Screen Time: In the Print Room with Jessie de Salis
This week on Selvedge Stories, we are sharing 'Crafting Joy', a new 16mm short film by textile designer Jessie de Salis and filmmaker Natalie Dodd. It's a close-up look at the screen-printing process, filmed in the Somerset countryside. Lasting just 1 minute and 41 seconds, the piece lingers on the movement of naturally dyed fabrics, the steady pace of printing, and the small gestures that shape hand-produced textiles. Rather than explaining the process, the film observes it in the context of the sweeping landscapes it takes place, offering viewers a moment of stillness and a sense of how colour and cloth come together in Jessie’s hands.
The film offers a fitting introduction to Jessie’s wider practice. Working from a barn studio in Somerset, which she shares with her cousin Alice Jacoby, Jessie prints every length of fabric by hand. Her materials are carefully chosen — water-based inks, organic European linens, small-batch production — not as a branding exercise, but as a practical way of working that keeps the process transparent and manageable. Each print run is handled individually, resulting in subtle shifts from piece to piece that speak to the physical act of making.
Lotus (tones of yellow). Hand screen printed onto 100% organic washed linen from Europe.
Her design language moves confidently between bold, large-scale motifs and the neat structure of stripes and checks. Some patterns are shaped by summers spent in Northern Italy, where soft architectural colours and graphic beach umbrellas form a kind of visual shorthand. Others are rooted in stories, landscape and everyday observation. This balance of clarity, colour and simplicity has led to collaborations such as her recent project with Haines Collection, where she created a bespoke ribbon-check design and contributed to a capsule collection of salvaged-linen furniture.
Ribbon Check (blue on dusty pink). Hand screen printed onto 100% organic washed linen from Europe.
To complement the film, we’re also sharing a “5 Minutes with a Friend” interview, offering a brief but insightful glimpse into Jessie’s approach — how she designs, what she pays attention to, and the values that underpin her studio practice:
Jessie de Salis
Jessie, what is your first memory of a textile?
When I was little my family lived in Malawi. While my Dad worked as a doctor my Mum researched her PhD on the anthropology of traditional African medicine. My brother and I were so young and spent all our time outside, running around and playing with the local kids. Of course we got covered in mud, though somehow the local children always looked clean and tidy. One year my gran sent out a box of beautiful little dresses, hand-me-downs from the 1960s, all hand embroidered with bows and ruffs. 4 year old me had never seen anything so amazing! I wore them continuously and still remember how special it felt.
Jessie de Salis with her brother in the countryside of Malawi.
Can you put into words what you love about textiles?
Fabrics surround us and change the spaces we live in. We’re constantly touching or living alongside different textiles… clothes, carpets, curtains, sofas, bedding, kitchen and tableware. Fabrics totally transform our environments. They add pattern, colour, warmth to our homes, and bring interest and texture to the places we work. I love how a bright throw or colourful cushion can suddenly bring a room to life.
Jessie with her Papyrus Stripe stripe design in orange, white, and dusty pink.
If you make textiles, where is your most inspiring space / place to create?
Me and my cousin Alice have set up a DIY print studio in a barn in Somerset. I am very lucky to work in this space. I have lived most of my life in cities so it's wonderful to spend time in nature and see the changing seasons. In the summer we open up the big barn doors and it's like being outside.
Jessie de Salis and Alice Jacoby washing out screens at their print barn in Somerset.
What has inspired you recently?
A few weeks ago I went to a magical exhibition that I'd recommend to anyone, "Kerry James Marshall" at the Royal Academy. He paints these enormous pictures that are so flat and yet textured and alive at the same time. His use of colour and pattern is really inspiring. He manages to create politically relevant and interesting works while maintaining this fresh and original style. It’s amazing, I loved it!
Kerry James Marshall, Vignette #13, 2008. Acrylic on PVC panel. 182.9 x 152.4 cm. Private collection. © Kerry James Marshall. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
What is your most cherished textile, and why?
I love it when textiles tell stories. This is actually about a piece I made and gave away, not a piece I own myself. But it's been my most personal project. I read about the "Red Dress", a beautiful embroidered dress that travels around the world. It consists of many embroidered pieces from communities around the world, all stitched together. Inspired by this, I wanted to create a marriage quilt for my childhood best friend. I screen-printed a patterned border onto 25 linen squares which I sent out to 25 friends to embroider. We all met up for a weekend stitching it all together. Our collectively made quilt told so many stories, bigger than anything I could have made on my own.
Embroidery in motion. Film still from 'Crafting Joy' by Jessie de Salis and Natalie Dodd.
Where did you learn your craft?
I studied at Manchester School of Art where I learnt about textile design, pattern making and the basics of screen-printing. But there are so many things you never learn at art school... Most skills I use in my practice today were self taught. I started printing on the kitchen table and my business has gradually grown. I had to work out what equipment I needed, how to print in repeats, how to fix dyes, and then build my own exposure unit. Every year we build another thing for the studio that makes the process easier and quicker. 2026 will be my 5th year of doing this wonderful craft. I’m very grateful to be able to put so much time and energy into doing the thing I love.
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Further Information:
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Film Credits:
Director: Natalie Dodd @erro__studio
DOP:Peter Butterworth @beterputterworth
Talent: Jessie de Salis @jessiedesalis, Alice Jacoby @alicejacoby, Lilith Piper @lilithpiperdrawings
Production Assistant/Stills: Brinkley Capriola @brinkleycapriola
Composer/Sound Designer: Patrick Burniston
Length: 1min 41s
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Image Credits:
Lead: Jessie de Salis screen printing 'Sol Check' in the barn studio. Photo: Brinkley Capriola.
All further images as credited in photo captions.