Wednesday 27 May 2026, 5 - 6pm BST: Meet Álla Sinkevich (Hand-felted Mittens)

Online Talk with Álla Sinkevich

Wednesday 27 May 2026, 5 - 6pm BST (British Summer Time)

Álla Sinkevich is a textile designer, maker and educator based in Copenhagen, working primarily with wool and felt. Her practice is grounded in close attention to materials’ agency and the ways form emerges through use, pressure, and time. She approaches making as a mode of inquiry, where knowledge is developed through the hand as much as through reflection.

Álla was born in Ukraine and educated across Europe. She trained initially in biology before completing a BA in Fashion Design at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, followed by an MA in Art and Design from the Royal Danish Academy. This interdisciplinary background continues to inform her work, which sits between textile craft, material research, and wearable form.

Working without patterns or stitching, Álla builds sculptural objects directly around the body, allowing wool to shape itself through controlled yet responsive processes. Her felted works, including wearable and sculptural art forms, are intended to be worn, handled, and experienced in daily life.

Alongside her studio practice, Álla frames felt-making as a material discipline rather than a fixed technique in her educational work. Her teaching emphasises observation, patience, and an understanding of fibre as an active participant in the making process.

In this introductory talk, Álla shares her approach to working with wool as both a structural and expressive material. Drawing on her background in biology, fashion design and her long-standing engagement with felt-making traditions, she reflects on the qualities of wool that make it uniquely suited to shaping the body: elasticity, warmth, memory, and resilience.

The talk introduces the concept of the mitten as a functional yet sculptural object, rooted in historical foot- and handwear forms but reinterpreted through contemporary felt-making. Álla discusses how observation of the hand, movement, and everyday use informs her design process, and how subtle shifts in fibre choice, layering, moisture content, and pressure can dramatically alter the final form.

Participants will gain insight into Álla's material research, sampling process, and the balance between control and unpredictability when working with felt. The talk sets the context for the practical workshop, offering participants an understanding of the relationship between wool fibre, hand-making, and the body, and inviting them to approach felt not only as a surface, but as a three-dimensional, sculptural textile.

Sinkevich will also be running an online workshop, Hand-felted Mittens on Saturday 24 & 31 October 2026, 2 - 5pm BST. To book your place, visit our website HERE. 

Location
This is an online event. A Zoom link will be sent to participants the week before the session.

Recording
This event will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed to all those who register following the live session. Please allow 7 working days for us to send you the recording.



Cancellation Policy

All places reserved for workshops are non-refundable. 

If you require additional information about this workshop please contact events@selvedge.org.

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