L'Aiguille en Fete

L’Aiguille en Fete or the Festival of Needles as it translates in English, is very much like the Kniting and Stitching show which we have here in the UK (Harrogate, London and Dublin). Talking with the other UK graduates we all felt that L’Aiguille en Fete seemed a bit more refined than Knit & Stitch. It was smaller, with fewer retail stalls (which in my opinion is good as there’s just lots and lots of the same at Knit & Stitch) but there was more space to exhibits.

 

La Grande Halle de la Villette was this years' venue, situated just outside the Porte de Pantin metro. The Parc de la Villette features La Grande Halle, a theatre, bars, restaurants and gardens. It was a fantastic location which I felt was a lovely size for the event.

Please excuse the mitten fluff in the corner! I discovered mittens are not that great when trying to take photos...it was too cold to go bare though!

La Grande Halle by night

Each year at L’Aiguille en Fete, now in its ninth year, they have a different theme for exhibits. This year, it was English textile graduates. Amongst us there was myself and Holly Levell from Huddersfield, Amanda Schenk and Janet Cairney from Windsor, and Lucy Gilmour and Lucy Ruth Crowder from Manchester Metropolitan University amongst others (see images below).

Set-up day

Set-up day went well although it was very very cold, what with all the doors open so people could unload and the arctic temperatures outside (-5 degrees). I went prepeared though with my thermals! Still cold though…

So I displayed my fabrics, it was not the best display but with the little space I had and no option of suspending my fabrics it was the best I could do. I managed to find a table to display my newer products, cushions, mugs and notebooks .

The response was overwhelmingly positive! I couldn’t believe it! The French were very complimentary. Even with my horrendous French I could make out what were compliments, any more than that and I was lost completely. I think I need to learn French…Add that to the ‘to-do list’.

 

Some lovely comments left for me to translate when I got home!

Next years show will be at a larger location…

 

Bonjour!

So day two of L’Aiguille en Fete has been and gone, half way through now!

Such a fantastic opportunity to exhibit in Paris. The French are so complimentary – they seem bewildered by the un-traditional techniques and concepts behind English design. It’s rather nice to hear and see their reactions – even if I don’t always understand! There’s lots of ‘super’, ‘tres jollie’ and ‘c’est bon’ so at least I know these are good things :)

I expected a larger group of English work than there is seeing as how myself and two others from my course were selected. However, there are just 13 of us in total. Not everyone has come to the exhibition either, we didn’t have to, but myself and Lucy Gilmour are both here for the whole week.

Three of the girls and Holly who was on my course have been around so far. Its good to meet other graduates, I’m glad there are some English people around to speak as well. It’s exhausting failing miserably with my pigeon French! – Let’s add ‘learn French’ to my to-do list… It’s also good to know that everyone else is struggling to get design jobs too!

I’ll try and pop some photographs up tomorrow.

Bon soire!