Kathryn Sargent started her career in the wonderful world of tailoring at Gieves & Hawkes in 1996, rising to the position of Head Cutter, the first woman to do so in the entire history of Savile Row. She founded her own tailoring house in 2012 and is the world’s only female Master Tailor. Breaking tradition, she offers tailoring for both men and women focusing on the needs of the client rather than a set house style.
This week’s episode of the IPOL Podcast is the second of our Special Visionary Women discussion panels recorded live at the IPOL conference. The panel, made up of 4 of our 8 Visionary Women have shaped our future in a creative and imaginative way, championing new ides that are both bold and empowering. Joining us are Jessica Helfand / Design Observer, Effie Kanyua / Director of Communication and PR at Hearst publications, Charlotte Keasing / Director of Corporate Affairs and International at Walpole and Alison Lloyd / Creative Director at Ally Capellino
Rosy Greenlees OBE, is Executive Director of the Crafts Council, a national charity in the UK promoting the value of craft and making to society through its research and advocacy, support to craft businesses, public projects and craft education in schools. The Crafts Council has supported thousands of makers through its talent development programmes and through her work, Rosy who is also passionate about the importance of giving children and young people a craft education, continues to advocate not only for craft teaching but creative teaching at all levels of education and beyond.
Roger Smith is a master craftsman. He is one of very few watchmakers who makes a watch from start to finish. He set up his studio in 2001 with an unswerving ethos to craft watches to a peerless standard of horological excellence. His journey has been one of continual discovery and he has spent the last decade exploring the future of mechanical watchmaking. This has taken him into previously unexplored territory. Today, he is working at the boundaries of mechanical watchmaking performance and he and his team are applying next generation science to what has always been regarded a traditional art form. He believes in staying true to the tradition of British watchmaking which has always been about discovery.
Join Lydia Slater – Editor in Chief Harpers Bazaar, Catherine Scorey – Chief Operating Officer at All Saints and John Varvatos, Bijou Abiola – Director of Strategy and Consumer Insights at L’Oreal Luxe and the designer Maria Grachvogel for this, the first of two Special Issues of the Visionary Women Live podcasts recorded at the IPOL Conference. We discuss vision, women in business and communicating luxury.
As a child Raffaella spent a lot of time watching her father preparing the embroidery, organizing all the materials for the embroiderers, making technical artworks and checking the finished work for some of the biggest fashion houses in the world. She was well prepared for the world of fashion despite this not being her initial career choice. She, however decided to join her father at the family company in 1996 and took over as MD in 2020. Her collaborations include Giorgio Armani, Etro, Versace, Valentino and Dolce Gabbana. Inspired by her father’s love of embroidery she continues to innovate in a world defined by craftsmanship.
Stephen started his career during the late 1970s. He has become one of the most acclaimed milliners making millinery seem modern and compelling in materials that are often radical in design and range from refined to whimsical. He is always at the forefront of fashion where his hats routinely grace the most celebrated magazine covers, enliven window displays of the world’s most stylish stores and frame the faces of everyone from Boy George to Lady Gaga. He works from his studio in London and with some of the biggest design houses in the world. His collaborations include Thom Browne and Christian Dior. Join us for a chat about life, inspiration and a love affair with hats.
Theo started designing jewellery in the 1970s and opened his first studio on Fulham Road in 1980. For over 40 years he has been designing and making his own original, beautiful jewellery and silverware by hand in his workshop and studio in London’s Fulham Road. His attention to detail is what sets him apart from other jewellers. This and his acute understanding of craftsmanship and materials. We chat about the design process, Ozzy Osbourne and the swinging 70s
