Welcome to my first and last blog, and congratulations for finding me whilst digging in the darkness of the web universe.
Disclaimer number 1: please exit the blog now if gramatical mistakes made by foreigners annoy you.
My name is Silvia and I am a clothing designer based in Manchester (UK).
I would like to share with you bits of my profesional life and maybe inspire like-minded individuals into the world of clothing design.
I am not from Manchester. I am from Madrid (Spain) and as a teenager in the 80's, I grew up loving everything that came from Manchester: mainly the music scene (acid house parties, underground raves, epic local bands like Joy Division, The Smiths and later on the Stone Roses...I could carry on and on and on...); the fashions that came from Manchester and local designers like Red or Dead; the beautiful and eclectic architecture of this city; and even better, the character of many of the locals, who in general I find funny, warm and super friendly. So, one day when I was 17 years old, I decided to catch a plane (with my parent's written permission, of course, because I was under-age) and spent a summer in a town near Manchester, with some Mancunian friends I had made whilst holidaying in Benidorm with my family one summer. And that what's it, I totally became a Spancunian and was never able to set roots in my home country anymore, I went back and forwards between Spain and the U.K. for a few years, but once I obtained my profesional certificate (a degree in fashion design with industrial pattern cutting, carried out at Goymar, a prestigious private fashion school in Madrid for three years), I permanently moved to Manchester and made it my home. That was 1994.
So, now you know how it all started, let me take you to my latest venture, which is relocating to a new workshop in Thorniley Studios, where I will be working from very soon, after spending more than 10 years in a really inspiring art space, which unfortunately was too cold in winter so I am giving it up and reluctantly downsizing for the sake of being warm. I know, first world problems, but hey!
So here is a little shaky video I took yesterday, walking 5 meters away to my new studio in the same city, in the same street, on the same floor and in the same corridor, leaving my old studio behind. Now you know what it looks like before I start redecorating, and editing my incredibly huge load of tat, industrial machines, mannequins, boxes and rolls of fabrics and materials, vintage tools and furniture, and broken dreams (aka "unfinished design projects").
Hope you enjoyed this, and stay tuned if you would like to know more!