Katie Treggiden talks to repair specialist Lucy Ralph, who continues her practice within fashion, exploring concepts of visible repair and reworking garments.

Repair specialist Lucy Ralph describes herself as “a future-focused designer who loves to experiment and play.” A recent graduate, she studied surface pattern and textiles at Swansea College of Art, and is now continuing her practice within fashion, exploring concepts of visible repair and reworking garments.

Tell me about your childhood, education, and background and how you first became interested in repair.
I think my mum should get the credit ? she is a farmer, so is out working in all weathers and regularly catching her clothes on fences and things ? she is quite a frugal lady, so will just patch them back up using scrap materials ? either from other damaged clothing, or our old school t-shirts and pillow cases. So seeing that as I grew up forged my attitudes ? I really never viewed anything as waste, always finding a second life for things, and instead of buying new, making things out of what I already had. This translated into my interest in fashion, and I began upcycling and reworking my existing clothing, which developed into my creative practice today as I learned about the impact the fashion industry has on the environment, driven by the quick turnaround of clothing, and how much is just sitting in landfill having barely been worn. Repair became my specific focus when I discovered the ...