Five Minutes with a Friend: Katerina Knight
Katerina Knight’s work begins long before a needle meets cloth. It starts with sowing seeds, with time spent waiting, with the slow accumulation of materials gathered from hedgerows and garden beds. By the time she stitches, the process is already months in motion.
Trained at Glasgow School of Art and later graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2023 as a Burberry scholar, Knight’s early career followed a familiar trajectory into the luxury fashion industry, with roles in London and Stockholm. What is less typical is her decision to step away. Faced with the pace, pressure, and environmental cost of large-scale production, she began to question not only how textiles were being made, but why. The shift that followed was not abrupt but gradual, and rooted in a return to gardening, to repetition, and to the slower, more attentive processes she had once set aside.
Now based in Malvern, Worcestershire, Knight’s practice is inseparable from her surroundings. She forages and grows the materials she works with, embedding dried plants—cornflowers, chamomile, grasses—directly into her embroidery. Using traditional hand techniques such as couching, darning, and cross stitch, she fixes these fragile elements into cloth, preserving their colour and structure while allowing their natural irregularities to remain visible. The resulting works read as both textile and record: traces of a specific season, place, and set of conditions, held in suspension. Her process follows a yearly rhythm—sowing in early spring, harvesting in summer, drying through autumn, and stitching in winter—placing time itself at the centre of the work.
Alongside her studio practice, Knight is also a writer and Features Editor at Selvedge Magazine, where her interest in material, process, and narrative extends into her editorial work.
Excitingly, this spring Knight brings this approach to her forthcoming Selvedge events. On 29 April, her ‘Meet the Maker’ online talk will trace her journey from fashion to a materially driven, nature-led practice, followed by a live Q&A. In June, her two-part Stitching with Nature workshop offers a more practical engagement. Participants will work with a selection of dried floral materials grown by Knight in Malvern, learning how to handle, stitch, and compose with them across a range of traditional and interlaced embroidery techniques. The emphasis is not only on skill, but on developing a closer, more responsive relationship to materials.
We also caught up with Katerina for "Five Minutes with a Friend" to talk about daily rituals, materials, and making at a slower pace.
Katerina Knight
Katerina, what is your earliest memory of a textile?
The first thing I remember making was during my home economics rotations in my first year of secondary school, so I would have been around 11 years old. We were set a project to make a bag. I remember my mother taking me to our local fabric shop, where I chose a pink cloth that had very fine fringing across the surface, along with an intricately woven trim for the strap. Looking back, the fabric was synthetic and garishly bright, but what remains is that I am still always drawn to anything with fine detail.
How would you describe what draws you to textiles and the world of making?
As a maker, I love how textiles allow me to create beautiful things that bring a sense of magic to our world. Especially today, as we are living amidst turbulent and negative times, being able to create objects of beauty that add joy and wonder feels like a precious gift.
If you create textiles, where do you feel most inspired to work?
For me, in order to be most creative, it is important that I feel calm and settled. I have had a number of studios over the years, but ultimately I always return to the feeling that there is nowhere I am happier to make than in the safe space and comfort of my own home. As my inspiration mostly comes from nature and the plants that I grow, living rurally means I am surrounded by inspiring flora and fauna.
What has sparked your imagination or inspired you recently?
I have recently returned from spending three months in India. There, I spent time with Adiv Pure Nature, a textile studio in Mumbai that transforms temple waste flowers into naturally dyed and eco-printed cloth. I began growing my own flowers in the community garden of my Buddhist temple two years ago, and since then I have been intrigued by the connections between spirituality, textiles, and nature in my own research.
Is there a piece of music you return to while you work that sets the rhythm of your making?
While I stitch, I usually return to Mary Lattimore, a harpist from LA. Her music is ethereal and calming. As hand stitching is a slow and repetitive process, I find that music which mirrors that rhythm—without too much variation or abrupt changes—helps me settle into a flow.
What material or technique are you currently experimenting with or curious to explore further?
Working with plant materials, the materials I use are largely defined by what I grow and harvest. Each year, I like to introduce new flowers into my stitching garden. This year, I am excited to expand my collection of dahlias with a few new varieties, as well as achillea. Since spending time in India, I am even trying lotus seeds—I would love to create a small Indian garden in a section of my allotment, though the Malvern climate may make this a challenge. While in India, I tried to restrain myself from getting carried away buying too many textile materials, but I did return with some zari threads.
What does a perfect day of making look like for you?
A perfect day for me has to be in June. June in the UK is my favourite summer month, when it still feels like the beginning of the season and there are many long, warm days to come. I always start each day with a walk. I live by the belief that if I get out into natural light within 30 minutes of waking, my mental clarity is always better. At home, I love to potter, so my ideal day involves moving gently between tasks—a combination of writing, tending to my plants, sewing, returning to writing, and then sewing again.
Many thanks to Katerina for taking the time to share her thoughts and insights with us.
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Further Information:
For tickets to Katerina Knight's Selvedge events, please click the links below:
Meet the Maker:
Meet Katerina Knight: Wednesday 29 April 2026, 5 - 6pm BST.
Online Workshop:
Stitching with Nature with Katerina Knight
Sunday 21 June & 28 June 2026, 2 - 5pm BST
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Image Credits:
All images courtesy of Katerina Knight.