A TALENTED student has shed light on the region’s rich textile history in a piece of work which has caught the eye of an award-winning designer.

Former Tauheedul Islam Girls School, Blackburn, pupil Zaynah Arif, has won a commission set by Joshua Sofaer, with her work now being featured in a travelling arts centre to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Peterloo.

Zaynah, a first-year textile and surface design undergraduate at the University of Bolton, was, with other students, tasked to come up with a design for the Cap and Dove travelling arts centre.

The mini-arts centre is a the heart of a centrepiece of a Peterloo legacy project, following last summer’s 200th anniversary commemorations in Greater Manchester.

Zaynah drew her inspiration from the pattern books, once used by mill owners, and now kept in Bolton Library.

The 19-year-old’s design will be made up into a pair of curtains.

Zaynah said: “This has been a fantastic experience. I wanted to take traditional elements from the pattern from the book and give it a modern approach in terms of colour and how it flows.”

Joshua said: “Zaynah’s design has a contemporary layout but is inspired by the historical pattern making from the Peel pattern books.

“In choosing the winning pattern, it was important to be able to see history in the design, as one of the themes of Cap & Dove is about giving ideas from the past a contemporary twist.”

The Cap and Dove title comes from the ‘cap of liberty’ and the ‘dove of peace’, two symbols of protest.

Joshua said: “The finished arts centre will tell stories about each of the Greater Manchester districts. “One of Bolton’s stories will be told through the curtains designed by Zaynah and the inspiration behind it.What also struck me is that the designs in Bolton Archive are from the same period as Peterloo. The people who created and worked on them are likely to be the same people who marched in 1819.”