Dash & Miller + Jessica Garvey Birch

The Company

Dash & Miller is a woven textile studio based in Bristol, working internationally across the trend, design, and manufacturing sectors of the textiles industry.   

Jessica Garvey Birch is a Digital 3D Design and Development Consultant. 

R&D Focus 

Through the BFTT project, the transdisciplinary team have created base b: The Virtual Mill, an elevated digital experience for designing and manufacturing woven fabric, currently at concept stage. Integrating digital tools with sustainable industrial production, The Virtual Mill aims to create a cleaner, more transparent, and more accessible textile industry through digital interventions.  

Extensive R&D has resulted in the development of a collection of local, traceable and circular woven textiles, that will inform the framework of the Virtual Mill. The project team have attracted further funding to continue the development of the innovative Virtual Mill digital tool. 

Team

black and white portrait of Stephanie Rolph

Stephanie Rolph

R&D Project Lead

UAL

Innovation has always played a central role in Stephanie’s work. As an award-winning graduate of CSM and the RCA (2015) Stephanie has consistently brought originality and developed innovative approaches to her research and commercial career. An involvement within the textile sector that spans diverse industries as Fashion, Couture, Interiors, Automotive and R&D. This has led to collaborations with clients in New York, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia Japan and the UK. Alongside this professional career that focus’ on Design Driven material innovation Stephanie also works as a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins (CSM). Her current role as Project Lead for Doppelhaus brings together her commercial design expertise, with innovative non-woven manufacturing technology.

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Juliet Bailey

R&D Company Lead

Dash & Miller

Juliet’s specialism lies in the design and development of sustainable and innovative woven textiles, through a combination of hand-crafted processes and CAD. As Co-Director and founder of Dash and Miller woven textile design studio and The Bristol Weaving Mill woven prototyping and manufacturing facility. Juliet has a deep understanding of brand identity and works from the fibre up to create original and viable designs and woven products. With over 16 years of industry experience working within the textile supply chain, Juliet is passionate about utilising design as a solution to move towards a more sustainable future for the textile industry.

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Franki Brewer

R&D Company Lead

Dash & Miller

Franki Brewer is co-founder and director of woven textile studio Dash & Miller and its sister company The Bristol Weaving Mill. Her career in textiles spans 14 years of design, materials development, and woven fabric production. The process of hand-weaving underpins all her work, informing her passionate understanding of the geometry of woven structure. She applies this mindset at Dash & Miller, which uses a combination of hand-looms and digital tools in designing and consulting for high-street and high-end fashion and lifestyle brands, residential and commercial interior companies, international fabric mills, and footwear and automotive R&D teams.

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Jessica Garvey Birch

R&D Company Lead

J G Birch

Jessica specialises in Digital Design and Production for Fashion and Textiles. After graduating in Woven Textile Design, she spent a formative decade designing and developing textiles for Global OEMs and Fashion brands in India and China. Jessica cultivated a deep understanding of manual and digital production processes and this accumulated in co-founding a digital prototyping suite for digital transformation. Now back in London, She continues to support Fashion Brands to join the dots to enable digitally connected and sustainable production processes.
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Black and white image of Jane Harris

Prof Jane Harris

R&D Academic Mentor

UAL

Jane draws upon over 25 years experience in transdisciplinary research, with a background in textile design and extensive experience of computer graphic imaging.  Jane’s role includes working with internal and external stakeholders including industry partners, up to Government Ministerial level.

Jane devised novel approaches to the digital representation of dress and textiles. With a track record of leading collaborative industry and academic research and development initiatives, involving cross disciplinary creative industry practitioners. Jane’s experience includes board-level representation in sector-leading organisations such as the Victoria & Albert Museum and advisory roles for the EU, EPSRC, AHRC, ACE and Arts Foundation. She is Director of Research and Innovation (Stratford) and Professor of Digital Design & Innovation at University of the Arts London. Core skills and competences include:

  • Strategic leadership and project direction
  • Design research in digital and material cultures
  • CGI for fashion and textiles
  • Knowledge Exchange

 

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Black and white portrait of Philippa Brock

Philippa Brock

R&D Academic Mentor

UAL

Philippa has an interdisciplinary practice developed over twenty five years as an academic, researcher, international designer, editor, curator, strategist and artist within the field of digital woven textiles and materials. Philippa’s primary research interests lie in developing disruptive approaches to 2D and 3D digital industrial manufacturing, woven jacquard loom methods, in collaboration with industry-leading to novel design solutions. She also manages the Woven Textile Pathway at CSM, is part of the Textile Futures Research Community and exhibits jacquard woven art works globally. Additionally, Philippa edits The Weave Shed, an open source online resource site, and blog for professional weavers and is Co-founder of Studio Houndstooth; a collaborative studio creating socially innovated projects that use methods of textile making to bring together industry and the local community. Core skills and competencies include:

  • Design innovation, Education, and Research Leadership – sustainable digital woven textiles and materials.
  • Academic and industry knowledge exchange  innovation
  • Project management
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Rebecca Hoyes

R&D Academic Mentor

UAL

Rebecca is a designer, a member of the Textiles Futures Research community and an Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins at UAL. Rebecca’s research interests lie in material culture, sustainable and regenerative design practices and the interplay between digital and craft processes. Rebecca has rich experience in design and manufacturing through concept, product development and production of textiles in both craft and industrial contexts. Rebecca is a founder of Colour Matter, a studio engaging in emerging trends and innovation in colour and materials with a specific focus on low impact colour and print.  Core skills and competencies include:

  • Design for sustainability -research, design and production for textiles
  • Curriculum development, knowledge exchange and international collaboration
  • Communication of material narratives surrounding provenance and manufacture
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