Gresham Blake

Gresham Blake Brighton

While walking the lanes of Brighton I came across this beautiful bespoke suiting shop, 'Gresham Blake'. The bright colours of the ties and the quirky designs instantly caught my attention, particularly as all the colours and designs are aimed at men.

At the start of my project I immediately associated my thoughts for using brighter colours with womenswear, however, visiting Gresham Blake has opened my mind up to more opportunities and ideas for aiming my fabrics at menswear too. The ties are handmade and woven in silk which immediately interested me further as the fabrics that I have just produced are all 100% silk, hand dyed and hand woven. Visiting Gresham Blake has become extremely inspirational for my current project and I would really like to aim my final designs at small fashion accessories for both men and women such as ties, pocket squares, neck scarves and linings.

My initial idea was to develop a fabric that could be used for both fashion and interiors, however, my initial warp and Gresham Blake has really heightened my interest for fashion and the fabrics so far are much more suitable for fashion and I feel will be much more appreciated through fashion. However, I want to include interiors somehow as I have such a passion for them, so they will remain incorporated as inspiration for my fabrics through colour, scale and proportional qualities.

I particularly like the presentation of the fabrics and ties in the last photograph and I would like to use this as inspiration for presentation in my final show statement.

More information on Gresham Blake can be found on: www.greshamblake.com and www.gbties.com