Carole Wadham specialises in creating one-off sculptured head pieces. She is a strong advocate for using British materials that are natural and cruelty free. Her designs generally incorporate hand felted British wools embellished with embroidery, beading and unusual materials from steel rods to corn husks. The unique quality of hand felted wool creates interesting shapes and textures that cannot be produced using conventional, commercially produced millinery felt. All of her designs are hand crafted, unique and demonstrate meticulous attention to detail, balance and silhouette.
No stranger to the design process, Carole ran her own clothing label in Hong Kong throughout the 80’s and fully embraced her long term passion for millinery whilst studying an MA: Design ( Textiles) at Bath Spa University, completing in 2014.
Her designs have appeared in exhibitions in UK and Japan and on the catwalk, complimenting both high street and independent design collections.
Carole is very happy to be a part of this celebration of the fine quality Cambrian Mountains wool. Her design features hand felting and blocking and layered stiffening, using both traditional and contemporary methods, embellished with embroidery and beads to create a statement headpiece. Her design is titled ‘Elements’ as it features wool and plant material from the land, Swarovski pearl beads to represent fruits of the sea and the inspirational design of young birds developing feathered wings from down, using the qualities of raw felt combined with structured machine stitching.