Last year we were contacted by Alice Robinson, a young graduate designer from the Royal College of Art Fashion Accessory course. Her MA work focused directly upon the British meat industry and in turn, its leather produce.
Alice created a collection following the journey of sheep 11458, purchased from a farmer close to her home in rural Shropshire. The collection is an authentic representation of the journey of one animal from field to table to accessory collection. Alice has used every single element of the animal, having the skin vegetable tanned and the wool spun, she then utilised the materials in a way to waste nothing. The meat was served at the reveal of the collection, where she spoke of the purpose of her work.
This gained the attention of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and she began the process of creating the collection with Bullock 374. This is currently showing at the V&A FOOD Bigger than the Plate exhibition, until October. The work will then tour for a further two years.
Alice uses every single part of the animal in her work to study the link between fashion and its origins. She may be shortly turning her attention to ostrich and is currently exploring a venture with Cornish sheep farmers.
