Most of us keep a scrap of cloth that holds a memory, whether a childhood blanket or a well-worn scarf. Textile artist Sara Lowes has built her practice around that feeling. While learning Ajrakh block printing with master Sufiyan Khatri in Kutch, she fell for the stained, indigo-marked Achadiya cloths that cover his print tables, and went on to found Studio Astray, turning fabric waste into garments and quilts. As she brings her work together as Sara Lowes Studio, we interview her about growing up in Kenya and about the friendships and happy accidents that shape what she makes.
Top Left: Portrait of Sara Lowes by Sohail Wazir. Top Right: Achadiya samples. Bottom: Lengths of Achadiya fabric. Photo: Jenna Foxton.
Selvedge: Sara, you grew up around the landscape and textiles of the Maasai Mara before training in Cornwall and working in London and India. How has that early exposure to shúkà cloth and the meaning it carried within Maasai communities shaped the way you think about textiles as storytellers?
Sara Lowes: Growing up in Kenya has profoundly shaped me and the way I think about textiles as storytellers. I left when I was ten, so my memories are fragmented, but many of my earliest experiences of the world are tied to cloth — its smells, textures, colours and patterns, from the brushed cotton of my comfort blanket as a baby and the African-print curtains in our family home, the kangas and kikoys that were wrapped around us as kids that we still have now, and the bold colours and textures of shúkà cloth worn by Maasai communities. At the time, I experienced these simply as part of the world around me; as I've grown older, I've become more conscious of the complex histories, cultural meanings and colonial influences held within these textiles. Kenya was my first experience of the world, but not my heritage, and I think that complexity has stayed with me — being deeply shaped by a place while still questioning where I fit within its stories.
Perhaps that's why I'm so fascinated by textiles as carriers of memory and identity. I instinctively collect fragments of cloth as a way of recording my own story, but I'm equally interested in the stories they already hold. I feel very privileged to have grown up surrounded by such a rich material culture, and increasingly aware of the responsibility that comes with engaging with traditions that are not my own. For me, textiles are memories made tangible and connections made visible, but they also remind us that identity and belonging are rarely simple or fixed.
Examples of collected samples from Sara Lowes' personal sketchbooks.
S: Achadiya cloth only becomes what it is through months of accidental mark-making at the print table, picking up whatever is thrown at it: indigo splashes, stray motifs, the odd happy accident. What is it like designing around a material whose pattern you have no control over, and has a piece ever come out so unexpected that you had to build an entire garment around a single stain or smudge?
SL: I fell in love with Achadiya cloth as soon as I came across it while learning Ajrakh block printing alongside Master Sufiyan Khatri in Kutch, India. Achadiya are the cotton cloths laid over the print tables to protect them during the printing process. Over time, these cloths absorb layers of marks, colours and distorted Ajrakh motifs, tracing the shadow of the artisans' movement, washed, sun-dried and weathered by the elements and re-used until eventually discarded. I've always been drawn to the beauty of overlooked textiles, so it was love at first sight. These indigo canvases are already pieces of art, shaped by time, process, natural elements and chance. My role has been to notice them, capture them at different stages of their transformation process and find a way to carry their story forward.
One of the joys of working with Achadiya is that it challenges me to let go of control. I design in response to the fabric rather than starting with a predetermined design, allowing its colours, patterns, textures and imperfections to become the creative driver. Each piece is cut individually to make the most of the cloth and find balance, while holes, stains and offcuts become opportunities for embroidery, quilting and visible mending. One of our waistcoats pairs Achadiya with natural cream Kala Cotton, quilted together with red running stitch. On the Achadiya side, I trace a motif that has caught my eye; on the reverse, the same stitch appears as a distorted reflection. It's a celebration of the Ajrakh motifs that emerge through the layers of accumulated marks.
Top: Achadiya fabrics draped out to dry, photo: Sohail Wazir. Bottom Row: From silken lengths to hand sewn garments, the Studio Astray collection takes shape.
