2022
The overall winner of the Loughborough University Enterprise Network Validator Pitch Competition. I received 148 votes out of the total 285 votes cast.
2022
"Bristol’s fashion industry keeps expanding and transforming at an incredible pace.
This time, Ovrbloom and its founder, Jess Strain, are pushing for new ways to make one of the most polluting industries into a more transparent one."
2022
My business Ovrbloom received funding from Innovate UK, Prince's Trust and KTN in recognition of the work I will be doing to disrupt the fashion industry.
Totnes Art & Design Residency Show
2021
Exhibiting my project 'Dyeing with Dartmoor' at the Totnes Art & Design Foundation Course studios. Celebrating the end of a year long residency at the Totnes studios.
2021
My concept piece 'Biodegradable Kimono' was awarded a Bronze Creative Conscience Award in 2021 in recognition of my creative talents which share the vision for a fairer, healthier and more sustainable & regenerative world.
2021
Making It aims to be the leading showcase for emerging artists, makers and designers in the South West, celebrating innovation, diversity and collaboration in craft and making. The exhibition features 21 emerging talents who have been selected from nearly 75 submissions by a panel drawn from creative organisations across the South West.
2021
"Processing" is an exhibition showcasing a group of textile artists who use intensive hand processes within their practice, it is a celebration of the skill involved in producing textiles.
2021
From the springboard of the Totnes Art and Design Foundation Course, a group of young artists migrated to universities across the country to pursue their studies. They return now to south Devon with a diverse and energetic exhibition that reflects the development of early-career artists in transition as they establish themselves in their respective fields, from sustainable fashion design to ceramics, illustration and fine art.
2020
Hawthorne & Heaney, a bespoke embroidery studio in the heart of London, sponsored the Loughborough Creative Arts Enterprise Awards: Overall Winner digital embroidery in my graduate collection.
2020
The overall winner was Jessica Strain who has designed items of clothing centred around the theme of sustainable fast fashion.
2020
“A thought-provoking concept driven by sustainable practices and a marketable desire to create change in the fashion industry”.
2020
“Jessica’s graduate collection Nature Reclaiming Spaces, focuses on fusing the best of what modern machinery has to offer with specialist hand led embroidery and lacemaking techniques.”