The LONDON DESIGN PRINT Fair  

Wednesday 20^th April 2016

LDPF Trade Fair is billed as ‘the most prestigious Print Design Show in London’, with the tag line reading …’showcases a unique offer of print design, embroidery, knit and vintage design to London. With all of the top international studies presenting their latest collections under one roof, the LPDF is the quintessential place to get inspired…’

Therefore as my work contains fabric-based pattern and print I decided to take a peek and double joy.. it was free – colour me happy!

The Fair was housed in Lindley Hall, the most beautiful, airy glass-domed interior selected for this event and there were a myriad stands and stalls draped and hung with fabric of every size, shape, texture and transparency imaginable. 

There were patterned silks and satins, embroidered textiles, dyed fabric, designer and vintage clothing, wedding and ball gowns, knitwear, soft furnishings and beautiful books filled with fabric samples etc. etc. 

Stallholders ranged from one off textile designers to large fashion houses. It was interesting to see such a huge and diverse range of fabric and textile designers in one space.

It was inspirational in a rather corporate and retail styleee – the majority of artist/designers I saw were either working for an existing textile company or trying hard to sell their own fabric designs to the ‘world in a suit’.

I took along some of my current figurative pattern work and the feedback was positive, also giving my email address to several ‘interested’ people, although not really sure if it was my fabric designs they were interested in (this means you Mr P. Miller from Portsmouth).

All in all, this was an event that gave me an insight into an arena which is highly competitive. At this level unless one is extremely lucky (and talented) an individual artist needs the backing of an agent or existing, established company for support. 

The work I saw on show was professionally displayed, highly individual (in part) and beautifully executed. I would recommend attending a Fair like this. It was an education.