Education and background BA (Hons) Kingston University, 1982, Fashion; MA, 1994 Business career 1984 - 1995 Helen Storey launched a fashion label in 1984 and was awarded Most innovative Designer and Best Designer Exporter in 1990. She was nominated for British Designer of the year in 1990 and 1991, exporting to 24 countries selling to 150 shops worldwide with celebrity clients including Cher, Madonna and Liz Hurley. Helen enjoyed a high media profile, regularly appearing in national newspapers, TV and radio. Design clients and sponsors included; ICI, Sockshop, Wrangler, Cellnet, Alfa Romeo, Sony, British Airways, and BP. The trading arm of Helen Storey closed in June 1995. Career development 1995-96 In September 1996 Helen launched her autobiography "Fighting Fashion". Published by Faber & Faber Ltd, it was described by Sir Paul Smith as 'At last the truth - a perfect and witty account of life and British Fashion'. The launch 1997 - 2000 Helen and her sister, biologist Dr Kate Storey, completed a ground breaking project Primitive Streak which brought together the worlds of science and fashion through the creation of a fashion collection, which explained the first 1000 hours of life. Sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, Crafts Council, Royal Society, The Design Council and London College of Fashion it was launched at the ICA in London in October 1997. It has since toured the UK and 8 countries where it has been seen by 3 million people. Venues include the Eden Project, the Hayward Gallery, and the World Finance Centre, New York. In 1998 Helen began work on 'Mental' a new art/science project for which Pfizer provided research funding. In 1999 the Helen Storey Foundation, a not for profit organisation promoting creativity and innovation was set up. 2001-02 MENTAL, a mixed media touring work exploring creativity, funded by two major awards and sponsorship was created and launched in April 2001; a world tour followed. Primitive Streak continued touring. Helen's academic duties included a research fellowship at University of the Arts, Professorships at Heriot-Watt University and King's College London and lecturing at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. 2003 A Primitive Streak and Mental catalogue was published in January 2003. Mental continued touring England with the support of a Lottery/Arts Council England grant and a Glasgow-wide exhibition of Mental and Primitive Streak was undertaken. An audience research project (Play Garden) was completed with the Arts Council England. The first co-authored paper by an artist and scientist was published in July 2003 in the Journal of Theoretical Biology entitled ‘Hotmail: - Can sex in humans be modified by temperature’, written by Dr John McLachlan in collaboration with Helen Storey. Helen was commissioned to create an installation event for the Unilever Global Advertising Awards - June 2003. A Lever Faberge installation was commissioned for the Persil brand for their foyer at Kingston upon Thames office in May 2003 2004-06 Eye & I - a project exploring human emotion through eye contact, in collaboration with Dr Jim Coan, Neuroscientist, University of Virginia, funded by Arts Council England and was exhibited May 2005 and July 2006
Work with schools and Creative Partnerships London South, (part of a government initiative to take creative teaching and learning into schools across the UK). Projects included a Creative Lab run using Primitive Streak and Amygdala as creative stimuli to a year’s programme of activities.
The Energy Project, was instigated, developed and run by the Helen Storey Foundation, the Women’s Sports Foundation and Creative Partnerships on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills. The project took the form of a piece of research assessing the levels of energy expended by 45 girls and their teachers in three schools in south London. It then explored imaginative ways to add physical activity to their school days.
Primitive Streak was exhibited in Barcelona at Museu Textil d'Indumentaria, Feb-May 2005 In 2005 WONDERLAND was conceived - a collaboration with Professor Tony Ryan at the University of Sheffield, exploring how new materials can make consumer products less damaging to the planet. An ESPRC grant for £200,000 was awarded to Wonderland to introduce new material paradigms into the environment through high fashion and unique products created through dialogue across the art/science divide. This collaborative project has been developed with The University of Sheffield and University of Ulster.
August 2006 - March 2007 Primitive Streak was exhibited as part of an East Midlands Creative LAB at University of Derby. This took the form of a creative laboratory using Primitive Streak for teachers and young people with educational and creative risk taking activities for schools from 4 cities.
Mentoring activities: Nesta, Unilever, BBC, design students and fellow artists. 2007 IDEAS THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD was launched in Nov 2006. Conceived by Helen, the project asks young people to define the world they would like to live in, giving them the knowledge they need to imagine and generate creative and ethical solutions to our global challenges. It has been developed in collaboration with Creative Partnerships/Arts Council England and experts and industry specialists across 4 key themes. The Wonderland project team produce new innovations in water purification, turning 'plastic bottles into flowers' and innovative solutions to capture solar energy. A tour of Wonderland planned for Belfast, Sheffield and London with full educational programme is in development. Wonderland has reached 10 million people through early promotion via the media. A final target audience is 25 million people and the project aims that all new innovations will be placed with the industries and charities that can best benefit from them.
'Free Feet' a new upperless shoe is being developed with Terra Plana, and Sheffield University. The Energy Project: a film and catalogue of the work will be available to all schools within the UK. Other projects also concentrate on the themes of human wellbeing and continue to cross the disciplines of science, art and technology. Actionable research leading to cultural and social advancement remains at the heart of Helen's working activities. |
