About
Ophelia Dos Santos is a Bath Spa University graduate, where she studied Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors. Specialising in embroidery – with particular interest in hand embroidery for fashion. Through embroidery she tends to express herself by using simple stitches, carefully placed, to create images and patterns on garments. Her contemporary style pays attention to surface, texture and colour, whilst combining traditional and modern techniques.
Currently based in Cardiff, Ophelia's desire to learn more about embroidery has already allowed her to experience life-changing opportunities such as, her time living and studying in Shanghai. Taking part in China Creation Camp (a 3-month scholarship focused on Chinese fashion and textiles) had been a truly unique experience, having developed knowledge of the history of Chinese textiles and fashion culture that cannot be found anywhere else. Her trip had greatly inspired her recent series of Denim projects (2018-19) all of which create different portrait motifs and textures using embroidery. All pieces are created using scrap and recycled denim.
Through her projects, Ophelia hopes to inspire environmental and social change – by encouraging people to think about how we buy, re-use and throw away fashion. She believes that fashion can be sustainable without compromising style or restricting what you can wear. Her projects aim to highlight the environment impacts of the fashion industry, such as the damaging use of water and chemical waste. Ophelia uses her work to advocate for secondhand and vintage, presenting benefits of swapping, borrowing or renting clothes as opposed to purchasing newly produced clothes. In doing so, brings forward a cycle of repair, re-work and recycle; by demonstrating how old denim can be reinvented with simple embroidery techniques, inspiring people to alter their wardrobe or a look at home.
Exhibit
ARTS THREAD online showcase, Take Back Black Friday, 2019.
The Old Street Gallery, London, 2019.
Education
Bath Spa University, 2019.
The Castle Emporium, Cardiff, 2019.
Bath Spa Graduate Exhibit, Bath, 2019.
China Academy of Art Graduate Show, Shanghai, 2018.
Press
'Textile Designer, Ophelia Dos Santos Contribution: Mindful Buying and Up-cycling Your Wardrobe' GUAP Magazine, 2020.
'How To Make Sustainable Fashion Choices Without Compromising Your Style!' Style of the City Magazine, 2020.