The soft sculptures of Maria A. Guzmán Capron depict larger-than-life curvy, vibrant characters whose joyful effervescence reflects the rich complexity of Capron’s multicultural identity, which spans Europe, South America and the United States. She says, “I need a variety of sources, because that is the only way I will approximate the complexity of a self…
Complex Characters: The Soft Sculptures of Maria A. Guzmán Capron
When I first started sewing garments, I immediately fell in love with linen. I loved how it wrinkled with wear and it felt very forgiving as I taught myself how to sew a straight line or maintain the same seam allowance throughout a pattern. So when I sat down to think of my seven favorite…
Last fall, my family and I relocated to a small rural town south of Phoenix, Arizona—a stark contrast to our previous urban lifestyle just minutes from downtown LA. One of the things I knew I would miss was the easy access to the Fabric District, where I could find endless bolts of deadstock fabrics. As…
When you open a sewing pattern for the first time, the different lines, symbols, and shapes can seem a little overwhelming, especially if you’re new to sewing. However, they typically follow a similar format no matter which pattern company you’re using. As you become familiar with them, understanding these markings will eventually become second nature,…
Oxytocin. The hormone responsible for the squishy feeling you get inside when you hug someone you love or stroke a fluffy dog. And, I found out while I was pregnant, the hormone pretty single-handedly responsible for a successful labour. Of course, there’s more going on, but from what I could tell, the more of it…
Artist, designer and thinker, Josef Frank was an outspoken pioneer, whose practice spanned diverse disciplines, including art, architecture and textiles. In his textile and embroidery work he broke away from the simplicity of modernism with fluid, organic repeat patterns designed entirely by hand, featuring swirling flora and fauna in bold, Matisse-like motifs and intensely vivid…
Empathy is a concept that I am sure most of you are familiar with, but what about applying it to our relationship with our wardrobes? When considering the production of “fashion” we often don’t think about the fact that our clothes have passed through many hands to make it into our wardrobes. Farmers, spinners, dyers,…
Chilean arpilleras might at first look like playful, whimsical patchworks, featuring brightly coloured houses, scattered children and blazing suns. But closer inspection reveal that they are a potent, emotionally raw form of resistance and rebellion, one that emerged during the brutalist regime of Augusto Pinochet from 1973-1989. While women were forced into submissive silence by…
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do. My name is Claire and I’m the owner of Studio Studio, a creative design practice focused on branding. On any given day of the week I’m being creative in one form or another: design work for a client, sewn or knit garments for myself, highly…
Themes of identity, belonging, transience and displacement permeate throughout the art of Tsherin Sherpa, whose art is as diverse and complex as his life. As a Tibetan born in Nepal who now lives in United States, his own life has taken its fair share of twists and turns, giving him a multitude of ideas to…
Have you ever experienced the discomfort of wearing a garment that hangs awkwardly or twists unexpectedly? Or, have you had the frustration of laundering a particular garment only to find that it has shrunk or grown unevenly? These annoying problems often come from the fabric’s grain alignment. This little detail has a big impact on…
There is a curious and unexpected dichotomy between sound and fabric in the art of Vivian Caccuri, inviting us to consider the ways in which the two are more closely interrelated than we might at first think. Primarily a sound-based artist, her recent forays into textiles has provided a tactile and sensorial element to her…
I have relocated around the world multiple times, and downsized from a house to an inner-city studio apartment. Since moving to Munich, I’ve also had to develop almost two different wardrobes to handle the more extreme temperatures, rotating my wardrobe and periodically packing away those seasonal pieces when they are not needed. Therefore, I have…
Linen and summer go together like peanut butter and jelly, they say. Okay, maybe they don’t say that… but it’s true! Living in a very hot climate is one of the many reasons my closet is mostly comprised of linen. It’s natural, so my skin is sure to not get irritated when it reaches the…
Hailing from Johannesburg, textile artist Billie Zangewa makes intricate stitched collages from raw silk that celebrate the joys and struggles of her life as a black woman and mother. Her work reflects on the ways in which black women’s wider political status bleeds into their everyday lives, a process she calls “daily feminism.” Yet there…
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