Behind the scenes, we have been having many conversations with members of our textile community on how we shape our unique co-working makers space to future proof Bristol Textile Quarter for the next 10 years!
We want to make our space the best it can be and have been fortunate enough to enlist the vision of @peopleandspaces to help us refocus and reimagine BTQ going forward… watch this space
December 3, 2024
Central Saint Martins graduate Maisy Crawford, aka Cowgrl has joined BTQ as our latest member.
Maisy specialises in crochet and her vibrant and crazy handmade pieces are inspired by joy and freedom. Eash piece is made to order by Maisy here in Bristol.
November 29, 2024
We are incredibly proud to be working once again with Bath Spa University in offering one of their Fashion & Textiles graduates a fully funded 8 month placement at Bristol Textile Quarter.
We are thrilled to welcome Ellen Ralph to the studio – Ellen specialises in gender neutral and womenswear. Ellen’s graduate collection explored her Welsh heritage and she created unique textiles out of second hand clothes, dead stock materials and crochet. The collection was a celebration of the unique connection between Welsh history adn the culture of the Argentinian Gaucho.
November 19, 2024
Bristol Textile Quarter is very excited to be throwing open the doors once again for Open Studios!…read on
November 8, 2024
As Bristol Textile Quarter goes into its 10th year (!), there is much planning and plotting behind the scenes to future proof our unique textiles studios in the heart of Bristol… Read on
September 17, 2024
Thrilled to have new residents join us at BTQ over the last couple of months.
Its exciting to welcome new practices into the studio and we cannot wait to see what is created. Jemima Smale is a creator of all things custom for Drag, burlesque and theatre.
And Anna Hambridge is a textile designer and maker, specialising in knitted and felted fabrics. They join Natra Studios and Sophie Bowen who moved in last month
May 10, 2024
Sophie Bowen has joined BTQ as one of our latest members.
Sophie is an artist and maker who works with natural dyes, print and hand embroidery techniques to connect to nature and mindfulness whilst maintaining a conscience for sustainability. Drawing is at the heart of her creative practice using it as an intuitive and contemplative tool to create a sense of movement and flow. Marks made initially with brush and ink are translated through a variety of textile processes.
April 30, 2024
Dates for your diary …Read on
April 5, 2024
Natra Studios is a new label by Apparel and Footwear designer Rebecca Miller.
Mixing casual wear and sportswear from material selection to cut lines. All fabrics and trims have been hyper locally sourced in Bristol, UK. Orders will be handmade and work on a preorder system in order to avoid overproduction.
March 15, 2024
Alice crafts living architectural-textile creations that invite us to contemplate how we can co-exist with nature, challenging our separation from the natural environment and expanding our ideas of how we might interact with the species and ecologies around us. Her current work is centred around creating textile scaffolds from which living entities such as plants, bacteria, and mycelium flourish.
Stitch Field offers an alternative to the plastic-filled warehouses of plants associated with hydroponic systems by using knitted sheep’s wool as substrate and replacing engineered crops with locally occurring plants.
Alice hand-knits fibre sculptures that are each embedded with seeds, creating patterns suited to the needs of each seed species—whether it grows best in a divot, pocket, or row. For this site-specific installation at the Benton, she has chosen seeds of locally occurring California plants with either edible or medicinal properties.
February 14, 2024
We had a fantastic first MMM of the year with so many repairs tackled whilst a gentle flow of conversation and knowledge exchange filled the studio – One of the participants felt that not only had she repaired her clothes but that the session had been ‘soul mending’ – a truly cathartic few hours.
Look out for new dates for upcoming sessions, they will be posted on Instagram and in Events.
February 12, 2024
Our 2023/24 Graduate placement in collaboration with Bath Spa is knitwear designer Rhianna Davenport, aka @studioohaf. Rhianna joined us in November, having graduated in Knitwear, specialising after studying BA (Hons) Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors.
Rhianna has not only been working on new ideas but has been helping fellow member Alice Marie Archer in creating the knitted ‘skins’ for Alice’s upcoming show at Benton Museum of Art in California, entitled ‘Stitch Fields’.
January 23, 2024
Introducing Fi Stewart as our newest member of BTQ!
Fi Has created La Folle – a contemporary alfresco accessories range consisting of bags, berets and fans!
La Folle is inspired by art, fashion, music, dance, dressing up, travelling the globe and general good times!
December 1, 2023
Experienced pattern cutter and seamstress Justine DK will help you make a kimono, step by step, from cutting the fabric to sewing to wearing!
Saturday 27th January 2024, save the date!
See events for more details
November 21, 2023
Hannah Kirkham of Scout and Rae popped into the studio earlier in the year for a cuppa and a chat;
‘Back in March, I found myself a short walk from Bristol Temple Meads… knocking on the door of a brick-built industrial unit… read on
November 10, 2023
Georgina Harper has joined BTQ as our latest weaving resident.
Having graduated from Falmouth University, Gina is a Woven Textile Designer with proficiency in hand and jacquard weaving. Specialising in sustainability and alternative dye practices.
October 27, 2023
Article Green has moved into our studio! Ti Green primarily designs for performance, creating costumes and sets for theatre productions. Ti is passionate about sustainable Fashion and has launched her own fashion label, Article Green.
