Susie Redman at Collect 2024
It is little wonder that Susie Redman smiles when she talks about her work as a hand weaver, as she has cleverly woven her love of the environment – gardening, growing, making, and creating – into her carefully crafted homeware and sculptural pieces.
For Redman, sustainability is everything. That is why she grows her own willow and flax, sources local linen, and weaves on a repurposed Swedish floor loom, all the while working from a converted Edwardian station waiting room in the historic Scottish town of Burntisland.
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts. Image above: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman Headshot. Image above:
Redman’s mother, a nurse, introduced her to knitting and sewing as a child, with “making” becoming a way of life. While Redman followed her mother into nursing, she became a public health specialist working within academia while nurturing her passion and love of textiles. Having previously woven with tabletop hand looms, she fell across a traditional Swedish floor loom that changed her life during a holiday to Spain with her sister several years ago. The floor loom was destined to become firewood, but after a bit of negotiation, it was delivered in pieces to Redman’s Fife home two months later, with some brief notes on how to rebuild it.
“The loom arrived in bits, like sticks,” Redman said. “It was only after it was half built that I realised it was a Countermarch loom. I didn’t have a clue about the capacity of the loom or what it could do, so I began a search to find out how to weave with this type of loom. It was very different from the small table looms I had used before. I soon discovered it’s a good workhorse – I can weave heavy-duty rugs and much lighter-weight materials.
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
Redman recognises the potential of her loom to educate: “It’s so important for these traditional skills to be retained, reinterpreted, and reinvented, and I am constantly learning,” she said. “I know I will never get to where I have learned everything about my loom and weaving.”
The Swedish floor loom was the catalyst for Redman’s gradual reduction of her academic hours and her embrace of weaving full time. Since 2016, she has shared a space within The Platform Studios, which has become a must-visit destination for art enthusiasts. Luckily for us – and the visitors to Collect 2024 at Somerset House in London at the start of March – five of Redman’s new sculptural vessels will be on show for visitors to enjoy. This is her first time exhibiting as part of Collect – she has been selected as one of 12 makers from Scotland who will showcase their work under the Craft Scotland umbrella.
Image: Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman. Sample. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
“I have previously only exhibited in smaller galleries and sold from my studio, so this is a really exciting move for me,” she said. “I’ll be showing my new collection of vessels, handwoven with Japanese paper yarn and linen with homegrown willow rods woven into the cloth to give the vessels structure and an elegant form.”
She added: “I’m experimenting with making them taller (up to around 70 cm tall), and with the different colours of willows I’ve been growing, and different textures of paper yarn, which I hope adds another dimension, greater depth and more texture to the weave.”
Tying in with her love of being self-sufficient and embracing sustainability, Redman grows all of her willows in a walled community garden in Kirkcaldy and has also grown her flax for five years. She is now learning how to spin flax to incorporate it into her weaves.
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman Flax Paper Willow Sample. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
“I have always loved to garden, and I equally love growing, as much as I love weaving and bringing the two things together is just great,” she said. “I’m constantly reminded that as a weaver, the artist is part of this whole ecological cycle in which we grow, protect the environment, process fibres, pull willow, and then use it to make something that is also sustainable and will have another life. We, as makers, are very much part of that.
Redman is a founding member of Fibreshed Scotland, a community of producers, makers, consumers and educators who work with and promote locally produced wool, linen, leather and natural dye products. “Sustainability is essential to me,” she said. “There’s a growing concern about sustainability in many areas of life just now, and to me, what we wear and what we use in terms of textiles in our homes, it’s such an obvious place to look at as there’s something we can do about it.”
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
The floor loom allowed Redman to extend her reach, with its 124 cm width enabling sizeable wraps and scarves to be woven, along with blankets and wall hangings. She also creates cushions, table runners, linen towels, and screens that beautifully filter the light through windows or provide Japanese-style room dividers.
Nonetheless, her freestanding vessels create a showpiece in the home, with the willow extending beyond the weave and linen and textured paper yarn, creating unique pieces that cry out to be touched.
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie-Redman, Paper Willow Bark Linen Sample. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
However, when you gaze inside the baskets, you gain another insight into Redman’s creativity, clever use of raw materials, and love of the environment she weaves into her work. Inside each vessel is a unique piece of slate, bark, or stone that she has found on her travels, which forms part of the base and structure.
“I am an avid gatherer, and if I go to the woods or beach, my pockets are always full of stones and things I’ve found,” she said. “There’s something about looking at things for their beauty and that connection with the environment. So, in each of my vessels, there will be something in the bottom – there might be a stone shaped by the sea, a piece of bark or slate. For me, they will all have something about gathering and collecting.”
Image: Craft Scotland Collect 2024. Susie Redman, Woven Paper Willow Sample. Image courtesy of Shannon Tofts.
A little girl introduced to sewing and knitting by her mother is weaving her legacy into her artwork, which will adorn the homes of many and inspire future generations to embrace sustainable choices equally.
Text by Jennifer Harper
Collect 2024 is on show 1 – 3 March 2024, Somerset House, London, UK. Find out more and plan your visit:
www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/collect-2024
Find out more and follow Susie Redman:
susieredmanhandwoven.co.uk
@susieredman