I was born and grew up in London. In the 1970s I studied art foundation at Bradford College of Art and then a BA Hons in Textile Design at Leeds University. After graduating I stayed at Leeds Uni for another year on a Scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Weavers, and then set up a weaving studio in Hebden Bridge with the support of a Crafts Council grant. I had two beautiful Dobby looms made by George Wood, and specialised in designing and weaving fine silk fabrics and scarves.
During this time I also taught weaving part-time at Harrogate College of Art and Huddersfield University and was involved in curating exhibitions with other designers and makers in the North of England. Gradually I became drawn to this area of work and moved to Middlesbrough to be curator/manager of the Cleveland Crafts Gallery (now absorbed into MIMA). I might have stayed with art curation if it hadn't been for a chance encounter that took me on a different and very diverse career path. In 1985, with my husband Alex, we had set up an art and craft gallery in Harrogate exhibiting ceramics, jewellery, prints, paintings, glass, sculpture and textiles. Through one of our customers I met the owner of Bettys, the famous Café Tea Rooms, and Taylors, the makers of Yorkshire Tea, who offered me a job to set up their mail order business. Although this wasn't something I had thought of doing I was intrigued and so I accepted and stayed in this family business… for 33 years! I had a wonderful career there which involved graphic design, product development, being Creative Director and finally the Director of organisational design and development. When I retired, I returned to my love of weaving and now I am exploring and developing original hand woven textiles again, working from my home studio in Harrogate. I sold my original George Wood looms many years ago, and since then technology has moved on so I now work on an equally beautiful 32 shaft Louet Megado loom with an electronic Dobby, and use Fiberworks weaving software to create my designs. I am fascinated by historic weaving techniques, art and the form and shape of modern architecture which naturally lends itself to the vertical and horizontal structures created on a weaving loom. I'm interested in developing framed artworks but also enjoy making wearable textiles. |
In my Hebden Bridge studio in 1980
In my home studio in 2021
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