Front Row To Front Bench Podcast

In this episode, Meg Pirie sits down with House of Hackney co-founder Frieda Gormley to talk about her debut book, In the Company of Nature. Part memoir, part manifesto, it's the extraordinary story of how a small British interiors brand became a radical case study in regenerative business, guided by nature's own blueprint for living systems. "The old stories of unchecked growth, extraction and exploitation are beginning to crumble. In their place, new stories are emerging — stories of community, collaboration and connection." — Frieda Gormley Buy the book here Explore #FRBookClub here

Fashion Roundtable's 5th book club and it's a special one! In this episode, Meg Pirie is joined by Patrick Grant from the hit BBC series The Sewing Bee - Season 12 of which aired last week! Patrick is the founder of campaigning clothing brand Community Clothing which supports local clothing and textile manufacturing across the UK. Patrick is also an outspoken advocate for radical change in the fashion industry and this comes across perfectly in his debut book, LESS, which was an instant Sunday Times bestseller – and that's what this episode centres around. Patrick offers a hopeful vision for how rethinking our relationship with clothing could kickstart a thriving new local economy, bringing prosperity and hope back to places in our country that have lost out to globalisation – policy asks that, like Patrick, Fashion Roundtable is very hot on!    From Patrick's rescue mission of Cookson & Clegg and the ethos behind Community Clothing, to national economic policy, and back to a hand-wound watch, Patrick and Meg talk to the very shape of the book itself.    Resources mentioned in the podcast   More about Patrick's campaigning clothing brand Community Clothing   Buy the book. Watch Season 12 of the Sewing Bee   Check out The Tin Shed Gallery on the Isle of Mull - for Patrick's famous mug reference! Read Fashion Roundtable's Open Letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Public Procurement   Sign the letter

Today, Meg Pirie was joined by Eleanor Houghton an historian, writer, and illustrator specialising in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dress, literature, and material culture. Eleanor has an interesting career trajectory, after reading English at Oxford, Eleanor went on to become a couture milliner, specialising in archival research. Eleanor holds a doctorate in History and is an historical costume consultant for film and television productions such as Emily and Gentleman Jack. Eleanor is the author and illustrator of 'Charlotte Brontë's Life Through Clothes', based on nine years of research into Charlotte Brontë's surviving wardrobe. In this live session, Eleanor argues that garments are primary sources that record Brontë's daily life, emotions, and identity, rather than just curiosities. In fact Charlotte Brontë's very clothes challenge the preexisting stereotypes of Charlotte as a "drab, sexless, saint-like" figure. From her corset, which is examined as a "shield" from criticism and an example of "hyper-femininity" used to navigate societal body ideals and class status, to the Industrial Revolution and resourcefulness during that time, these 150 items bore witness to Charlotte's incredible, and at times, very complex life. To find out more about Eleanor and her work, you can check out her website, Linked In, and instagram also! Buy the book here

Fashion Roundtable Book Club - Zakia Sewell, with Tamara Cincik and Meg Pirie Today's conversation with Zakia Sewell took us from the sacred springs of Glastonbury to the history of 'Albion' as a place of refuge. Buy the Book 'Finding Albion: Myth, folklore and the quest for a hidden Britain' by Zakia Sewell Buy Listen My Albion (BBC Radio 4): The four-part series that sparked Zakia's quest Listen Dream Time (BBC Radio 6 Music): Catch Zakia's latest broadcasts exploring music and myth Listen Folklore & Activism Right to Roam: Learn more about the campaign for land access in England and Wales More UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH): Read about Fashion Roundtable's work on ratifying the convention in our Creative Wellbeing Economy Framework More More on the writer Glennie Kindred More More on Our Land documentary More

Welcome to Fashion Roundtable's second book club!  Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network. Rob holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth, and is author of several books. Starting in lockdown Rob created the highly successful 'From What If to What Next' podcast, where he time travelled with guests to explore practical, imaginative solutions to the climate and ecological crisis.  The interview delves deeper into Rob's latest book, 'How to Fall in Love with the Future: A time traveller's guide to changing the world.' Through the power of Rob's book, Meg Pirie and Rob Hopkins visit a 2030 resulting from our doing everything collectively that we could possibly have done. They explore how time travel and routing ourselves in the lived experience of the future help us map out a route to inspire change, the neuroscience behind this, the need to cultivate longing, the responsibilities governments and organisations have to include thinkers, dreamers and artists in decision-making, and Rob's policy wishlist.  You can watch the full interview here:  More on Rob's work here and to buy his book here Fashion Roundtable's Creative Wellbeing Framework here