CCAC Young Designer Award winner, Cassie Quinn, joins Coppermill Primary School in Walthamstow

We are pleased to announce that multidisciplinary designer and PhD student, Cassie Quinn, has been selected as one of CCAC’s Young Designer award winners.

Cassie’s research is focused on the development of sustainable materials and processes for the fashion industry. Her practice, CQ Studio, creates innovative textiles from organic material sources including algae, food waste, bacteria and textile waste.

Initially keen to study mechanical engineering, Cassie quickly pivoted towards fashion. She was interested in how clothing is used to express personal identity and narratives whilst also incorporating her passion for making things by hand. Although appreciating the positive impact of fashion, she also saw how environmentally damaging the fashion industry can be, which is why she turned to investigating sustainable processes.

While studying for her Bachelor’s degree at University of East London, Cassie experimented with laser cutting techniques on cork in their Digital Fabrication Lab. She wanted to design and make her own collections but found herself compromised by materials and chemicals that are ruinous to the planet.

Cassie found that the usual suspects for making sustainable textiles were neither exciting nor sufficiently colourful, and so decided to create her own bio-based materials. This prompted her to pursue an MA in Bio-design at University of the Arts London where she is now a PhD student for Regenerative Textiles – sponsored by Monsoon! Combined with her existing embroidery background, she is currently exploring how to make materials for embroidery from waste products that might otherwise do environmental harm.

“It’s tricky when you’re working with living organisms,” says Cassie. “Contamination is a real issue that can set back a lot of the processes. I’m looking at how to reduce this issue to scale things up better.”

“Reducing food waste is the biggest thing people can do to lessen their carbon footprint”, says Cassie. “Instead of talking about the amount of greenhouse gases that fashion houses produce, I want to talk to the children about how they personally can make an impact: it makes them feel more hopeful.”

Alongside her practice, Cassie leads drop-in and one-off workshops for children and young people. As a CCAC Young Designer, Cassie can now explore leading an extended co-design project for primary school children with tailored guidance from CCAC.

In preparation for her collaboration with Coppermill Primary School, Cassie will have 1-2-1 meetings with CCAC’s educational adviser, shadow teachers at her partner school, and call on a community of experienced CCAC designers willing to share their experiences.

“I look forward to seeing the children’s approaches to design. When you know so much about something already, you think one way about it and sometimes it’s not actually the angle that younger people come up with. I’m excited to see their ideas.”

Cassie will be in Coppermill Primary School in Walthamstow in Spring 2025 where, together with the children and teachers, she will workshop making textiles and buttons from food waste such as banana skins, eggshells and onion skins. During the six-week project, the children will also explore how to use food waste to create pigments to dye their own textiles.

Portrait Photo Credit: Mayor of London

Other Photo Credits: Cassie Quinn

The CCAC Young Designer Award is kindly supported by The Linbury Trust.