Mid-October Riina O was invited to the weird and wonderful Beirut to teach the 3-day glove-making workshop at the Lebanese American University. Beirut is an extraordinary place where gloves are mostly worn for fashion, not for function, unlike in most of Europe and the US these days. And whilst allegedly it does get chilly there in Winter, at the time of the visit it was 34c at night! Much cooler indoors though. The lovely group of third year fashion students learned various

Have you ever imagined changing the colour of your gloves? Riina O teamed up with the smart textile designer Kristi Kuusk to create two pairs of experimental colour changing Astra gloves. The gloves are decorated with a screen-printed pattern using heat-sensitive pigments that react to the temperature change - in this case the heat of your hands - turning the stars from dark grey to light blue. The futuristic element is highlighted by selecting stars as a hint to the space ag