Wednesday 30 September, 2 - 6 p.m.: Textile Day at Ruup & Form with Varuna Kollanethu and gallery artists, Closing Drinks

7 Tilney Court, London EC1V 9BQ, United Kingdom

Ruup & Form is a contemporary London gallery working at the intersection of contemporary art, craft and design. Founded in 2019 by Varuna Kollanethu, the gallery works closely with artists to support the development of ambitious, research-driven practices through exhibitions, commissions and educational programming that foreground process and conceptual rigour. Ruup & Form has established itself as a considered platform for dialogue and exchange within contemporary practice, building meaningful relationships between artists, collectors and audiences.

Event Description

As part of London Textile Month 2026, Ruup & Form, in collaboration with Selvedge Magazine, presents an afternoon of talks, workshops and informal discussion exploring textile within contemporary artistic practice. The programme brings together gallery artists Bridget Harvey, Woo Jin Joo, Barbara Long and others for a series of intimate conversations centred on making, memory, tactility and transformation, extending beyond the exhibition space into direct exchange with the artists themselves.

Running Order

2:00 – 2:10pm: Welcome and Introduction
Varuna Kollanethu, Founder and Director of Ruup & Form, opens the afternoon with an introduction to the exhibition and to textile's role within contemporary artistic practice.

2:10 – 2:50pm: Barbara Long, Subversive Stitches
Barbara Long is a textile artist and art therapist whose work takes the most ordinary cloth in the house and gives it a great deal to say. In this talk and workshop, she traces the making of Kitchen Sink Dramas, a series built from old, worn tea towels and dish cloths that she darns, overworks and blazons with ironic, often biting texts. She speaks on darning as an act of activism, on mending as domestic work that is undervalued and largely unseen, and on her choice of red, the colour she returns to throughout the series. Visitors can see and handle works in progress before making their own, working into cloth with needle and red wool thread. No experience needed.

2:50 – 3:30pm: Christopher Kelly, Material Regulation/Material Encounter: What Does "Truth" Mean in a Material?
Christopher Kelly is a textile sculptor whose practice is built from raw jute, repetitive crochet and a deliberately restrained monochrome palette. Drawing on his lived experience as an AuDHD artist, he speaks about how material can hold an artist steady, and what that steadiness gives back to the work. A 15-minute tactile session follows, in which the audience handles contrasting raw and processed materials, considering authenticity, transformation and the traces a material carries of its own history.

3:30 – 3:45pm: Refreshment Break

3:45 – 4:25pm: Bridget Harvey, The Art of Wrapping
Artist and repair-maker Bridget Harvey explores wrapping as one of the oldest and most tender human gestures, drawing on research into ancient wrapping practices, protective bundles and talismans. Working with found and gathered materials, twigs, stones, scraps of cloth and lengths of thread, she leads a practical wrapping session in which each participant makes a piece to take home.

4:25 – 5:05pm: Katerina Knight, Growing, Gathering and Making
Katerina Knight is an English textile artist and writer who brings together horticulture and textile craft, creating embroidered works from flowers she cultivates herself in Malvern, Worcestershire. On 1 October, the day after Textile Day, her debut book Stitching with Nature is published by Batsford. She talks about the year spent writing it in step with the seasons, and leads a gentle practical exercise using lavender in place of a bead or sequin, resulting in a small keepsake to take home. Preview copies will be available.

5:05 – 5:15pm: Woo Jin Joo, Bodily Inbetweenness Artist Walkthrough (Pre-recorded)
Woo Jin Joo's solo exhibition Bodily Inbetweenness, on display at Ruup & Form, explores the permeability of the internal and external world. As she is away during Textile Month, Woo Jin has recorded a walkthrough for the afternoon, introduced by Varuna. She outlines her inspirations, her process and the works on display, and shares how she materialises her internal imagery within the gallery space.

5:15 – 6:00pm: Drinks Reception
The afternoon closes with drinks and nibbles at the gallery, an opportunity to meet the artists, continue the day's conversations and celebrate the end of London Textile Month 2026.

Event Cancellation Policy
All bookings are non-refundable. However, if you let us know that you are unable to attend an event you have booked at least two weeks before the event, we will open up your place. If we find another participant, you will be offered a credit note.

Visit Ruup & Form's Website
Follow Ruup & Form on Instagram