Tag: craft

  • Maytime in Mayfair

    Mayfair, in London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is an expensive and desirable place to live. And work. Today Mayfair is home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, (although this wasn’t always the case), and it boasts luxury hotels and shops as well as being commemorated on the London…

  • Russia’s textile printing industry

    The studio collection has some examples of ikat-dyed robes from Uzbekistan but it is their linings that hold a fascinating story. Russia has a long history of printing on textiles. Its proximity to Asian and European countries meant that advances in printing (and other processes) were easily absorbed and altered to fit local tastes. During…

  • Wool, whaling and the Red Bay burial

    In the North-east corner of Canada lies the settlement of Red Bay the hiding place of a marvellous secret for four hundred years. In the sixteenth century, Basque whalers established a station in Red Bay from where oil was sent to Europe to light lamps, make soap and to be used in the leather and…

  • Weave and music

    The links between weaving and music are strong. In this fascinating article Eleanora Giglione explores some of the ideas that bring weaving, looms and music together.

  • Scott Norris

    A visitor to the studio in Māwhera/ Greymouth this week spoke about a friend, Scott Norris, who weaves words and images in labours of love. Scott Norris lives in Massachusetts in the United States, and works in a converted garage at Elam’s Widow. Fascinated by words and stories, Norris weaves images – vignettes of past…

  • Boy Knits World

    Jake Henzler is an Australian knitter, creator of whimsical figures and colourful architecture. Inspired by the tall houses of Copenhagen and Amsterdam while on an extended stay overseas, he also has designed patterns for houses in Sydney, native trees of Australia, and The Grand Hotel, an homage to Wes Anderson’s film: The Grand Budapest Hotel.…

  • Vadim Mikhailov

    A recent news article in the New York Times drew attention to Vadim Mikhailov, a protest artist who works with textiles. Repurposing cloth, carpets, costume and the like has long been the stock-in-trade of those who protest against what they perceive as injustice: Brazilian-Swiss artist, Eva de Souza, for example, or Korean-born Aram Han Sifuentes…

  • Make a decorated egg

    Mr X Stitch often features work by textile artist, Christine Cunningham, and here is a post about making a decorated textile egg for the season.

  • Winter workshops

    This winter the studio will be busy with classes and workshops. On Sunday 24th May we are going to be looking at twills, those fascinating structures that we are familiar with from the diagonal lines in denim. Twills are used in houndstooth, in diamonds, in triangles and many other patterns. The 13th June is a…

  • Threads of Heritage

    A new short film from Zimbabwe brings together fashion, storytelling, and an iconic printed fabric. Pfeka is a clothing brand from Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The brand came up with the Masvingo print, a cloth that was inspired by Great Zimbabwe‘s massive stone ruins with its chevron and herringbone patterns. Now the print has,…