Take Comfort

Image credit: Nicky Onderwater, model Kim Noorda, hat by Yuki from Demure Amsterdam.

Selvedge Issue 92: Comfort is now available. This mid-winter issue is all about the textiles created to comfort the soul, as well as the body, with a focus on tapestries and textiles inspired by religious motives.

Historically, tapestries were hung on castle walls to counteract the cold and to bring colour and light to dark and drafty interiors. This tradition has been sustained across the millennia with peaks and troughs of popularity. One such peak occurred in mid-20th century Europe, from the municipal tapestries commissioned by the Government in the newly communist Poland to those designed by the Benedictine monk Dom Robert and woven in Aubusson in the South of France.

Image credit: En Calat Abbey - Collection Dom Robert Museum, Soreze, France - Ph.JL.Sarda.

This flowering of tapestry laid the foundations for a quiet revolution, which took place at The International Centre of Ancient and Modern Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland. Here, artists from across the globe met and exchanged ideas and brought new expression to this ancient art form. Tapestry moved off the wall and into the gallery, sewing the seeds of the installation art movement.

We look at textiles inspired by religious motives, a treasure trove, from rich tapestries to the glorious chasubles designed by Matisse for the Dominican Chapel of the Rosary at Vence, and the sumptuous work of the Broderers of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Image credit: Max Milligan.

In global textiles, we travel to Bresica in Italy and Cusco in Peru, and we also look at textiles in the fiction of Margaret Atwood, from the infamous red dresses in The Handmaid’s Tale to quilting in Alias Grace. In competitions, we are pleased to offer prizes from Coban Rugs, Madder Studio and Romney Marsh Wool.

Buy Issue 92: Comfort here and subscribe to receive print or digital editions as soon as they are available.