The Cult Of Crochet

Collectors of Sophie Digard will be pleased to hear that we are now offering 50% off all Digard stock at Selvedge with the code SOPHIE. And for those not already familiar with this artist's intricate work, we've published an excerpt from Selvedge issue 66 to tell her story...

Photography by Snips and Snails

Since 1999 French designer Sophie Digard has been creating unforgettable pieces of clothing and jewellery. Through tiny, exquisite crochet work, Digard works with a view not only to artistic production but also to a new and ambitious business model. As anyone at all familiar with crochet will know, it is a time-consuming business. The focus and delicacy necessary to achieve work of this fineness is something else altogether. Digard’s production scheme is a means to achieve exquisite quality: and, moreover, a vehicle for social improvement.

Digard uses single-ply merino wool from Australia – only this provides the delicacy required – as well as linen and cotton velvet for embellishment. The yarn is dyed by hand using vegetable dyes in France. Each piece makes use of up to sixty different shades, plied together to create the subtle variation of tone and unique fingerprint of each piece.

The fibres are then shipped to Madagascar where Digard employs local women to crochet and embroider the scarves they eventually become. Digard works to fair trade principles: her workshops provide a valuable source of income to her employees whilst nourishing traditional textile skills.

At the beginning of her design process is a look towards nature and artists such as Gustav Klimt for inspiration. Indeed, you do not have to look long at Digard’s trademark colour palette and pattern collection to see that these are textiles designed by someone with a painter’s eye. Held within the work are the stories of her childhood: growing up as an 'enfant sauvage'; travelling with her parents around the world; living and marvelling at the simple things that nature offers...

You can read this article in full in Selvedge issue 66.

You can receive 50% off Sophie Digard's work with the code SOPHIE.

Take a look at her work on sale here.