Lavina Baldota on curating Sutr Santati-We speak with Lavina Baldota about the epic curation of Sutr Santati, an exhibition of contemporary Indian textiles celebrating 75 years of independence.
Prita Tina Yeganeh ✿ The Sanctum of Qanāt-Our July laurel has adapted the traditional Iranian Abrī printing technique to works on silk involving micro-lattice patterns.
You Stir the Pot: Recipes for change-Victoria Manganiello tells us about a social change project that invites artists to apply their creativity to making recipes for a better world.
The meaning of yellow-Helen Ting's weaving is inspired by the deep meaning of the colour yellow in Chinese culture.
Spacecraft ✿ A future from what remains-Stewart Russell at Spacecraft recovers robust colours from the debris of human activity, envisaging a sustainable future.
Julia Gutman ✿ Muses-Elyse Goldfinch, Associate Curator at Artspace, Sydney, looks at the "muse" in Julia Gutman’s textile representations of community and friendship among women, on the occasion of the artist’s debut solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf.
Embroidering pugholes-Sera Waters describes how her embroidery brings to the surface the holes dug during settlement that remained as wounds on the landscape.
Oh, will felting ever make it into Artforum?-Norwegian Crafts commissioned a series of videos by Siri Hjorth and Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas that reflect the opposing worlds of art theory and folk crafts.
Fold craft: Uncovering the Nivi sari-In our Reinventing the Wheel series, Kaamya Sharma reflects on the emergence of the Nivi sari as a national dress and how it demonstrates the craft of using as well as making.
Pachanbhai ✿ A finely woven story of change-Our December laurel is awarded to the Kutchi weaver, Pachanbhai, for a beautiful scarf featuring a finely woven story of climate change.
Piña: Weaving Filipino fibre into the world-Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan returned to the Philippines to work with weavers and embroiderers in recovering the world of piña, pineapple fibre.
Reclaim the void: Weaving country whole-Ilka White presents a collaboration between Vivienne Robertson and Kado Muir that seeks to repair country with a giant textile artwork.
Govindbhai ✿ Keri classic-LOkesh Ghai presents a keri motif, a Western Indian version of paisley, by master block carver, Govindbhai.
Pesh boro: Epic weaving from Afghanistan-Australian-based artist Khadim Ali introduces us to his weavers in Kabul, who demonstrate a fortitude characteristic of Hazara culture.
Lissy Cole ✿ The many faces of Te Ao Māori-Keri-Mei Zagrobelna is struck by the technicolour crochet wheku (faces) woven by Melissa and Rudi Cole, who live an equally colourful life.
Tender cloths-Michele Elliot uses wrapping as a ritual to reflect the passing of life.
Entangled threads: Woven knowledge systems-Charlotte Haywood presents the Mnemonic Vegetables project that includes practices to help us remember the plant world in specific locations.
Decay is beautiful-Samorn Sanixay reflects on the uses of decomposition in textile dyeing and how it resonates with Buddhism and the refugee experience.
Nicole Ellis ✿ Fabrications -Fabrications covers thirty years of art-making by Sydney-based artist Nicole Ellis. It reviews her rich and complex involvement with collage, assemblage and found materials. Fastidiously selected textiles comprise the artists ‘palettes’ and provide the tones that she moulds into consistently beautiful, poised, luminous compositions.
Rajan Vankar ✿ A lifelong love for the loom-Using his hard-won English skills, Rajan Vankar shares his pride and knowledge of Kutchi weaving designs and techniques, inspired by nature and traditions intertwined.
Paola Moreno ✿ Rhythms of Chile-Paola Moreno's modernist weaving is inspired by the many strands of Chilean culture, including precious textile relics of its ancient Inca past and passions of Violeta Parra.
Paula do Prado ✿ My abuela’s hands-Paula do Prado shares the story of her family’s epic story from Africa via Uruguay to Australia, as reflected in her intricately threaded creations.
