Aitor Saraiba's Book Launch Comes to Loop London
Aitor Saraiba keeps his own flock of sheep in the mountains of Cantabria. When he needs wool for a piece he shears it, spins it, dyes it, then stitches with it, closing a loop that most contemporary textile artists have long since let go of. This is the world his new book invites readers into, and on 18 September, London gets the first chance anywhere in the world to hear him talk about it.
Speaking of 'loops', Loop, the beloved yarn and haberdashery shop tucked into Camden Passage in Islington, will soon be hosting the English-language launch of Embroider, Mend and Sew, translated from Saraiba's Spanish bestseller Cose, zurce y borda. The evening runs on Friday 18 September from 6 to 8.30pm as part of London Textile Month, and combines a meet and greet, a signing, and the particular pleasure of watching an artist talk through work that clearly means something to him.
Aitor Saraiba and Susan Cropper outside Loop London
Loop itself is celebrating its 21st year. Susan Cropper, a New Yorker who settled in London, opened the shop in the summer of 2005 with the idea of a yarn haven staffed by knitters who actually knew their craft. Two decades on, the shelves hold hand-dyed yarns from names like La Bien Aimée, Madelinetosh and Spincycle alongside vintage haberdashery, embroidery threads and a well-thumbed library of pattern books. Loop works with a small constellation of textile designers and makers, including Minä Perhonen, Julie Arkell, Hikaru Noguchi, Nathalie Lété and Saraiba, who create pieces exclusively for the shop, and it runs a steady programme of classes taught by visiting teachers from around the world. Cropper's contribution to London's craft scene has been recognised well beyond Camden Passage: she was runner-up for the BT Essence of Entrepreneur award and later named in the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 list of London's most influential people.
Textile artwork by Aitor Saraiba
Saraiba's practice moves between drawing, ceramics and textiles, each discipline informing the others, and it has taken him from a stone cabin in northern Spain to institutions including the Prado, the Thyssen, Caixaforum and Loewe. In 2022, El País named him ICON Artisan of the Year for his textile and ceramic work; Castilla-La Mancha later gave him its Regional Merit Award for reviving traditional techniques within contemporary practice.
Embroider, Mend and Sew by Aitor Saraiba
The book itself draws heavily on that grounding. Its twelve projects, from framed appliqué to boro-inspired repairs, hand-dyed scatter cushions and small textile books, treat mending as a creative language rather than an afterthought. Readers get a full walkthrough of sashiko-influenced boro repair, alongside a natural dye palette built from ordinary kitchen staples: logwood, tea, onion skins and iron. Saraiba traces the whole approach back to a zero-waste childhood in La Mancha, where nothing usable was ever thrown away, and where imperfection in a mended garment was simply proof that it had been loved and lived in.
Textile artwork by Aitor Saraiba
Aitor will also lead workshops at Loop the same weekend, giving a rare opportunity to learn his stitch vocabulary in person. For anyone drawn to slow, hand-worked textiles with real history behind them, this is a date worth putting in the diary.
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Further Information:
Event: Friday 18 September, 6–8.30pm, Loop, Camden Passage, Islington, London as part of London Textile Month
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Image Credits:
Lead: Textile artwork by Aitor Saraiba
All further images courtesy of Loop London and Aitor Saraiba