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Beth has developed her own Ethos, which she follows during every project. As her research informs her, her ethos is further enriched. Adhering to her ethos from project infancy, sustainability is inherently at the core of each design, so creativity in aesthetic approaches can be allowed to flourish.
Motivated by problem solving in sustainable design contexts, Beth occupies the space between knitted textile design and sustainability theory: an interesting space to be.
With a strong focus on the preservation of creativity in design, Beth believes that sustainability need not be perceived as a limitation in design.
Inspired by her on going research into what ‘sustainable practice’ can mean, Beth takes note of academic theories within the realms of aspirational goals and applies this to the actual making process, working from ‘the bottom up’.
She intervenes in current systems for textile product life cycles and seeks to inspire and facilitate educated and responsible change.
Beth strives for transparency within her supply chains; encouraging designer and consumer understanding of the impact of material choices is at the forefront of her practice.
Material education through narratives embedded in textiles is an important educational tool, which Beth utilises to embed explorative sustainable design principles from project infancy.
Designing for disassembly, circular design principles, mono-fibre strategies, natural dyeing and designing for biodegradability are just some of the approaches which Beth explores within her personal practice, collaboratively and within her consultancy projects.
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MATERIAL CHOICES
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For Beth, material choice is a fundamental design decision which should be lead by contextual specifications. She allows her materials to lead the design process; instead of forcing yarns and fibres into structures, she experiments with making processes until she finds structures which allow yarns to behave naturally. The challenge this creates fascinates Beth, who is inherently an inquisitive problem solver.
This application of materials creates design solutions which celebrate the qualities of yarns often seen as less desirable, such as British Wool. By resolving application of these often problematic materials and forming luxury fabric outcomes, Beth celebrates fibres and discourages the industry wide reliance on polyester and cotton.
One context for Beth’s work is the removal of elastic and petrochemical based materials from her processes, facilitating biodegradability. An extensive understanding of knitted stitch structures enables Beth to engineer stretch and shaping without relying on synthetic stretch.