Cielo rojo (red sky)-Caco Honorato and Mariela Vicencio create fragile objects inspired by the poetry of broken wings.
The garden of Gildásio-Gildásio Jardim relates a remarkable life story, reflecting the experience of a tiny rural community in paintings that magically blend with real life.
The Kawashima Textile School ✿ Ancient kasuri is alive in Japan-Helen Ting talks to Emma Omote about her role in keeping the ancient craft of kasuri weaving alive and asks: how resilient is this specialist craft skill in the age of machinery and mass production?
Mary Elizabeth Baron ✿ Passementing the present-Pamela See reviews the Lace exhibition by Mary Elizabeth Baron at Logan Art Gallery, which marks the subsiding of the first COVID-19 wave in Queensland.
Chikankari: The gift of health-Jaspal Kalra's scholarship leads him back to Lucknow where he celebrates those who add delight to our new masked identities.
Kasia Tons ✿ After-Valerie Kirk writes about an artist who used embroidery as a diary to record a lost world that may be our future.
Ulos through the viewfinder-Dewie Sartika Bukit describes a photography project that aims to inspire a new generation to admire the distinct ulos weaving tradition of Tono Batak.
Academic and weaver join head and hand in Bandung-Sabrina Sakina writes about the symbiotic arrangement between Bandung designer Arlene Dwiasti Soemardi and local craftsperson Pak Epi and his weaver Andre
Savu island: Greater and Lesser Blossoms will prevail-Geneviève Duggan and Icesarlince Tededara write about a matrilineal culture, where women wear their history. The challenges of COVID-19 contained the gift of time, thanks to the Tewuni rai Foundation.
[Re:]Entanglements in Nigeria-Nigerian artists Jennifer Ogochukwu Okpoko and Dr RitaDoris Edumchieke Ubah are inspired by colonial photographs to make new textile work drawing on the heritage of uli body and wall painting.
Wissa-Sophy: Back to the woven garden-Passent Nossair returns to the refreshing gardens of El Harraneya in Giza, Egypt, where she learns the remarkable story of Wissa Wassef, whose belief in the inner creativity of children helped build a weaving workshop of international renown.
Annette Fitton ✿ A mob of laced roos-Annette Fitton has yarn-bombed Australia's iconic fauna and unleashed a mob of laced roos on the Italian town of Trivento.
Paola Moreno ✿ Healing plus-Our May laurel goes to Chilean textile artist Paola Moreno for a beautifully woven yet simple message of positivity for our time.
Bakhiya: The beauty of the imperfect-Bakhiya is not just a form of sewing with long stitches. It also offers a sufi meditation on the beauty of the imperfect and fragility of life, as reflected in these poignant works at Threshold Art Gallery, Delhi.
Zetta Kanta ✿ Slow art with rescue fleece-The Gippsland-based felt artist Zetta Kanta is inspired by fleece from a rescue farm, which embodies the value of slow art.
Many stitches in time: the work of Annabelle Collett-Stephanie Radok reviews a book about the recently departed Annabelle Collett, a legendary textile artist who signature work was The Museum of 20th Century Fabric.
From Brunswick to Ahmedabad: The Hand/Eye Project-After lentils in Brunswick with LOkesh Ghai, Alasdair Mackinnon and Eddy Carroll are inspired travel to Ahmedabad and make a new range of hand-printed products that match hand and eye.
Safed: The beauty of simplicity-Sayali Goyal responds to questions about her project featuring handwoven textiles from across Indian in their raw beauty.
Responsible crafts tourism in Kutch-Ruth Clifford shares her advice about key issues in visiting craftspersons and offers a variety of alternative models for experiencing their remarkable skills.
The rules of the game: Weaving Durries in Rajasthan-New to Rajasthan, Kaamya Sharma takes a road trip to find Ramesh Mundal, a renowned durry weaver, and looks behind the scenes at his presentations for tourists.