S: Your work with Achadiya cloth and Kala Cotton depends so much on your relationships with artisans in Gujarat and Kutch, people like Sufiyan Khatri and the women you collaborate with on embroidery. What have those partnerships taught you, and is there someone whose skill or story you'd love more people to know about?
SL: Working with artisans in Gujarat has been such a privilege, and so much of my practice today has grown from what I've learned through those relationships. I first travelled to Kutch in 2018, tracing the origins of the beautiful block-printed cottons and embroidered textiles I had been collecting in my sketchbooks. What began as a desire to understand where these materials and techniques came from has become a much deeper, ongoing relationship with the place and its people. Kutch has become something of a second home to me, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been welcomed so warmly into the craft communities there. Spending time with artisans has taught me to slow down, look closely and appreciate the knowledge, patience and stories held within these heritage crafts. So much of what I now value in my own practice has come from these experiences.
Sufiyan Khatri has been a particularly important teacher and inspiration, incredibly generous with his knowledge, time and space. His approach to Ajrakh printing and natural dyeing also runs through his philosophy of life. "God will decide," he would say when I was hoping a colour would turn out a certain way. There is something in the acceptance of letting nature take its course rather than trying to control it that has stayed with me.
Mukesh Bhanani has warmly welcomed me to Kala Raksha, where I've spent time learning about the rich embroidery traditions held by women artisans, particularly Suf embroidery with Nirmalaben and Kesharben. I've gained an appreciation not only for the extraordinary precision of this technique, but for how these skills are woven into daily life and passed through generations. Salim Wazir and his family have also become dear friends, and his late father's remarkable collection of historic textiles has been an invaluable source of knowledge and inspiration. If you are making a visit to Kutch in the next few months, this incredible collection of textile treasures 'Wazirbhai No Vaarso' is being exhibited at LLDC Craft Museum in Bhuj.
But what stays with me most is the warmth of these relationships: shared meals, cups of tea, laughter at our misunderstandings, and the way cloth has become a shared language beyond words. I've learned as much from that generosity and sense of community as I have from the techniques themselves, and feel a real responsibility to honour that kindness in my own work.
Photo: Portrait of Sufiyan Khatri and Sara Lowes, by Sohail Wazir.
S: You've returned to Falmouth, where your creative journey began, and recently opened a shop there with your sister. What's it been like working alongside her, and what was it about that coastline that pulled you back, and how has it fed into the studio's rhythm and the work you make?
SL: Falmouth has always been a special place for me. I studied textiles here in 2005 and, after moving around growing up, it was where I found some balance, my creative voice and a wonderful group of lifelong friends. London was an incredible place to live and hard to leave, but when I was pregnant I felt a strong pull back to the sea. Returning to Cornwall has felt like coming full circle, although I'm experiencing it through a very different lens now, as a mother rather than a student!
Having my sister here has made that transition much easier. We'd always dreamed of having a little studio shop together by the sea, and this year it finally happened. Kareni has her own business, Kelpi Studio, making jewellery and prints inspired by and often made from seaweed, and our work has always complemented and inspired each other with a shared rhythm. We're excited to be developing some collaborations together too.
Life here has also forced me to slow down, which is something I've had to consciously learn to embrace. I swim in the sea most days and have started doing long swims around the coastline; there's something about immersing yourself in the deep ocean that feels both grounding and exhilarating. I don't think it's a coincidence that I'm so drawn to indigo. The depth of blue and layered patterns in Achadiya remind me of the sea: dappled light, reflections and the shifting shape of water.
I'm very influenced by my surroundings, and my work naturally takes on something of the place I'm living or working in. The silks I've been printing with Sufiyan recently echo these reflections, sun-bleached colours and distorted shapes, while the quilts piece together fragments of different places and experiences. I like that they remain abstract, somewhere between place and memory, and can hold different meanings for different people. Perhaps that comes from my own experience of moving between places and wondering where I belong. I'm interested in how landscapes, people and experiences can exist within us at the same time, and how textiles can hold those layers.
Garments from the Studio Astray collection. Courtesy of Sara Lowes.
