Maker's bio

I am a textile designer working solely with natural dyes, using my own block prints and stencils to create my patterns. I then use my fabrics to make one off quilted wall hangings or other textile pieces. My background is embedded in painting and fine art but 6 years ago I fell in love with the British craft revival movement, epitomised by the work of Barron and Larcher in the 1930s. I love the combination of natural dyes and the palette of the British countryside combined with my own modernist aesthetic of angles, hardlines and repetition. I encourage my students to challenge themselves to see pattern in everything around them and consider the emotional connection we have to colour. I propagate a dye garden in the New Forest where I grow some wonderful dye plants which are used in my own work and workshops, supplementing foraged materials or prunings. I was awarded the Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund by the Arts Council which allowed me work with specialists in their fields, and to travel to India and learn more about the art of block cutting and natural dyeing. Since returning I now practice my making full time, combined with teaching workshops both from the dye garden and different venues across Hampshire.