NEW PERSPECTIVES, HAMEWARES FOR FOLD AT THE BARN, 2021
Over the summer 2021, I was commissioned to develop a range of sustainable
textile products for FOLD Craft and Design Store located at the Barn, an arts
organisation in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. These products represent their unique
Hamewares brand.
The commission was launched nationally to give the Scottish creative sector an
opportunity to respond to the current consumption model in context to craft as many creatives are currently challenging how they think and work with materials.
This was an ideal opportunity for me to further explore and develop aspects of my practice by using sustainable fabrics such as hemp, natural dyes and hand block printing which is slow and labour intensive.
My design concept embraces this idea of time and place - each block represents a season and these blocks are repeated together to represent years aiming to highlight textiles' use in the past of being treasured possessions inherited by generations.
Inspired by spending time at the Barn and experiencing the two aspects of the
natural environments surrounding the local area - the garden allotments and walled garden against the wild gardens and surrounding landscape; the overall designs of each piece attempted to reflect on the duality and complexity of our green spaces.
The block pattern shows a human relationship with time and nature - rigid, linear with an attempt to control it. The imperfect, dyed, abstract patchworks on the other side of the quilts show a deeper understanding of time which is unpredictable and layered.
The two sides are joined together by the stitches so both are feeding into each other. These works incorporate the un-managed beauty of natural dyeing and hand block printing and attempt to illustrate our complex relationships with crafts, commodity and value.
The series of quilts, aprons and tool cases commissioned by the Barn are now on sale at FOLD and will be available to purchase online through the FOLD website in the near future.
For me, opportunities such as this create chances to redefine and extend our
understanding of textiles and consumption here in Scotland, by focusing on place, what it means to us and ultimately, how we intend to protect and preserve it.
Sustainable approaches to design and craft can be slow and initially costly, but these processes can help support the things we ultimately value, our place.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE BARN, BANCHORY.