The angels of Dhadhampatti-Julia Raath visits the Tamil Nadu village of Sittilingi and is inspired to help them bring vibrant colours to far away lands.
A gift of song: The melody of making Kediyun-LOkesh Ghai finds himself in a song by his Kutchi hosts and now argues consumers should learn to sing the words that made their purchases.
Finding Mahtab and starting a new life-Khosro Mahinroosto tells how finding the legendary Baluchistan needle-worker changed his life and led to the establishment of Gileboom eco-lodge.
Presha’s Coverlet-Jeffrey Keith considers the bedcover made by his great-great-grandmother as a memoir and describes how its threads bind him to the southern mountains she called home.
Catharine Ellis and the journey of True Colors-We feature weld-dyer Catharine Ellis, from the book True Colors, by Keith Recker who reflects on the principles that underlie his life in colour, thus far.
A decade of yarn bombing-Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain celebrate ten years since the first publication of Yarn Bombing and reflect how it has defied the homely associations of knitting.
Democracy by hand in Chile-Textile artists can re-make flags to give a human dimension to a nation. Paola Moreno and Carolina Varela have made a powerful work in immediate response to the current crisis in Chilean democracy.
Paula do Prado ✿ El Grito-Paula do Prado's textile work El Grito expresses a cultural resistance drawing on her African ancestry.
Shyrdak: A sunny day in Kyrgyzstan-Dinara Chochunbaeva takes us to Kyrgyzstan on a sunny spring afternoon when the shyrdak felt rugs are on display.
Aziz Murtazaev ✿ Why I returned from London-The story of how Aziz Murtazaev left his lucrative career in London and returned to Uzbekistan, making a successful ikat workshop. .
Saori weaving: Striving for irregularity-Kaz Madigan shares her unique relationship to the Japanese Saori weaving workshop, which values the human touch as part of Zen Buddhism
Annika Ekdahl ✿ From still to slow life-The winner of the Kate Derum Award for Small Tapestry, the Swedish artist Annika Ekdahl, translates the history of Vanitas painting into fibre.
Sairi Yoshizawa ✿ The colours of eucalyptus-Sairi Yoshizawa's recent award-winning work applies a particularly Japanese approach to Australian nature, revealing the rustic beauty of eucalypt dyes.
Please give up your seat for local design-New seat designs were recently announced for Melbourne's trains. As part of our Crafted City campaign, we seek the opinion of Alasdair MacKinnon about the significance of this decision.
Sera Waters ✿ Dazzleland-Sera Waters "justice-driven" exhibition stitches together a new canvas for dreams of home in an ancient land.
Julie Ryder ✿ Hidden Sex-Canberra textile artist Julie Ryder shares her series of beautiful works that reveal the subterfuge of sea plants and parallel hidden place of women in scientific history.
Quarterly Essay ✿ Of time and the city-In a lyrical tribute to mindful living, Kathryn Bird and Ross Gibson find in Kyoto a beauty borne of skill and care.
Of Time and the City-Kathryn Bird and Ross Gibson find in Kyoto and beauty borne of skill and care
Manuela López-Mateos ✿ Como es tu enagua y tu huipil?-One of Garland's Zapotec community reflects on the linguistic diversity of Oaxaca, and how the language of the Ikoots is reflected in the textiles they wear. (See English translation below)
Making memory ✿ The Huldremose woman today-Lisa Sharp writes about three textile artists who attempt to weave memories into their work. Reminiscent of Kim Mahood's essay on an anthropogenic art, she begins by invoking our wonder at the deep time found in museums.
Can Suzhou Embroidery be contemporary art?-Anying Chen discusses the Suzhou embroidery produced by Yao Huifen for the China Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2017, and considered whether it would be considered contemporary art from a Chinese perspective.
Weaving the feathered serpent-Yunuen Perez recounts her journey across the Pacific and the feathered serpent she takes with her.