Digital Craft Festival
Image: Emma Rosa, Large Scarlet Pimpernel Brooches.
From 26 - 28 March over 150 contemporary makers will be showcasing their latest work and a host of workshops and demonstrations will be taking place for this year’s Digital Craft Festival. Director Sarah James, remarks: “Last year was a year like no other, but amid the doom and gloom we launched the Digital Craft Festival, which was received by over 20,000 visitors and supported over 400 makers from across the UK & Europe. The feedback we received was exceptional from all of those who took part, so we are back online this March with even more content.” Ahead of the festival next week, we’ve picked out some of our favourite textile artists and designers to watch.
Emma Rosa is an embroidery and mixed media artist creating botanical studies, decorations and wearable pieces from fabric and thread. She applies free-motion embroidery techniques to paint detail with thread onto silk and soluble fabrics— even down to the little details of stamen, roots and moss— using high quality eco-friendly natural materials and deadstock fabrics where possible. Her inspiration comes from antique botanical illustrations and the hedgerows and woodlands in the rural Devonshire countryside that surrounds her.
Image: Jules Hogan, Ponchetta Linen Beige.
Jules Hogan is an evolving and timeless collection of fashion and home accessories for people who like to make a quiet statement. Crafted with a subtle colour palette, shades are chosen to flatter varying skin tones and silhouettes to compliment different body shapes. Many of Jules’ pieces are hand loomed on reconditioned knitting machines and finished by hand using carefully sourced ethical yarn and lambs wool from a family mill that has been spinning since 1766.
Image: Ruta Naujalyte, My Love I Will Eat You Alive. Brooch.
Lithuanian textile and jewellery artist Ruta Naujalyte lives in Norway where she creates intricate crocheted sculptures often with a macabre sensibility. “The impression of incompleteness is significant,” she explains. “It adds presence – awareness of the here and now.” Having spent years experimenting with various materials and techniques, but always coming back to crochet, Rute mastered the craft by pushing herself to use smaller and smaller hooks and thinner threads in her work. Mythical creatures, fictional fairy tales, and inspiring color combinations are important creative elements in her work: her creations are “fragile, sincere, and deeply confusing, at the same time absurd and exciting”. The macabre elements, rich in colour and saturation, emphasising the fragility of beauty.
To find out more, visit the Digital Craft Festival website.