Featured: Work by Alice Aphra
Getting to know more about Alice Aphra – Guild Graduate in 2024
2024 Guild Graduate Alice Aphra opted to specialise in embroidery during her degree at Nottingham Trent University, having developed a love of tactility and mixed materials. Placements at Hermione De Paula and Hand & Lock further embedded her embroidery passion, especially for digital embroidery, where she gained an insight into its vast potential for creativity. This no doubt helped Alice go on to secure the Wilcom Associate prize at New Designers 2024.
In contrast to the modernity of digital stitch Alice’s project focussed on traditional identity and heritage, exploring these themes through the lens of “The Pub”. By subverting traditional design formats Alice championed the mixing of heritage with modern storytelling in a compelling way.
“The Pub” celebrates the rich history, quirky details, and tight-knit communities that make pubs such beloved institutions. Inspired by my grandad’s love of trying local boozers and the nostalgic imagery found inside them, I’m drawn to the curious trinkets and ornaments that often adorn the walls. It playfully explores collage and scale as well as incorporating handwritten elements from my grandfather’s pub journals and prints commonly found in traditional taverns. Celebrating our shared social heritage and the sense of belonging many of us associate with our local. I really enjoy subverting traditional design formats and I hope to continue to champion the mixing of heritage with modern storytelling in a compelling way as I grow in my practice.
The collection offers both bespoke options for hospitality venues as well as more domestic products for the home. Both are intrinsically linked by the importance of transforming spaces into somewhere familiar and sociable whilst still feeling new and revived.
During my Textile Design degree at Nottingham Trent I specialised in embroidery, motivated by my love of tactility and mixing materials. I undertook a placement year in which I had internships with both Hermione De Paula and Hand & Lock. The combination of these two organisations offered a huge breadth of learning about the industry and gave me an insight into the rich history of embroidery craftsmanship and the incredible scope of digital embroidery. In my final year at NTU I was able to develop my skills in digital embroidery in more unusual ways which led to me securing the Wilcom Associate prize at New Designers 2024.
I love all sorts of embroidery artists for all sorts of reasons, but if I had to narrow it down to a couple it would be Michele Carragher, I love the beauty of her fantastical aesthetic, how she uses materials and incorporates three dimensions. Also, Karen Nicol, her use of materials and how she works with scale. I find the work of artist Jo Taylor a huge inspiration, I love the way she captures form and dynamic movement with her use of line and brush marks. I am also influenced Japanese ink drawings, how the essence of a subject can be captured with a minimum of marks, although it can be a challenge to stick to the ethos “less is more” and have the confidence and faith in simplicity.
Although I have explored a variety of subjects in my work, identity and heritage can always be seen as a strong thread in every project or brief I undertake. These core themes provide a consistent undercurrent throughout my creative explorations. My most recent project ‘The Pub’ continues to explore these themes, celebrating our shared social heritage and the sense of belonging many of us associate with our beloved local. I really enjoy subverting traditional design formats and I hope to continue to champion the mixing of heritage with modern storytelling in a compelling way as I grow in my practice.
All work featured by Alice Aphra
Follow her on Instagram to see photos and videos of her work : @aliceaphra
And Nottingham Trent University: @ntutextiledesign