CONTENTS

INDULGE textiles to buy, collect or simply admire 11 NO HARD FEELINGS Shopping for the rough and the smooth by Polly Leonard 12 HOW TO Make Itajime Shibori by Kerstin Neumüller and Douglas Luhanko 78 SHOP TALK NO 11 Jane Audas goes shopping at Baileys

GLOBAL textiles from around the world 20 IN SEARCH OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE Liciê Hunsche finds her passion later in life by Anne Laure Camilleri, photographs by Julia Weinschenck 26 MAKING HER PRESENCE FELT Claudy Jongstra’s political cloth by Corinne Julius 34NATURAL HABITAT From earth to canvas with Hildur Bjarnadóttir by Elaine Marie Valgarðsson 58 HEALING HANDS Mari Meen Halsøy uses tapestry to repair Beirut’s war-torn infrastructure by Lesley Millar 76 BRISTOL-FASHION Past, present and future of Bristol Cloth by Eirlys Penn, illustrated by Tom Woolley

ANECDOTE textiles that touch our lives 62 GREAT DANES Four Danish Textile Artists by Corinne Julius 66 FRUIT OF THE LOOM The Weaving of Anni Albers by Corinne Julius 72 HANDYWOMAN Kate Davies shares with us how knitting saved her life photography by Tom Barr

ATTIRE critical reporting of fashion trends 14 FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE Craig Fordham photographs Julia Craig’s vintage performance 44 A LIFE IN PATTERN The Work of Orla Kiely by Mary Schoeser, photographs by Emma Summerton 54 PAIR OFF Ace & Jig reveal their true stripes by Grace Warde-Aldam

INDUSTRY from craft to commerce 30 COMMON-OR-GARDEN Keeping it rosy in Elisabeth Beverley’s garden by Greta Bertram, photography by Eva Nemeth 38 CHEMICAL IMBALANCE Nicola Cliffe on the road to re-discovery by Sandra Barrowman, photography by John Lawrence

FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE Craig Fordham photographs Julia Craig’s vintage performance

IN SEARCH OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE

Liciê Hunsche finds her passion later in life

Brazilian-born textile designer Liciê Hunsche was a late bloomer who did not start weaving until she was in her fifties. Following the loss of a child in the early 1970s, weaving was a mere comforting, creative outlet until the urge to create beauty became her life’s work. Channeling her long-lasting interest for Persian tapestry into her own weaving, she created artworks using various fibers and wool occasionally dyed with natural dyes. Liciê’s work reached a turning point after the burgeoning artist discovered that Karakul sheep had fleeces with natural hues ranging from black, brown, beige, pink and grey to silvery blue. Intrigued and foreseeing that the natural shades would open up a whole new world for her, she resolved to bring Karakuls to Brazil, to the family farm. Liciê Hunsche dedicated the next three decades of her life to promoting natural coloured wool around the world, establishing the Brazilian Association of Naturally Colored Sheep in 2007 and bringing the 7th International Congress of Colored Sheep to Porto Alegre in 2009. The designer’s legacy lives on at the Kreative Villa run by Julia Weinschenk, the artist’s granddaughter and Leila Taborda, the studio master weaver.

Liciê Fayet Hunsche was born in Porto Alegre in 1924, into a family of German, French and Brazilian descent. Most of her early works are wall-tapestries, handwoven before Karakul coloured fleeces inspired her to produce functional items like blankets, throws and ponchos. The artist began to research the Karakul breed in the late 1970s, eventually traveling to Europe to select the right sheep for her project. A trailblazer and master of her craft, she is credited with introducing the Karakul sheep to Brazil from Austria directly to her farm in 1981. She started small, with one ram and two ewes, bringing more sheep from Argentina over the years, ultimately raising a flock of 600 animals.

The Fazenda do Ipê (The farm of the Tabebuia Tree) was established in the late 1960s as a leisure place for the Hunsche family. The 2,224 acres estate lies in the mountainous region of Serra Gaucha some 150 kilometres away from Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The Fazenda do Ipê has earned the reputation of a pioneering place for breeding Karakuls and for growing pine and eucalyptus trees to support reforestation

projects. The flock has been scaled down to 120 sheep that graze freely in the tall-grass prairie but sleep in covered areas that keep them safe from night-time predators.

The Karakul sheep, also known as the ‘fur-sheep’ for the silky pelts of the young lambs, is unique. The Karakul is a fat-tailed breed that was raised in the Middle East as early as 1400 B.C. It originated in Central Asia and is named after the village of Karakul (meaning Black Lake) which lies at an elevation of 11,000 feet above sea level in Turkestan. Karakuls have the ability to store fat in their tails in order to survive when food is scarce, in the same way camels store it in their humps. Most lambs are born black with glossy wavy curls that unfurl within a few days and their colour changes within their first year. Karakul fleeces are lightweight and low in lanolin (grease), with a staple length of 6 to 12 inches. One sheep typically yields three to four kilograms of raw wool once a year, with each fleece generating half its weight in wool yarn. Many adult Karakuls are double-coated with a soft, shorter inner coat and a longer, coarse outercoat traditionally used in the production of Persian rugs. ‘Their long outercoat protects them against the sand storms in the deserts of Central Asia. The coarse fleece is thick and well-structured suitable for sturdy projects, although Liciê picked this rare breed for its unusual coloured fleece she found more inspirational than white wool,’ says Julia.

