Ciment Pleating

David Linnell, the owner of the company, came into uni today to explain the history of the company and what they do. Bringing with him so of the most amazing pleated fabrics. The company has produced a lot of pleated fabrics for the royal family, Lady GaGa, for films, theatres and has done work for Alexander McQueen and Zandre Rhodes.

Laser cut pleated fabric, I'm not too sure if I like this, because the pleats hide the laser pattern.

A tube of pleats, gorgeous colour all polyester though. Would be interesting to use loads of these tubes of pleats on one garment.

Shower curtain material, with fabric inside, very exciting!

David showed and explained to the group the process of pleating fabric, which is all hand made. The different scales of cardboard, some small scale and the large scale in metre sizes, is all hand grooved and can take around 60 to 80s hours to produce. The fabric is then placed on the pleated cardboard rolled together and steamed.

 Examples of cardboard that has been grooved to make a pattern

 Not seen very well, but this pleat has been made with the use of shower curtain material, like a clear plastic. This is very much like the style that was used for Lady GaGa.

 This pleat I love when the materials bunched together rather than spread out to show the pleat pattern, this is a pleat that I am considering using within my garments for my final collection.

The pleats David has produced are stunning, especially when you know all the hard work that has gone into producing them. David explained his wishes to retire within a few years time and is looking for somebody to take over the business, I can imagine it may be hard as it is a very specialised craft which the person will need to have a lot of knowledge on the subject of pleating. 

The pleats David has produced are stunning, especially when you know all the hard work that has gone into producing them. David explained his wishes to retire within a few years time and is looking for somebody to take over the business, I can imagine it may be hard as it is a very specialised craft which the person will need to have a lot of knowledge on the subject of pleating. 

I found the pleats very inspirational and believe I will look into visiting the company in Potters Bar and look at using some of the pleats for my final collection this year.