One Spring Day─Zahra Abrar From The London College Of Fashion Draws On Her Love Of Nature To Inspire Her Printed Textile Designs
Zahra Abrar is a printed textiles designer with distinct strength in her drawing abilities.
“I take inspiration from my life and the events around me that hold deep meaning”.
Born and raised in London, designer Zahra’s intricate and vintage-look printed textiles tell a unique story of her childhood and experience as a first-gen immigrant.
She has a particular strength in detailed line illustrations and loves experimenting with contrast, combining both painterly abstract strokes with detailed, delicate lines, using mark makings to juxtapose with the traditional drawing techniques to create unique prints suitable for a wide range of products.
Her influence is derived from the everyday experiences in her life.
She has a love for nature and often incorporates natural elements such as wildlife and flowers into her designs, creating beautifully illustrated and classic narrative prints suitable for a wide range of products.
Her Graduation Project
This project focuses on the contrast between Adulthood and Childhood.
I have explored these two themes by looking into my childhood and that of my sister (4) whom I look after and investigated the different aesthetics and styles we both emulate being from two different age groups.
Alongside design aesthetic, I have also looked into the memories we have shared thus far and played around with creating designs in our contrasting styles.
London College of Fashion
The London College of Fashion derives from three trade schools for women, the Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls Trade School, founded in 1906, Barrett Street Trade School, founded in 1915, and Clapham Trade School, founded in 1927; all were established by the Technical Education board of the London County Council to train skilled workers for the clothing and hairdressing trades.
The Barrett Street school became a technical college after the 1944 Education Act and was renamed Barrett Street Technical College.
Shoreditch also became a technical college; in 1955 it merged with Clapham Trade School to form Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades.
In 1966 it was renamed Shoreditch College for the Clothing Industry and in 1967 merged with Barrett Street Technical College to become the London College for the Garment Trades, which in 1974 was renamed the London College of Fashion.
It became part of the London Institute in January 1986.
In August 2000 it merged with Cordwainers College, founded as the Leather Trade School by the Leathersellers and Cordwainers Company in 1887 in Bethnal Green, and later renamed the Cordwainers Technical College and, in 1991, Cordwainers College.
