UK denim education goes from strength to strength
12/01/2022
He said: “The UK has always had an important relationship with denim and indigo, from Queen Boudicca, woad and the British engineers who designed the draper looms that supplied many of great American mills in the late 1800s, to the countless British designers who have ended up in some of the best denim companies.”
He said it is no coincidence British graduates get snapped up early in their careers, having an ability to design commercial collections but remaining very creative. “Many UK graduates also have a self-belief and confidence they can design anything,” he added.
Mohsin worked as a designer before teaching his first short course at his alma mater, Westminster University, in 2005. This expanded to 15 other colleges on rotation as word spread.
For the past seven years, he has run or co-led longer denim projects with Royal College of Art and Ravensbourne University London. Teaming up with Andrew Olah and the Kingpins team, Ravensbourne has collaborated with Transformers ED to bring denim education to a wider audience around the world. “For the last three years we have designed the 12-week course to include Kingpins Show and Transformers Foundation members, so that the students can learn from the denim supply chain,” said Mr Sajid. “The wonderful thing is we have also brought in many established designers to teach and lecture along with us: Sue Barrett, Miles Johnson, Malin Ekengren, Rowan Hunt, Jessica Gebhart, Amy Roberton, Salli Deighton, the list is endless!”
For 2022, there are a number of courses in the pipeline: Kingston MA denim project (January to March); LCF BA denim project (March to June); Central Saint Martins menswear BA denim project, with Miles Johnson (May and June); Ravensbourne BA denim project (September to December); and an RCA MA denim project.
Past years’ programmes have been supported by denim shows Kingpins, Denim PV and Bluezone, and mills Kaihara Denim, Kurabo Denim, Candiani Denim, Cone Denim, Bossa, Orta Anadolu, Isko, Artistic Milliners, Artistic Garment Industries, Artistic Fabric Mills and Crescent Bahuman, among others.
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