Textiles student short-listed for national award

A GMIT Textiles student has been short-listed for the finals of the prestigious Vodaphone DIT Student Design Competition Awards taking place in Dublin on 17 April.

Mona Sweeney, from Achill Sound, Co Mayo, is in her third year of a BA in Art & Design (Textiles) degree in the GMIT Centre for Creative Arts and Media. She is one of ten top students from around Ireland competing in the finals.

Mona was chosen for her work ‘Morphic Opulence’ which features finely worked sculptural, hand coloured silk chiffons and embroidered organza in dramatic yet sensuousness fashion statements.

Her designs and the work of 18 other students from higher education institutes around Ireland were shown at a fashion show in March in Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre. Judges were RTE’s Brendan Courtney, Stylist and Presenter, Bairbre Power, Fashion Editor at The Irish Independent and Weekend Magazine, Maria Fusco, Creative Director and Stylist, Lou Conlon, Marketing Manager at Arnotts, and Umit Kutluk, Fashion Designer.

Tony Magner, lecturer in Textile Design & Embroidery/Mixed Media, GMIT, says it’s a wonderful achievement for Mona to be shortlisted for this prestigious national competition: “Mona’s work is centred on the dual themes of vulnerability and protection. Her source is armour strategies found in nature, in arachnids, insects and sea creatures: aggressive, impenetrable exoskeleton protect soft but vital viscera. The social necessity to mask vulnerabilities is realised in sculptural clothing. Evolved, sharp, angular forms protect and guard, they morph and remove into sensuous drapery. The mood is dark, vampish and intense,” he explains.

Textiles at GMIT is unique in giving a broad education in Textile Art and Design production in a range of applications including Art Textiles, Interior decor, Fine-craft and Fashion applications.

GMIT Textiles students and graduates compete successfully both nationally and internationally. Last year, Lisa Ryder, a print designer, won the Exhibitions Award in Crafts Council of Ireland, Future Makers 2012; Serena O’Neill won the prestigious 2011 Selvedge Award for Excellence, part of New Designers trade fair which showcased the best of new design talent from Ireland and UK in London. Rising star, milliner Mark T Burke, enjoys continued success with his own label and the launch of his new Dublin studio at 34 Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin.

For further information on Art & Design programmes in GMIT, see: http://www.gmit.ie/humanities/dept-art-design.html