FORMER Glasgow Clyde College student, Katie Roberts-Wood, was a double winner at International Talent Support (ITS) – an international creative competition judged by experts in fashion, jewellery and art.
Katie won the Fashion Collection of the Year and the Vogue Talent Award for Fashion at a ceremony in Trieste, Italy. She was awarded a prize of €15,000, will feature in Vogue Italia and will also be on the judging panel of next year’s International Talent Support.
Commenting on her win, Katie said: “The best thing about winning the ITS Collection of the Year prize is that I am now able to develop another collection which I will show at the event next year. This is an amazing opportunity because the prize money will enable me to further develop my ideas and techniques within a new collection.”
After studying HND Fashion Design at Glasgow Clyde College (formerly Cardonald College), Katie moved to the Royal College of Art where she has recently completed a MA in Fashion Womenswear. She submitted her striking MA collection to ITS.
Talking about the inspiration behind the collection, Katie said: “The name of my MA collection was ‘SYNCH’ as I was looking at synchrony in nature. I was inspired by patterns in mathematics and nature such as fractals and tessellations.
“I have a fascination with visual repetition and chose to concentrate on the form of a wave, which is commonly represented in mathematical, scientific and natural forms.
“By using opposing colours on each side of the waves I was able to create flashes of colour and a digital-looking optical effect, which shifts when the wearer moves.”
Prior to joining Glasgow Clyde’s prestigious School of Fashion, Textiles and Jewellery, Katie studied Medicine at the University of Glasgow. Her time in a traditional academic setting has influenced the way she studies and her design work.
She said” “My studies in medicine have given me a completely unique perspective as a designer. Although I work very creatively, I also have a side that can be quite methodical and analytical and this is more the scientific side of me.
“The themes of my work are often heavily influenced by biological or natural phenomena which I think stems from my science background.
“I also loved studying anatomy as part of my medical degree and this is an incredibly interesting and unusual education to have had as a fashion designer, as both disciplines deal in different ways with the human body.”
Commenting on her time at the college’s School of Fashion, Textiles and Jewellery, Katie said: “The design and manufacture course at Glasgow Clyde was incredibly useful in giving me a very solid grounding in all the key skills you need as a designer.
“I graduated with a really strong base of skills from which to go on to develop my design work and achieve a standard that allowed me to move on to the Royal College of Art.
“I also think the encouragement and advice that I was given by tutors whilst I was studying there was completely invaluable, it was only through their support that I was able to gain the confidence to apply to RCA.”
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