Award Winners

Scott Kyle - 2005 Winner of the Gillian Purvis Award

Within the first year of the creation of the Trust the first Gillian Purvis Award of £500 was presented to Scott Kyle, a fourth year student in the Textile Department of Glasgow School of Art. From the eighteen applications made, the Trustees made their decision and The Chairman of the Trust announced the result to a delighted Scott at a show of fourth year work in progress on 6 December 2004.

The work that Scott was producing impressed the Trustees, the quality of drawing and design, the bold but detailed hand embroidery he was employing in translating the images to fabric and ultimately garments. The Award enabled Scott to lighten his heavy load of working in a supermarket to spend more time in the studio on his labour-intensive work. He spent some of the award visiting Swarovski in London who subsequently confirmed a valuable sponsorship by providing Scott with a selection of tiny crystals for enhancing his glittering degree show.

Scott proved more than a worthy winner of this first award, progressing from the pieces the Trustees had enjoyed in his application to his stunning collection which earned him a First Class Honours Degree in June 2005 and led to a place on the MA Fashion Course at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London.

Tough, competitive, pushy, just some of the words Scott used to describe the experience on the MA course, which he did also say was going very well. Immediately evident at his first assessment was the requirement to excel and push the boundaries at all times. Scott, still focusing on his exquisite embroidery, is in discussion again with Swarovski and he is interested in returning to heavy beadwork. Until the end of the course in 2007, he is relishing his time on the course, making new friends and contacts and enjoying London in general. GSA seems a world away but he did say he was missing them all!