The Liberty Best of British Open Call
It’s 7am, Saturday April 25th, and amongst the cold, wind and rain – hundreds of unknown designers are beginning to queue up outside Liberty in response to the Best of British: Open Call.
The vibe is optimistic – if not a bit groggy – as the creatives are about to have the chance to show off their work to an expert panel…and when we say expert panel, we mean EXPERT panel.
So, the who’s who of cool, fashion and importance at Liberty went something like this: Sarah Mower, Yasmin Sewell and Eleanor Robinson (Ladieswear & Accessories Buyer) on Ladies Fashion; Stephen Ayres (Menswear Buyer) and Lulu Kennedy (Fashion East) on Menswear; Alexandra Stylianidis (Accessories & Jewellery Buyer) and Damien Foxe (FT: How to Spend It) on the Accessories; Michelle Alger (Furniture & Lighting Buyer) and David Nicholls (Telegraph) on Home; Gina Cowey (Beauty buyer) and Maxine Groucutt (Head of Visual Identity) on Beauty; Julie Hassan (Fabric/Chocolate Buyer) on Home Craft, and Ed Burstell (Buying Director) cast his eye on all of the categories.
We saw everything from the good to the, well, very good actually - including quilts, couture dresses, furniture, shoes, head pieces and more. By the end of the day the very tired panel were certain they’d just met some future superstars – some innovative pieces could possibly be making Liberty collections in the near future – and some unknowns could soon become knowns.
Sound good? Well, don’t worry you’ve not missed your chance – Liberty’s Best of British will be an ongoing initiative, with the next one already planned for Autumn. So, get inspired, get designing, get creating, and get yourself down to the next event.
If your were at the Best of British: Open Call then we’d love you to post your comments below, thanks! For more info on Autumn Open Call click here
I must say that it was an exciting experience on Saturday! A buzzing atmosphere despite the fact that got up really early (5.30am), left my house (6.45am) to meet my friends at Oxford Circus, Oh and not to forget that it was cold and raining. I arrived at Liberty at 7.30am and there was one person in the queue. By the time my friends arrived at 8am, there was around 30 people in the queue. Liberty doors opened at 10am and there were scores of people queueing up almost like a ribbon around the building. I was a little nervous at first before meeting the experts, because I wasn’t sure what to expect, but all went well, and I really appreciate the positive feedback on my products. I will now follow-up, and hopefully more great results! This is a great idea, and good luck to those who are signing-up for the next Open Call.
Annette Taylor-Anderson
ATADesigns
5.30am – good effort! It’s great that you got some positive feedback too. Did you see any designs/collections that caught your eye?
There were so many great designs including furniture. One lady did catch my eye though while waiting in the queue. She was wearing a small hat with I think feathers in? and I presume that she was showing hats. Of course it was also exciting to see what new designs my friends were going to show, as I had not seen them for a while, a good excuse to meet-up.
Annette Taylor-Anderson
ATADesigns
I was pleasantly surprised at how well Liberty coped with, what must have been several hundred eager designers some clutching huge, cumbersome packages. It was very well organised. Admittedly I did arrive early at 8.00 am, but within an hour of the doors opening (at 10.00 am) I had shown my work to the panel and had some great feedback…. I’m now going to follow the advice I was given and look forward to getting back in touch with Liberty in the near future. Everyone I met was very relaxed and helpful, it was great fun!
Kevin Dean
Hello, I can’t understand how to add your blog in my rss reader.plz tell me thank you.
No problem Tim, try this: http://www.liberty.co.uk/blog/feed/
We were one of the designers who queued up that Saturday, read our exciting experience here… http://www.squidlondon.blogspot.com/
We were one of the designers who queued up that Saturday, read our exciting experience here… http://www.squidlondon.blogspot.com/
Generally I dont post on blogs, but I have to say this post force me to. Really nice post.
Hi there, I have a joint venture with a friend that is fashion and craft based and I have a craft based venture of my own, can I come and see you in the autumn with both ideas?
kind regards
Linda
You sure can! Here are the details for the Autumn Open Call: http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/content/best_of_british/contentform
I would be very interested in taking part in the next Open Call taking place in Jan, however none of my designs are in production yet, so the products as such do not yet exist. Would you still be interested in viewing my ideas? [I very much hope so...]
That’s great opportunity. I’m ceramic artist and I really fancy to taking a part in the next open call.
Hi Everyone,
would love to get some feedback, hoping to be able to get to the open call next week, and would love for any of you designers to view my handbags,and let me know what you think, all repsonses would be very appreciated.?
Thanks again
Cathy
http://www.chicachick.com
cathy@chicachick.com