/sara-nevay.html

An exciting opportunity for new creatives in Dundee - a chance to network, collaborate and be publicised.