Frances V.H Mohair: Now in the Selvedge Artisan Goods Shop
A new story in mohair begins with Frances V.H Mohair at the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop, a women-led textile studio rooted in the expansive landscapes of the Karoo in South Africa.
Oom Tallie pauses among Angora goats in the Karoo, where the relationship between land, animal, and maker begins the story of every Frances V.H Mohair textile.
Founded in 2017 by Frances van Hasselt, who grew up on a family mohair farm, the studio reflects an intimate understanding of one of the world’s most remarkable natural fibres. Working alongside a team of women artisans, Frances V.H Mohair creates textiles that honour place, provenance, and process, with each piece shaped by the rhythms of the land and the life cycle of the Angora goat.
Hands gather raw mohair fibre, prized for its softness and sheen.
At the heart of the studio’s work is mohair — a fibre celebrated for its softness, warmth, and luminous sheen. Distinctive for the way it absorbs dye, mohair lends extraordinary depth and richness to colour, giving every woven piece a tactile presence that feels both elemental and refined.
Sportsdag In Januarie blanket by Frances V.H Mohair
For the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop, Frances V.H Mohair presents a selection of vibrant woven blankets from the SOFA collection, an acronym for Supporting Old Factories in Africa. Among them is the Sportsdag In Januarie blanket — its name translating from Afrikaans as Sports Day in January — a piece that captures the studio’s instinctive connection to colour, memory, and place.
New Tekkies blanket out in the wild of the Karoo. Photo: Sam Reinders
Across the collection, a rich spectrum of colours reflects the shifting tones of the Karoo landscape, from sunlit plains to dusk-lit horizons. With a wide range of hues available, each blanket brings its own character, allowing these textiles to settle effortlessly into different interiors while retaining the spirit of the landscape that inspired them.
Inside the Frances V.H Mohair studio.
Every stage of production is carried out by hand, from spinning and washing to dyeing and the final trimming of each finished textile. Rather than imposing a design upon the fibre, the studio allows the character of the mohair itself to guide the making process. The result is a collection of timeless pieces that speak quietly of craftsmanship, landscape, and care.
The Frances V.H Mohair team gather for a group photo at the studio.
To discover more about Frances V.H Mohair, explore their collection in the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop, and revisit the following feature from Selvedge Issue 126, Deco, where we shared the story behind these extraordinary textiles and the landscape that continues to inspire them:
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Further information:
Discover more from Frances V.H Mohair at the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop.
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Image Credits:
Lead: In the studio at Frances V.H Mohair.
All images courtesy of Frances V.H Mohair and as credited in captions.