Ti has designed a small collection of the kind of clothes that are minimal, in the way she understands the term: apparently simple, but achieved with a detailed consideration of proportion and construction. They are designed to let you move easily, carry yourself well and think on your feet, with sustainability built into the design and the production process.
October 20, 2023
Alice-Marie Archer is one of the new cohort of members to join BTQ.
Alice-Marie is a multidisciplinary practitioner with circa 10 years experience bridging science, technology and art.
‘Alice works with a craft / materials-led approach that asks of her to contemplate our human makings as hybrid worlds for coexistence with nature; to expand our imagining of how we might interact with the species and ecologies around us. Working with hand and machine-knit sheep wool Alice reimagines the forms that are possible for soilless cultivation, germinating and growing seed in her increasingly sculptural knitted artifacts. Paying attention to questions of ecological congruence, Alice sources fibre through the Fibreshed local to her work, and holds space for questions of indigeneity of seed and plant.’
Alice-Marie is part of Seam Collective
October 10, 2023
We are very excited to be planning an Open studios at Bristol Textile Quarter this coming September!
We are hoping to open up the whole building that we share with Jacky Puzey Embroidery, Bristol Weaving Mill and Dash + Miller and all the members of BTQ studios
Watch this space for more details…
August 4, 2023
Threads, a major exhibition at Arnolfini – features 21 contemporary international artists and makers, who use textiles as their chosen medium.
Celebrating material and making, these artists use the storytelling power of textiles to connect with past traditions, find commonalities between cultures, time and place, and to ‘breathe stories into materials’.*
Threads encompasses processes of weaving and spinning, rug-making, stitching and embroidery, print, knit, threading, mending and found materials, with materials and techniques handed down, reused and reinvented.
Co-curated by leading textile artist Alice Kettle, Threads weaves throughout Arnolfini’s three floors, to reveal how textiles ‘remember’**, how memory is ‘embedded within the process of making’*** and how new narratives are created.
Bristol Textile Memory Map – listen to some stories and memories shared by the local community, and find out more about Bristol’s long history of textile production and Bristol’s current textile community. Maybe go and visit some of these places on the map!
July 29, 2023
We could not be more proud of BTQ member Lizzie, aka @thebettysilk who has been a contestant on this years Great British Sewing Bee! It has been a total joy to watch her on screen and see what she created – Thrilled to have Lizzie’s amazing Dress in the studio!
We cannot wait to see what she creates next…
July 18, 2023
BTQ is delighted to continue its collaboration with Bath Spa University to offer a funded Graduate Placement studio membership for Bath Uni graduates (from 2023 or who have graduated up to 3yrs) from (BA) Textiles Design for Fashion and Interiors, Fashion Design, or MA Design (Textiles), for 9-10 months from October 2023. Please follow link to apply. The closing date is Wednesday 2nd Aug 2023.
July 14, 2023
BTQ member Amber Hards has written a book called ‘Machine Knitting Techniques: Textures and 3D effects’.
Amber has been working on this project for the last two years, during which time she had a baby! It is such an achievement and it has been a joy to watch the book come to fruition in the studio. BTQ was honoured to host the launch party for Amber at the beginning of July.
July 8, 2023
Sparks Bristol is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. From fashion and food to nature and energy, each department is designed to support people in Bristol to take easy (and often money-saving!) actions on climate, equality and wellbeing. On the ground floor explore a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Sparks has already hosted BTQ alumni Clothemod & Rebel Patch !
May 13, 2023
Lisa Matzi has launched Rebel Patch! Limited edition art patches to reinvent the iron on patch and give clothes a second lease of life…
April 28, 2023
It isn’t until you look back on the last year that you realise how much has changed and evolved and it is very exciting to share with you our progress… We move into 2023 reinvigorated and ready to welcome new faces through the doors of our studios at Bristol Textile Quarter!…. read on
February 10, 2023
Exciting times at BTQ as our shutters are having a makeover!
Getting ourselves on the map with a specially commissioned artwork from @mernywernz and @billycolours to brighten up the shutters at BTQ and Bristol Weaving Mill next door… Spring feels like it has come already!
Watch this space.
January 31, 2023
We have spaces available!
New desk spaces are available – not only do you get a private desk space but a large communal working space where makers can spread out on pattern cutting tables, utilise the machinery and other equipment whilst in the company of like-minded people plus access to an extended textile community.
A short walk from Bristol Temple Meads and Old Market, our light and airy studio offers private desks, designated storage and 24/7 access to equipment and facilities.
Email for more details and to book a viewing.
January 24, 2023
This last year has been exciting for Bristol Textile Quarter. Since the building was bought at the end of 2021, there has been much investment to improve and update the building and make it the best it can be for our members.
The latest has been the installation of new windows! The original crittall windows were amazing in the studio but they did very little to retain heat. The new double glazing may not be as aesthetically pleasing as the original, but the studio will be much more bearable in the colder months – We won’t know ourselves…
December 13, 2022
The Photostudio set up is up and running in the studio. Through grant funding, we have invested in equipment for members so that they can shoot lifestyle and product shots in the studio.
The equipment comprises of;
Get in touch if you are a small business and interested in hiring the space for photography.
November 11, 2022