FABRIC TALK . . . Craig Tudhope, fourth right, grew up in Kelloholm but now runs a New York-based fabric design business with partner Raymond Bono.
The two men visited the region last week, speaking to Art and Design pupils about life working in the industry, joined by local designers.
Pictured, left to right: Leah Halliday, Raymond Bono, Margo McIntyre, Craig Tudhope, Margaret Newlands
Craig Tudhope grew up in Kelloholm but now runs Brooklyn-based design company nuprimary with partner Raymond Bono.
And last Wednesday the men visited Dumfries Academy to meet with S4, S5 and S6 art and design pupils, offering an insight into their work designing prints and embroideries for fashion, accessories and interior design industries.
Craig and Raymond had been in Paris for trade fairs, and their visit to Scotland was personal — as Craig got his start in the art world at Sanquhar Academy.
His art teacher there was Margo McIntyre, who he described as, ‘the woman who taught us to see without boundaries, ever looking for new ways to create while honouring the skills of our past’.
She now works as a designer, and is a member of the Dumfries Embroiderer’s Guild.
Fellow member Margaret Newlands arranged the trip.
Both these ladies and local designer Leah Halliday joined pupils at the school for the presentation by nuprimary, and as ex-pupils themselves also enjoyed reminiscing about their own school days.
Craig met Raymond in New York, with the latter having previously worked in major fashion houses including Giorgio Armani, and they started the company together.
The Dumfries Academy pupils were inspired by the designs and philosophy of the company.
And they also heard from Margaret about the exciting applications in the real world for embroidery such as in costume design for shows like Game of Thrones, and saw how nuprimary’s designs had been adapted for other areas such as packaging and shoe design.
A statement from Dumfries Academy said: “Altogether it was a fascinating insight into the world of international designers, but perhaps most inspirational of all was that a local boy had achieved this success through a mixture of talent, hard work and belief.
“The message from Craig and Raymond was very much that anything is possible.”