S: Alongside your textile work, you've made costumes and props for children's theatre and even collaborated with the Royal Opera House, reimagining surplus from their costume department. What draws you to designing for performance, and is there a production or piece from that world that's stayed with you?
SL: I've always been drawn to theatre and dance and the idea of transformation through costume and textiles. When we were little, my sisters and I would make up dances and plays, dressing up in Mum's old wedding dress and making costumes from whatever we could find. I was a shy child, but I loved dancing and could overcome my stage fright if I was in costume.
I set up Animalesque in 2012, creating screen-printed and embroidered headdresses for theatre and dress-up, which led to collaborations from making mice and bird headdresses for a production on Broadway to creating endangered species for Cornwall Museum, as well as working with dancers, performers and photographers around the world. But collaborating with the Royal Opera House was a particular highlight — my inner ballerina was bursting with excitement! I created headdresses inspired by Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Nutcracker, using surplus fabrics and embellishments from the original costumes. Seeing behind the scenes in the costume department, surrounded by iconic costumes and boxes labelled "Sleeping Beauty braids" and "Odile tutu lace", was unforgettable. It sparked my fascination with creating new stories from old fabrics that already hold so much history and significance.
Animalesque embroidered headresses by Sara Lowes
S: Animalesque and Studio Astray sit side by side in your practice, one rooted in play and transformation, the other in heritage and repurposed cloth. How do these two strands speak to each other in your working process? Do you move easily between the two, or does each one ask for something different creatively?
SL: For the past few years I've felt quite split between Animalesque and Studio Astray, as though they were expressing two very different sides of me. But over time I've realised they are really two forms of the same practice. The fabric is the focus for both. Whether discarded, surplus, repurposed or collected over time, the stories held within it guide what it becomes. I'm interested in making something beautiful and meaningful from what might otherwise be overlooked, allowing something of its past to be carried forward while giving it a new story and context. Whether it takes the form of costume, a garment, quilt or art piece, the process is essentially the same: it's not the product that leads, it's the fabric and process that guides the creation. I've recently brought both strands together under my own name, Sara Lowes Studio. It feels a little scary to let go of those separate identities, but I'm excited to see how these ideas will weave together.
The Quilted Wrap Gilet in Indigo, by Sara Lowes for Studio Astray.
S: Is there a piece or collection you're especially proud of at the moment that you'd love people to know more about?
SL: The Achadiya Collection is particularly dear to me as it was my first garment collection, bringing together reclaimed Achadiya cotton and silks that I had collected and repurposed over the years with Kutch's traditionally grown organic Kala Cotton, to create a small collection of jackets, shirts and waistcoats, each one unique.
A few pieces are especially close to my heart. The Indigo Horizon Crop Jacket, embroidered with Suf Mountains & Stars and two peacocks on the back, developed over time with Nirmalaben and Kesharben at Kala Raksha. The Quilted Wrap Gilets bring together Achadiya cloth in various tones with indigo or cream Kala Cotton, quilted and made into reverisible wrap jackets, developed and made here in Falmouth with my studio neighbour Jess from Beyond Repair.
Textile hanging, and quilt work in progress by skilled artisans in Kutch.
I'm also really excited about a new collection of textile hangings and quilts that I'll be sharing soon, developed during my last visit to Kutch in October and made in collaboration with Kala Raksha and the Patan community. Using offcuts and scraps from the Achadiya Collection, we created compositions inspired by our surroundings (buildings, flora and fauna, contrasting colours, textures and shapes), piecing together fragments of our time together.
To me, these pieces embody everything I value in this work: the friendships and knowledge that grow through shared making, traditional craft evolving through co-creative collaboration, and transforming overlooked materials into something new and meaningful.
S: Thank you, Sara. We are looking forward to seeing more within your future collections.
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Further Information:
Find Sara Lowes at her studio shop, Studio 2 in Old Brewery Yard, Old High Street in Falmouth, UK.
Sara Lowes will also be at this year's Selvedge Winter Fair on Sunday, 22 November 2026.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Achadiya Silks by Sara Lowes Studio. Photo: Jenna Foxton.
All further images as credited in captions and courtesy of Sara Lowes.