It is always exciting when gloves and glove making are in the news, and it is particularly good news when Riina Õun, an interdisciplinary designer and a tutor who delivers
glove making courses worldwide, including our supported glove making courses at the London College of Fashion (LCF), is one of the three finalists for the Heritage Crafts England Maker of the Year Award! This is a fantastic achievement as the standard was particularly high this year.
The final judging round will ascertain the England Maker of the Year, who will also be considered for the UK Maker of the Year selected from the winners of the England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales Awards. The winners will be announced in November.
Riina Õun is a London based glovemaker and biodesigner and also a visiting lecturer teaching glove-making and sustainable materials workshops at academic institutions around the world and we are fortunate to have her as our LCF Tutor. She is also an Associate of our Livery Company.
Riina is additionally the creative director, multi-disciplinary designer, and materials researcher behind the Riina O brand (https://www.riinao.com) She is a graduate of MA Material Futures at Central Saint Martins College, specialising in biodesign.
Her brand ‘Riina O’ started out as a handmade luxury leather accessories brand, specialising in hand-stitched leather gloves, launched in 2013. In recent years the brand has expanded into sustainable materials research and development within the circular economy. Riina O explores how craft has to adapt to working with bio-materials, with the goal to bring the materials out of the experimentation stage into practical use in the industry.
Past Master Richard Morris chair of the Glove Trade Committee commented “ We are delighted that we are involved with such a talented designer and wish her well in the final round of the Awards.”
Note: Heritage Crafts is the national charity for traditional heritage crafts. Working in partnership with Government and key agencies, they provide a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies and guilds, as well as individuals who care about the loss of traditional crafts skills, and work towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future. The Glovers has a corporate membership.
Heritage Crafts set up the prestigious Heritage Crafts Awards in 2012. The Heritage Crafts Awards celebrate and highlight the traditional living crafts made in the UK that contribute to our national heritage, such as silversmithing, woodworking, dressmaking and tailoring, leatherworking, pottery, building crafts, upholstery, weaving, embroidery and similar other crafts where there is a significant degree of hand skill at the point of manufacture.
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