Bold, vibrant colours are a defining feature in the art of British abstract painter Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017), a powerful means of conveying his innermost memories and emotions. “Don’t paint the thing itself,” he wrote, “paint the effect it produces.” He often brought dazzling shades of red like Firecracker Red into his paintings, laid liberally…
Category Archives: TEXTILES
What if you could challenge the expectations and societal structures permeating all aspects of life, big and small? Examine, question, and reconstruct your interactions and experience with the world and community around you? These, and questions alike, are the foundation of what author and serial entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid sets out to help women resolve through…
Born and raised in Scotland, I grew up surrounded by tartan, a pattern associated as much with kitsch Scots traditions and nationalist tartanry as punk rebellion and goth subculture. Despite this complicated duality, there’s no denying that tartan is interwoven with the history of Scotland and Scottish identity. Yet it is also a worldwide phenomenon…
Fashion in the late Middle Ages was an essential tool for marking one’s social status, with the more opulent and impractical denoting those of higher rank and nobility. Art of the era can tell us much about the types of clothing people wore, and what those garments said about their position within society. Notably, art,…
Fashion during the High and Late European Renaissance was a true lesson in opulence, with exaggerated silhouettes that accentuated the human form, along with indulgent, luxurious fabrics adorned with sequins, embroidery and precious stones. Italy led the way during the early 16th century, shaping and influencing much of what was worn throughout Europe, leading to…
Buying fabric online can be overwhelming. You can’t feel the texture, see how it drapes, or know if it will work for your project until it arrives. I’ve been there—staring at endless fabric choices, wondering if I’m making the right decision. That’s why I want to help you visualize IL019 All-Purpose Midweight linen so you…
The great flourishing of arts and culture that took place during the European Renaissance inevitably made its way into the realms of fashion and textiles, shaping and informing the way people across Europe would dress for centuries to come. But with few surviving artefacts of clothing from this era, art has much to tell us…
The airy, breezy shade of LIGHT BLUE fabric made its way into many of Claude Monet’s most celebrated paintings, describing the soaring, luminescent skies of spring and summer in his native France. In particular, the colour came to play a key role in Monet’s famed ‘Poplars’ series, made from spring to autumn 1891. In total…
Self-taught Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave had an uncanny ability to transform humble sheets of paper into the texture and pattern of fabric, from the soft silk of satin to the raw texture of linen. She brought them together into the most ornate costumes and dresses which pay homage to the history of fashion and…
Throughout his long and prolific career, Marc Chagall discovered how his whimsical, playful imagery was transferable into a whole range of media, ranging from drawing and painting to ceramics, theatre designs, mosaics, costumes and textiles. He discovered the joy of fabric as early as the 1920s while producing fabric backdrops and costume designs for the…
First things first: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez is a white-knuckle read. Written with gusto, providing a blizzard of data which whip across the page. You are almost snow-blind (with rage) at the end of Part 1: Daily Life. The book is divided into 6 parts. Each explores an area where data and design…
Today, as we become more engaged with the things we use and wear, one of the joys of design are the many histories published on the subject. Design’s past has opened up before us experientially. Mining the cultural and technical elements which inform the things we collect in our homes and museums. In The Golden…
Whether abstract, figurative, or somewhere in between, the epic, shimmering and painterly fabric installations made by African-born artist Abdoulaye Konaté reflect on Africa’s great history with textiles, and the political implications bound into every single stitched layer. Currently living and working in Bamako, he says, “My works witness and speak of power struggles which have…
In the hands of contemporary artist Faig Ahmed, traditional Azerbaijani rugs are given a fantastically surreal twist, with elements that seem to warp, melt, and dissolve into puddles on the gallery floor. An intricate fusion of high quality, traditional weaving techniques and digital design, his visually arresting artworks speak of a need to keep ancient…
From vast, cascading curtains of silk to hand-woven fishing nets, contemporary artist Carolina Caycedo has worked with a wide range of fabrics and textiles, deftly interweaving their tactile properties into her conceptual practice. Her most recent art is an examination into the social divisions and oppressions surrounding the privatization of water, working closely with communities…
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