Since 2005 Professore Anthony Knight has developed and taught the patternmaking course at University IUAV in Venice.

I work for the secret society in fashion. Everyone knows the name, but we are rarely mentioned or just named as a matter of fact. Our work is to bring life out of a sketch or out of undeveloped conceptual ideas. We work under a cloud of imagination but, at the same time, follow the rules.

I am (we are) the patternmakers.

Anthony Knight in Design and Discipline: Designing Fashion at Iuav.

My methods are very simple. I want my students to listen and understand what I'm teaching but at the same time they must always be open to other methods. In class we discuss the human body, looking at the differences around the world, starting with height, weight, bone structure, movement. I'm encouraging my students to move away from the model figure and beauty, and to really start looking at the Human Body, even their own. Throughout the course, the students have the opportunity to see, touch and wear original vintage samples. I believe this is the moment when students start to think and imagine new ideas, stimulated by the fabrics.

What I'm trying to achieve is to get my students to respect patternmaking as an art or science. It is not just a matter of reading a book on patternmaking, it has to be tried and tested.

Anthony Knight in Design and Discipline: Designing Fashion at Iuav.

First day, first semester, first year: the students begin the Pattern-Making Atelier. It is an intense process and one not without obstacles that leads them, over the period of a few months, to the point where they can translate a concept into something physical and tangible. Often this involves using their own bodies, both as a unit of measure and as a pattern or model. In the words of Anthony Knight, who runs the atelier:

"In the classroom we discuss the human body, looking at different types of people with different anatomical characteristics, body language and geographical origins. I try to keep the students away from just one idea of beauty, inviting them to observe the human body, in the first place, their own."

"There are Many Bodies" by Saul Marcadent in Design and Discipline: Designing Fashion at Iuav.