Uma Shah
Integrated Digital Practice
Featured projects
Tribal Embroidery
A three layer embroidery piece on black fur. This piece is inspired by traditional Kenyan fabrics emphasised by the use of geometric shapes and bold and bright colours.
Tribal Trim
This design is a trim embroidered onto black fur. It explores the simple diamond shape often found in Kenyan design with contrasting colour combinations.
Zebra Print Scarf
A scarf with a zebra skin print. The border is made up of lace embroidery elephants in red adding a pop of colour to the design.
Tribal Jacquards
Two Jacquard lengths with repeated tribal designs. Both have bright, eye catching colours inspired by Maasai cloths.
Cheetah Scarf
A printed scarf with a cheetah skin design in non realistic colours. The border contains a simple tribal print in order to add variety to the scarf and combine the different aspects of the theme.
Giraffe Skin Scarf
The design is a printed mirrored repeat of a Giraffe skin. The border is made up of black lace embroidered animals to portray their shapes in silhouette form.
Snake Skin Scarf
This is a printed snake skin with elements of embroidery to add texture and depth to the design. The border contains a tribal print to emphasise and combine different aspects of the theme in one design.
Kenyan Prints
These three designs contain different elements of Kenya including the animals and tribal culture which have been line drawn. The backgrounds contain brushstrokes of colours in my palette to add texture to the prints.
Uma Shah
I am a Textiles graduate specialising in Integrated Digital Practice. Due to my specialism, my work is focused on combining various digital techniques such as digital print, digital embroidery, jacquard weaving and laser cutting with hand techniques to create unique fabrics. I am greatly influenced by my environment, culture and upbringing which is reflected through my projects.
'Born In Kenya' is an incredibly personal project to me as it explores the country in which my parents were brought up. I was lucky enough to travel there for the first time in December 2018 and this trip is my main source of inspiration for this project. While I was there I was astounded by the scenery, animals and tribal culture, all ideas of which have been combined to create my designs. Through this project I have experimented with a combination of digital techniques with hand stitching and hand painting techniques. The fabrics used are relevant to the theme such as faux fur, leather and silk, commonly found in African textiles. The different weights of fabric added depth to the collection and allowed me to integrate both the tribal and animal patterns seamlessly. I have designed this project as a fashion collection as this is my area of interest and I aspire to continue to be a textile designer for fashion companies in industry in the future.
Awards
Designs sold internationally on placement Selected for the Time and Influence Project (in collaboration with Central Saint Martins and Tate Britain)
Experience
London Fashion Week (2015) Asiana Fashion Magazine (2013)
Placements
September 2017 - August 2018
Whiston and Wright Fusion CPH Amanda Kelly