Yesterday saw W+K London go back to school as Wieden Academy opened for our annual Founders’ Day celebrations.

Classes were enrolled in traditional subjects with the occasional twist. Art became a life painting relay, chemistry was an excuse for a few drinks and home economics was more bun fight than Bake Off. Following a fiercely contested tug-of-war, with a few suspicious burly ringers putting in an appearance, the class with the most house points was rewarded with a well-deserved day off.

Dinner, drinks and dancing followed, with a surprise performance by Artful Dodger, dragging us back to the heady days of early UK garage. 

We had a brilliant day and night. Thank you Braxted Park for having us and Highjam for helping organise. And Artful Dodger for getting a lot of people pretty sweaty in a tent. 

The triumphant team

This week sees a new exhibition in the stairwell. The exhibition features Jess De Wahls, who is known as the ‘Enfant Terrible of British textile arts’. She tackles subjects as wide ranging as Misogyny, Objectification and Fetishism in her prolific output.

Originally from Berlin, Jess creates incredibly intricate embroideries as well as hand-sewn relief portraits from up cycled clothing, a technique for which she has coined the term ‘Retex-Sculpture’. Encouraging social change and gender equality, exploring Feminism and embracing recycling and reuse are paramount to her practice.

Her extensive body of work has been exhibited internationally, featured online as well as in print and is rapidly gaining appreciation within and outside the Textile Art scene. In addition to her own practice, Jess also acts as mentor to the finalists of the prestigious Hand & Lock London embroidery price. She also frequently teaches embroidery workshops at the Soho Theatre as well as at Laura Lea Design.