The Duchess of Cambridge joined Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Images: Eric Reynolds, the Founder of Urban Space Management, the company that developed and manages Trinity Buoy Wharf, welcomes Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duchess of Cambridge

On Thursday, February 3rd 2022, The Prince of Wales was accompanied by The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duchess of Cambridge on a visit to Trinity Buoy Wharf, where The Prince's Foundation's studios are based.

Their Royal Highnesses toured the site and met students of The Prince’s Foundation, the charity of which The Prince of Wales is President. The tour included students creating mosaics and practising geometry, sculpture, sewing, and life-drawing, as well as local home-schooled pupils participating in a textiles workshop. They also witnessed a demonstration of pattern-cutting by Nicole Christie, a graduate of the charity’s international Modern Artisan programme who has recently used the expertise she gained on the course to launch her own sustainable womenswear brand, Ellipsis.

Daniel McAuliffe, Education Director for The Prince’s Foundation at Trinity Buoy Wharf, said:

“It was an honour to host Their Royal Highnesses and to show them the great work being done to ensure the preservation of skills-based teaching in Fine and Applied Arts through The Prince’s Foundation’s Diploma Year Foundation Course and our Future Textiles programmes."

The Prince’s Foundation runs courses for all ages in traditional building skills at Trinity Buoy Wharf, such as thatching, blacksmithing and stonemasonry as well as associated skills such as geometry and sculpting. The charity's Future Textiles programme, which has proven successful at Dumfries House, has been expanded to Trinity Buoy Wharf, where it aims to bridge the gap created through the demise of sewing and textiles as part of the school curriculum. Through the programme, practical workshops are delivered to school pupils aged 14-18 and professional development (CPD) sessions are run for teachers so that they can continue to teach traditional skills in the classroom.

The Prince's Foundation's Diploma Year, an intensive, focused, full-time, one-year course for school-leavers with ambitions of studying fine art or applied art and who are seeking a stepping stone to art school or university. In the course’s first year, students have gained places at art schools at the University of Oxford and University College London, among others. Applicants have until Monday 21 February to apply for a place on the 2022/23 programme.