Fashion students awarded bursaries from historic City of London livery company

Media Relations Team, 14 February 2019

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A mood board showing black and white photographs and black knitted fabric.

Three fashion students from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) have been awarded prestigious bursaries from the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters, one of the historical City of London's livery companies.

Beatrice Stoneham, Ben Lord and Fiona Baker were all successful in their applications for the bursaries.

The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters can trace its origins to 1589. It is one of the 108 Livery Companies that contribute to the history and traditions of the City of London.

Each year it grants educational bursaries and awards to three, talented final-year students who are undertaking research projects that may be of benefit to the knitwear and knitting industries.

Competition entries were submitted from BA and MA Fashion students from across the UK and three UWE Bristol Fashion students were shortlisted and interviewed by a panel of judges in November.

Jonathan Pears, from the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters commented, "It is rare for a university to get three awards as UWE Bristol has done this year. We were impressed with Fiona who was the first candidate to explain her work. Then Bea followed, and we thought 'wow'; these two are both very good. Then Ben followed on and we all thought, 'now we have a problem'. We could not separate them. They were all very good. They are definitely a credit to UWE Bristol."

Bea's work was developed from a body of research into the role of shadows and negative space in Japanese architecture. These ideas were applied to the body to help generate silhouette and shape. Bea used yarns sourced entirely from local safe waste schemes, and applied a zero waste approach to her pattern cutting techniques.

Fiona said: "I am incredibly happy to have been awarded the bursary. It makes me very proud that they appreciate my work. I have such a passion for knitting and this bursary makes it possible for me to continue to develop my skills and gives me some freedom to experiment with better quality materials, I am extremely grateful!"

Ben states that he will use the award to source yarns for his final collection and portfolio. Ben hopes to study Menswear in Italy at Post Graduate level, and is delighted with the competitive edge this award will give him.

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