‘Our animals are shorn for the first time at six months of age when we can use their soft, but short wool to make ponchos and coats. Shearing takes place in November, though sheep can be sheared at any time to fit our need to get short or long fibers. The rams have longer guard hair which is very useful for tapestry projects. The fleece is cut off with an electric shearing machine and finished with hand shears. Each fleece is kept separately, goes through quality control, is wrapped, identified and scoured.’

The wool is processed at the Kreative Villa. ‘The coarse fiber is combed or carded and handspun with a spinning wheel. Yarns spun separately from short and long fibers are twisted together to create the soft weaving yarn we use to weave functional items. Thick tapestry yarns are made from long4

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Right: From the soil of the earth to the translucent light of the sky, Layers of Soil, 2015, Chapel of the Sisters of Dominicans in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, In collaboration with Oomen Architects NL

both pioneers of the Dutch Craft / Design movement, as well as for fashion houses like John Galliano, Christian Lacroix and Donna Karan. These days clients include major institutions such as the V&A, the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk and MoMA. Her work is bold in scale; two of her most recent works include Fields of Transformation for the University of Pennsylvania which is 16 metres long and six metres high, and The Metamorphosis of the Butterfly; a huge 12 metre wall-hanging for the American Embassy in the Hague. Its title refers to an actual metamorphosis, in this case of indigo and how its colour comes about through oxidisation: but as ever, a deep political message is embedded in the work about how decision makers should be open to transformation.

Jongstra works extensively with architects. ‘They often have a strong sense of the tactility of the building. Their vision and philosophy is really important to what we create.’ She is frequently commissioned to make existing buildings more human and has worked in the Netherlands with public cancer institutions. ‘They are radical. Places like that need tactility, healing and softness.’ These days 60% of her work is in the USA. ‘They know that textile has a place in society. We don’t have to compete with painters or sculptors.’

Her newest work, Waste Skin, in conjunction with Thomas Rau, is a second rejuvenation of her career; a 60 piece felted installation, in which magenta-hued felt hangs from specially made metal self-supporting frames: a cloth architecture. ‘This is

my first sculpture. In 2015 I wanted to get out of two dimensions, to make a big sculpture taking up space in an environment. This piece is taking me in a new direction. It took me a long time to be convinced that I could do it on my own, more than 10 years. Now is the moment that I say goodbye to my past and take a new path. It’s a first step in a completely new direction; soft architecture’. p28

Waste Skin is modular so that it can fit into different international locations over the next two years, including Santa Maria dello Spacimo Palermo, climate week in New York, followed by the Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns. Jongstra is actively searching for a location in the UK.

Premièred in an old sugar factory, Waste Skin follows the outline of seed pod and is inspired by the 18th century highly patterned sits cloth imported into the Netherlands used for clothing. Woven connects to the woven element of the work and Skin to the protective nature of the sculpture’s intention. ‘I saw this space, the building and the rawness struck me. The work is raw too. There’s a synergy. I had to première here.’

‘Now when I do a wall tapestry the political message is embedded in the work.’ Jongstra is confident that the public understands this, largely by osmosis. ‘My work has a strong voice. These colours, these tactilities are not in our environment anymore so you will notice it and then the educational part takes place. My motivation is to make a political stamp. To be radical.’ Corinne Julius

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COMMON-OR-GARDEN Keeping it rosy in Elisabeth Beverley’s garden

Lichen grey, wood pink, winter twig, rhubarb green – each skein of wool is labelled with the plant and the date it was gathered. Whether it’s pink, green or purple, the delicate tones of the colours unite them in a blend of harmony. No colour is flat; each is rich, textured and subtly varied, bringing the yarn to life. Dotted around Elisabeth Beverley’s home are blankets, throws and cushion covers knitted in plant-dyed wools, elegant in simple knits and soft colours. These are just a few examples from Elisabeth’s 20-year career dyeing with plants.

Elisabeth’s love of colour, knitting and plants have been with her for as long as she can remember, and her work combines all three. As a child she would often walk and collect flowers (not something you are allowed to do now, of course) and later married into an artistic family who taught her ‘how to look – not just to see, but to properly look’. She sees colour all around her,

and later reveals to me that she has synaesthesia; seeing colour in music.

by Jenny Dean, she picked some plants and so began her adventure in colour.

She did an evening class in spinning, weaving and dyeing when her children were small, but didn’t take to the first two. The dyeing, however, was something different. Her first time involved fleece and ragwort she had found on a derelict site…

When the family relocated from London to Berkshire, Elisabeth gave up her job as a doctor and, after a year at home, was looking for something to do. Inspired by a hand-dyed, spun and knitted cardigan she saw at a craft fair, Elisabeth went on a dyeing day that was run by her local WSD group – ‘lots of little stoves on tables’ – and was hooked.

That was back in 1999, when it was difficult to get hold of undyed wool. She eventually found a supplier and, armed with a copy of Wild Colour

A great wave of enthusiasm ensued, soon followed by an ever-growing pile of knitted cushion covers. And so she began doing craft fairs, firstly selling cushions, and then some yarn as well, before dropping the knitting altogether. While she does still produce the occasional knitting pattern, she confesses that she is no designer – for Elisabeth, the joy of knitting comes in the going backwards and forwards, the straight lines, the simple stitches.

Conscious that she was ‘faffing about’, she took advice from Inge Cordsen who helped her make the initial step into something more professional, advising her on pricing and labelling, without ever telling her what to do. She loves the ‘playing shops’ element, but freely admits that the numbers just don’t really add up. 4

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TITLE Sub head

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p14-15

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p20-21

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p28-29

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p30-31