Huddersfield Textile Society President: Nicola Redmore, MA, BSc (Hons)

Nicola Redmore takes over from Stephen Sheard as President.

Nicola Redmore is a graduate of the BSc (Hons) Textile Design course at what was then Huddersfield Polytechnic. She focused on knit as her specialism whilst at university and Courtaulds Textile Automotive Products awarded her a scholarship during her final year of study. Her university experience included undertaking six-month placements at both CTAP and at the British Wool Marketing Board in Bradford.

She started his career at CTAP in Manchester as a Designer creating woven and technical knitted fabrics for OEMs, including VW, Opel, Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota. During her 12 years with CTAP the company changed hands to become part of the Collins & Aikman group and Nicola was promoted from Senior Designer to Design Director.

An opportunity to work overseas gave her a chance to further develop her career in automotive interior fabrics. She moved to Barcelona to work in a small team of advanced designers for Autotex SA, part of the Viktor Achter group owned by Milliken USA. During this period Nicola was seconded to work in a Discovery Team at Milliken’s headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to devise new strategies for product development across the company.

The closure of all three Viktor Achter European sites gave her the opportunity to change the direction of her career and return to Huddersfield in 2006, as a Senior Lecturer at the University. She oversaw a number of changes to the structure and content of the courses in the Textile Department whilst in her previous role as Course Leader, and her areas of specialism are weave, fabric performance and commercial design.

Nicola is now the Department Lead for Teaching and Learning for the Fashion and Textile courses, and is a keen supporter of local textile manufacturing. She maintains strong links with companies through industry-sponsored projects, and through building relationships with the Worshipful Companies of Weavers, the Worshipful Company of Woolmen and the Clothworkers Company.

Currently studying part-time for a PhD following the completion of her MRes, Nicola’s interests lie in leno-weaving and the relationship of textiles in the landscape.

She says that she will do her best to keep up the high standards and enthusiasm exhibited by the previous president Stephen Sheard.