Tag: craft

  • The unique look of Finland

    Finland has earned a name for its fashion. The country has had a long and colourful history but has maintained an independent, creative spirit despite war and invasion, and that creativity comes though in Finnish fashion, an industry that tells the world about how society works in the Nordic country. This article from business of…

  • Vodou flags

    Haitian Vodou is a religion that merged Catholicism and traditional African practices in the diaspora of the 18th and 19th Centuries, and its adherents traditionally made use of handmade flags called drapo. Drapo are decorated with embroidery and embellished with beads. Nowdays they are collector’s items and artists create drapo to sell to an international…

  • Linking the Coast and Shetland

    The textile studio in Māwhera Greymouth is gearing up for the arrival of the equipment from Shetland, and for the official opening which will be held in autumn. Summer has been busy, with tourists and locals alike coming in to see the studio and its progress. It is gratifying to have so many people saying…

  • Lighting the way

    Around the world lighthouses guide marine traffic safely in dangerous conditions. Lighthouses come in many forms but they all fulfil the same essential function: acting as beacons to warn of danger or act as signallers to safe havens. In Shetland some of the lighthouses that dot the coast were designed and built by the Stevenson…

  • Baye Fall – patchwork in a Muslim community

    The Baye Fall, Senegalese Muslims, believe that hard work and service to their communities expressed their faith, but their clothes honour the founder of the movement. In the 19th Century Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba established the Mouride brotherhood, an offshoot of Sufi Islam, in Senegal. It is believed that Ibrahima Fall, the founder of Baye Fall,…

  • The start of creating yarns

    The challenge of finding 100% wool yarns in Aotearoa New Zealand that are suitable for weaving with is tricky. The yarns that The Shetland Tweed Company used in production came from the sheep on the islands, and are blended colours. The blend allows for different colours to be highlighted in the weaving and makes for…

  • The subtleties of kimono

    This wedding kimono from the textile collection was exhibited in the Left Bank Gallery in Greymouth in 2023. As regular readers of the blog will know, there is a collection of Japanese garments upstairs in the Regent Theatre in Māwhera Greymouth. The garments were brought into the collection a few years ago and came direct…

  • Peter Collingwood in New Zealand

    In 1984, Peter Collingwood, the British weaver who was the first living craftsperson to have work exhibited in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, visited Auckland. The New Zealand Spinners, Weavers and Woolcraft Society toured a British Council exhibition of textile art that included the weaver’s work. The exhibition in Aotearoa included local weavers from Auckland,…

  • Textile song, work and memory

    Weaving has been associated with music and rhythm for centuries, a strong connection that helps guide the weaving itself and also makes evident the links between personal practice and growth in the Indian Subcontinent. From mystics, who use weaving as metaphors in verse for Buddhist philosophy, to women who gather together to spin cotton while…

  • Irene Sharraff

    Costumes are always an important ingredient in making a successful play or musical. Meet Irene Sharraff. Irene trained in fashion illustration and excelled in colour and historical details, employing these to brilliant effect in musicals such as West Side Story and Call Me Madam. Her work was recognised in 1993 when she was awarded the…