Tag: playlist

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week’s blog is accompanied by a playlist on the streaming platform: Spotify. The playlist is curated from across Spotify to reflect the articles on the blog. Sometimes the link is obvious, sometimes it is more oblique. To listen click on the player above or search for “Music to read a blog by” on the…

  • Fashion in the Louvre

    The first ever fashion exhibition at Le Louvre, the Paris museum, recently opened. Louvre Couture matches the museum’s extensive collections of decorative art with pieces from some of the world’s greatest fashion design houses and emerging talents – Chanel, Gaultier, Givenchy, Prada, Balenciaga… in a nod to not only inspiration but also an acknowledgement of…

  • The State of a Nation

    At the resumption of South Africa’s Parliament sittings, the President gives an address on the State of the Nation. The annual event is not just for politics but also an occasion for celebration and dressing to support local fashion. SONA25 has been no exception with traditional and designer outfits on the red carpet. Huzzah! With…

  • The Art of Knitting – a book

    “The Art of Knitting”, published in 1977 in the UK, has just been added to the studio library. This book is filled with examples of antique knitting, mainly from Europe but also from Asia and Middle East. The third section – The patterns – is a veritable feast of contemporary-for-then versions of knitted garments inspired…

  • Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee

    A recent addition to the textile collection shares a great link between textiles and music. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are two small characters from the “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” books by Lewis Carroll. The twins were made by artist Sharon Mitchell from Oamaru as part of an exhibition in her hometown of various characters…

  • The Spotify playlist for the week

    Each week a Spotify playlist is compiled to reflect the entries on the blog. To listen to the playlist either click on the player above or head over to Spotify and search for “Music to read a blog by”. Depending on your subscription type, you will either hear the playlist without interruption or with advertising…

  • 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…

  • The Dick Van Dyke show and a textile

    The small township of Ross is south of Hokitika on New Zealand’s West Coast and is an old gold-mining settlement. Ross is now a stop for tourists who come to look at the history of the area, walk the old gold-field paths, and experience gold-panning for themselves. It also has an op-shop, short for “opportunity…

  • 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…