Girl About Town, Urban Futures, Contemporary Designer, Melissa is a passionate weaver and designer, and questions why furnishing fabrics should be stuck inside.
The Urban Upholstery concept explored her dream of covering the entire city with her bold patterns: combining floral ornament and geometry. Beyond just a great surface pattern, this time-based work uses various metals in her weaves to enable them to endure time and weather whist evolving gorgeously through natural rusting or oxidising. Inspired by graffiti, urban guerrilla movements and traditional interior textiles and design, she wants to bring an element of beauty, pattern, design and ultimately surprise to the urban landscape.
Having grown up heavily involved in the family textile business Melissa’s creative life has been about exploring textile design. From cutting fabric samples as a teenager through a BA in Woven Textiles to an editorial career in interior magazines to her Masters in Textile Futures, Melissa firmly has her feet in the world of commercial and conceptual textiles. This allows her to produce work informed by the industry yet with a new perception, engaging people to re think textile design and it’s uses.