LINEN BIENNALE AT EAST BLOCK FASHION
Banana Block
21 September . 7–9.30pm.
Admission FREE. Limited number of VIP tickets available for £10.
The Linen Biennale 2023 is delighted to partner with East Block Bazaar’s Autumn Fashion Market to showcase a selection of local designer-makers who are championing the use (and re-use) of linen in innovative ways.
Little Fox Events welcomes the return of the Linen Biennale and is excited for them to join us at East Block Fashion's autumn event in Banana Block on 21st September. We can't wait to showcase six design-makers in a specially curated part of the market, and know our shoppers will love this creative collaboration celebrating one of the most sustainable and stylish fabrics in fashion.
Caroline Baker, founder of Little Fox Events
Meet The Makers
We are delighted to showcase both emerging and established designer-makers at this event.
Anastacia Mcgivern | Annie Leona | Lucy Turner | Janet Hackney | Jupiter Red Linen | Wild Kind
-
Janet Hackney is a textile artist from Co. Down and an active member of the N.I. Embroidery Guild since 2000. Her work has been sold locally and internationally and has also been included in collections of Liberty London. She has taught art, needlework, and textiles in England, Malawi, New Zealand, and Northern Ireland. She will bring a range of both custom made upcycled and vintage products mainly using linen.
-
Anastacia is Belfast based Irish and Belarusian designer who graduated from the Fashion and Textiles Design course at Ulster University in 2023. Dreamy billowing sleeves, nostalgic shapes and sentimental touches are the key ingredients to an Anastacia McGivern original. Her graduate collection entitled Post-Soviet Juvenescence was inspired by the shared experience she and other young people have of growing up in post-soviet countries, using Irish and recycled Belarusian linen in recognition of both sides of her heritage.
-
Lucy Turner works from her studio in Bangor, Co Down. She received a Masters in Fine Art from the University of Ulster. As an artist Lucy has developed her own style in printmaking pushing boundaries by developing her unique and experimental style. She creates a range of accessories using repurposed shirt linen including cushions, purses and scarves. Her designs have many layers involving screen and relief print with imagery inspired by flora fauna and fleeting observations.
-
Annie Leona McColgan is a NI based fashion designer who is committed to breathing life into local heritage and reigniting forgotten values through her brand “Annie Leona”.
Her work is endlessly inspired by Irelands wild and untamed beauty and its tales of fairies and folklore. She endeavours to unearth a thoughtful and tentative approach to fashion through her use of locally sourced materials in her recent collection “Thoughts of Home”. This collection is an encapsulation of everything that instils that ineffable sense of “home” here in Ireland from the apple orchards of Co.Armagh to the wild Atlantic shores of Donegal and pays homage to Irelands rich Linen Industry.
-
Ciara Tinney is a designer, artist & writer based in Belfast. Wildkind began with a poem written for her daughters to inspire connection to the wilds of our Island, to each other and to ourselves.
The core design concept of wildness with kindness lead to her debut Linen Collection, featuring sustainable gender neutral childrenswear, hand painted heirloom quilts & nursery decor, made with Linen woven in the north of Ireland.
The Collection is zero waste, biodegradable & designed to grow with your child. End of roll Irish linen is carefully sourced from weavers in the North of Ireland. "By handpicking this last of its kind fabric we weave the greatest commodity, time, into each garment." Off cuts from garments are used to make the Bumbóg (bumblebee), even tiny remnants are carefully collected and reused as filler.
All designs come with free lifetime repairs, plantable native wildflower labels & 10% of profits go to the Ciara's profit share for good project, The Grow Slow Initiative, helping refuge seeking & marginalised children connect to the wilds in the North of Ireland, helping to nurture a sense of place.
Wildkind is a call to come home, to our breath, to our bodies, and to our Mother, Earth.
"Nowhere else but here. Nowhere else but now"
-
The idea behind Jupiter Red was very simple – to create a range of durable, colourful, everyday linens with a commitment to craftsmanship and sustainability.
Linen gets better with age (just like you!) so don't keep it tucked away for special occasions.
I have designed a range of linens for you to use and enjoy everyday.
We Love Linen….
-
Growing up, my childhood home was an old cottage that used to make linen in days gone by and even now we still see echoes of it everywhere. Linen has always been at the very heart of our history and culture here in Ireland and I think it is so incredibly important to preserve and celebrate tradition in a world that is drowning in consumerism and throw away fashion.
Annie Leona McColgan
-
Simply choosing linen over cotton or a synthetic fabric is one simple step we can take to live more sustainably. Linen is sustainable, biodegradable & can be grown without pesticides. The flax plant has a zero waste harvest, so all parts of the plant can be utilised. The only water needed for this crop falls from the sky. Working with Linen enables me to draw on our history as linen makers in Ireland and also look forward to a more sustainable future for my daughters. I hope to see many more fields of blue growing across Ireland in the years to come.
Ciara Tinney - Wild Kind
-
I adore working with linen, the quality and range as fabric it has is unmatched for me and I treasure the link with my heritage from two parts of the world that have a rich history with linen and flax.
Anastacia Mcgivern
