Jessica Hemmings

This book presents the oeuvres 34 artist, artisans and designers that have exhibited at Fiberspace, a Stockholm-based gallery dedicated to showcasing textile and fiber art, craft and design. The common denominator is their intrinsic use of textile materials and/or techniques as a central part of their practice. However, together these practitioners cover a wide range of departure points, perspectives and expressions. The book also includes brand new essays by leading figures within the textile field: Jessica Hemmings, Textile Writer & Professor of Craft and Vice-Prefect of Research at HDK; Bella Rune, Artist & Professor of Fine Art, Textiles at Konstfack; Åsa Pärson, Master Weaver; and Delia Dumitrescu, Professor & Manager of the Smart Textiles Design Lab, Borås Textilhögskolan.

Cultural Threads considers contemporary artists and designers who work at the intersection of cultures and use textiles as their vehicle. Ideas about belonging to multiple cultures, which can result in a sense of connection to everywhere and nowhere, are more pertinent to society today than ever. So too are the layers of history – often overlooked – behind the objects that make up our material world. The roots of postcolonial theory lie in literature and have, in the past, been communicated through dense academic jargon. Cultural Threads breaks with what can read as impenetrable rhetoric to show the rich visual diversity of craft and art that engages with multiple cultural influences. Many of these objects exist in an in-between world of their own, not wholly embraced by the establishments of art, nor functional objects in the conventional sense of craft. Cultural Threads is an exploration of contemporary textiles and their relationship with postcolonial culture. However, the postcolonial thinking examined here shares with craft an interest in the lived, rather than the purely theoretical, giving a very human account of the interactions in between craft and culture.

This beautiful and accessible book will deepen the understanding of anyone who loves textiles. It explores woven textiles thematically, through the work of contemporary artists and designers. Some make their art from unwoven threads, the raw material of which textiles are born. Others use digital technology so that elements of light, sound, and even motion are literally woven in the fabric. An excellent resource for everyone with an interest in contemporary woven textiles, this book features work by the following international selection of artists and designers:Gabriel Dawe, Ball-Nogues Studio, Susie MacMurray, Laura Thomas, Sue Lawty, Lauren Moriarty, Elana Herzog, Tamar Frank, Marianne Kemp, Dashing Tweeds, Hiroko Takeda, Christine Keller, Hilde Hauan Johnsen, Sarah Taylor, Astrid Krogh, Priti Veja, Salt, Ainsley Hillard, Philip Beesley, Maria Blaisse, Barbara Layne, Zane Berzina, Maggie Orth, Elaine Ng Yan Ling, Lucy McMullen, Philippa Brock, Grethe Sørensen, Christy Matson, Lars Preisser, Lise Frølund and Hanne Raffnsøe, Elin Igland, Alyce Santoro, Drahomira Hampl, Nadia-Anne Ricketts, Eleanor Pritchard, Aleksandra Gaca, Ismini Samanidou, Louise Bourgeois, Ane Henrikesen, Shane Waltener, Jeroen Vinken, Liz Williamson, Lucy Brown, Janine Antoni, Lia Cook, Petter Hellsing, Runa Carlsen, Wallace & Sewell, Ptolemy Mann, Missoni Home, ao for Gainsborough, NUNO Corporation, Norwegian Rain, Soukaina Aziz El Idrissi, Suzanne Tick, Travis Meinolf, and Anne Wilson.