UWTSD Bicentenary Cwilt project brings community together to share stories and celebrate rich heritage

Quilts have long been associated with community, bringing people together, to create and pass on traditional skills, steeped in the narrative of a time and a place, telling stories of the individuals or groups who have made them. And that’s certainly true at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, (UWTSD) where students, staff, school pupils and the wider community are helping to create and share a part of the University’s story, 200 years on. 

2022 sees the University celebrate its 200th year and as part of the celebrations, a team from UWTSD’s Swansea College of Art have put together an ambitious project.   

Referencing the iconic Welsh notion of Cwtch, and our deep affection for Welsh blankets, “Carthen” and quilts, the Cwilt 200 project aims to bring together the far reaching and diverse UWTSD community, extending across campuses, towns, cities, and continents, to friends, graduates, and local groups through a 200-block quilt – each block telling a unique story.

UWTSD’s Surface Pattern Design and Textiles programme, and the Graduate Artists in Residence of 21/22, have prepared and hosted a selection of workshops which have included pupils from local schools, community groups, as well as sessions attended by 100 students at the leading London graduate design show New Designers.

UWTSD Senior lecturer Georgia McKie said: “As an institution we too are pieced together; made up of many parts new and old.  Eclectic and characterful; we have been gathered and stitched together over our 200-year history.  We hope to reflect this rich heritage and celebrate our future legacy through Cwilt 200.   

“We have certainly sparked joy through the workshops via shared experiences of conversation, pieced material, stich and making.

“Making this accessible to the breadth of our community has been integral to the aims of the project.  There is differentiated appeal across the workshop sessions; to those with established skills in Surface Pattern & Textiles; to those with an emerging interest in making and creating; to those who are yet to experience the joys of working with textiles.”

With the final selection of the 200 pieces almost complete, on December 5, a team will gather at the University’s Dynevor Building to start the process of quilting.

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

Cyfathrebu Corfforaethol a Chysylltiadau Cyhoeddus

Corporate Communications and PR

Mobile: 07384 467071

Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk