Semester 1 was a refreshing start for students and teachers in the Technological and Applied Studies (TAS) faculty.

After a challenging year of ongoing adaptability and constant design project modifications, students have embraced the use of technologies within The Croydon and the design industry. Our teachers are always looking for ways to offer our students creative design exploration opportunities.

In the field of textile design, our students are encouraged to embrace new technologies whilst continuing to appreciate the value of traditional skills and techniques. This has been demonstrated across the curriculum through the range of dyeing and printing skills applied in projects from Year 7 through to Year 12.

Our enthusiastic Year 8 students had the opportunity to undertake a workshop with Pepa Martin and Karen Davis, the founders of the boutique fabric house Shibori . Unfortunately, workshop sessions the year before were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Shibori workshop enabled our students to enjoy the process of creating handmade fabrics whilst expanding their textile knowledge.

Shibori is a Japanese manual resist dyeing technique, which produces patterns on fabric. There are an infinite number of ways to bind, stitch, fold, twist, or compress fabric for shibori, and each way results in very different patterns. Students have then designed and created a shibori pyjama set inspired by Shibori and contemporary fashion designer Issey Miyake.

Our committed Year 10 students have embraced the challenge of designing vases that could feature at the Finders Keepers Markets. Students developed individual fabric designs using Adobe Illustrator. These designs were professionally digitally printed and then laser cut, in The Croydon, to individual student design specifications. Digital fabric printing enables precise reproduction of very fine lines, with strong colour consistency. Traditional textile construction techniques were then applied to create the final vase concepts.

Our ongoing vision is to ensure that students are exposed to a broad range of design fields and technologies, enabling them to confidently combine skills and techniques to develop creative and innovative future solutions.

Ms Jo Herrmann
Head of Technological and Applied Studies