Mary Portas: On Style

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Mary Portas: On Style: Phoebe English, Miss Jason in Glasgow, Contemporary Chinese furniture design

Phoebe English, Miss Jason in Glasgow, Contemporary Chinese furniture design

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Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Fashion designer Phoebe English on putting sustainability at the heart of her label, Miss Jason in Glasgow, and a discussion on contemporary Chinese furniture design.

At the recent London Fashion Week, designer Phoebe English made waves not just for the clothes she'd made but the work involved in designing her label's most sustainable collection.  She had stood down from three seasons of fashion shows in order to research the best ways of ensuring her label was using sustainable materials and minimising waste.  She talks to Mary about why she feels that fashion will need to look to the past as well as to the future to find solutions for its damaging environmental impact. 

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in Glasgow talking to those he encounters on Buchanan Street about whether they're happy to repair their clothing, or does a missing button or tear mean that the garment in question is destined for the bin?

Chinese furniture design has been rising in originality, skill, and popularity in China. The proliferation of furniture fairs and design weeks in the country have been important launch pads for new generations of Chinese designers but arguably the most important lever for change has been the Made in China initiative which the Chinese government launched in 2015 with the aim of turning China into a design superpower.  Design author Charlotte Fiell, who has just co-written a book called Contemporary Chinese Furniture Design, and  Zheng Qu, architect, urban designer, and founder of the Chinese Design Centre  join Mary to discuss why 5000 years of design history are now providing China’s design future.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

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Mary Portas: On Style

Phoebe English, Miss Jason in Glasgow, Contemporary Chinese furniture design

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