Textile Fine Art: Conversations with Artists Creating by Hand, Emma Adams

In this book, the world of fibre, stitch and cloth is elevated from craft to high narrative—an invitation to linger in the loops and weaves of contemporary makers whose tapestry is their voice. The book gathers more than 50 artists from across the globe working in tapestry, hand-embroidery, quilting, denim collage and immersive fibre installations. Each page is calibrated to slow-seeing: the shimmering warp of an installation by Chiharu Shiota, the photoreal denim quilt of Ian Berry, the hand-embroidered surrealism of Chiachio & Giannone, the painterly stitching of Alice Kettle—all framed in a volume that treats textile not as ornament but as voice, concept, gesture.

What distinguishes this book is how it frames textile art as material culture in motion—threads become histories, techniques become stories, objects become breath. The work is anchored in the hand, in the tactility of fibre and the spatial gesture of installation, yet always in dialogue with art-world discourse: the gendered histories of needlework, the re-territorialisation of craft in the gallery, the politics of labour and material in a world of global production. The book becomes a forum: conversations with the artists themselves, alongside editorials that set the cloth in context. In the cadence of Selvedge, this is less about trend and more about osmosis—how threads absorb meaning, how fibre speaks.

About the Author
Helen Adams is a curator, writer, and editor whose work has been dedicated to the elevation and documentation of contemporary textile art. She founded the website Textile Curator, a platform aimed at “waking up the world to contemporary textile art.” With a background in constructed textiles (specialising in tapestry weaving) and a career in magazines and digital media, she bridges studio practice, scholarship and publishing.

Publication date: 2025
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
Pages: 264
ISBN: 9781529437317