I wish to congratulate
Barbara Kennington who has been appointed as the new Chairman of
TEXPRINT , the non-profit UK organization responsible for discovering and nurturing many home-grown UK textile designers. Kennington will formally take over from Julius Schofield in September this year when TEXPRINT will once again be taking part in the
INDIGO textile fair in Paris. TEXPRINT will be awarding prestigious textile prizes to this year’s winners at the Paris event, after announcing the winners in July. I remember Kennington well as I had attended her trend presentations on various occasions when she was creative director of
WGSN, the multi-million pound online fashion trend information website.
Under the leadership of
Schofield (seen here in a dark suit with Harold Tillman, chairman of British Fashion Council, at Indigo, Sept. 2009) TEXPRINT's global prominence has reached new heights. Schofield has been responsible for enlisting the support of many well-
known designers including Diane Von Furstenberg and Giles Deacon. Many of today’s achieved designers are alumni of TEXPRINT, such as Louise Goldin and Alice Temperley. Julius Schofield says of his successor: “I feel very proud to be handing over to Barbara. I know she will bring a new insight into the world of textiles and further help the TEXPRINT charity to develop more amazing talent from those studying at some of the UK’s leading art colleges. Barbara will be taking over in Paris at our major event later this year. In the meantime, she will be observing all the core activities involved in developing TEXPRINT’s 24 designers.” Kennington graduated from London’s Royal College of Art in the late 1970s at which time she set up her own label becoming part of London’s ‘new wave’ of design talent. Later, moving on to work as Design director for Desmond & Sons, then Coats Viyella PLC, both major suppliers to Marks & Spencer. In 1997, having developed the concept of WGSN with its founders Mark and Julian Worth, Kennington was invited to join WGSN to put the concept into action. Within 10 years WGSN became the world’s leading online fashion information site with a turnover of £30 million and upwards of 2,500 companies subscribing worldwide. Barbara Kennington says of her new role: “Having long been an advocate of TEXPRINT and admiring all it does in supporting British design talent, I was truly delighted to be offered the role of chairman. Julius Schofield is undoubtedly a hard act to follow, but I shall enjoy trying! My aim will be to continue to take TEXPRINT forward, exploring new aspects of communication (both online and offline), new ways of promoting our extraordinary wealth of design talent, and also finding new connections within the wider global industry.”
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