Lauren Harris graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University recently specialising in Menswear Knitwear Design. She felt extremely privileged to have been selected to showcase her work at Graduate Fashion Week, and her collection was also nominated for the Stuart Peters Visionary Knitwear Award. The Graduate collection shown in the slideshow below was based on the idea of ‘East Meets West’, combining generic Eastern shapes with traditional Western techniques of knitting. Lauren says that she gathered a lot of her research from the exploding impact which the Eastern world made when it descended upon the Western World in the 1980′s. Lauren has always sourced inspiration from different cultures and events and also wanted to portray the idea of old techniques becoming contemporary and exciting. Many of the knitted pieces within this collection were born from a collaboration with Graphic Designer Mitchell Pearce. The patterns on some of the jumpers, scarves and hats were coded into the computer in their rawest form of binary code. The files were then translated into a series of punch cards and each file was then knitted into the different garments. Lauren says that she had never knitted before starting her degree but realises that this is where her passion lies and hopes to be able to pursue her career in knitwear in London (or any major fashion capital) as soon as possible. (For details on how to contact Lauren – check out our Backstage Pass Area shortly).