Knitting and Stitching Show, London 2012

There’s something marvellous about those events where you can meet up with other like-minded folk. Crafters often work in isolation, so like moles coming out into the daylight, we all bump into each other and get over-stimulated. Oft maligned as the haunt of ‘women of a certain age’ and dismissed as full of hobbyists by ‘serious crafters’, these shows are in fact democratic, slightly chaotic and full of the germs of imagination that are being nutured. The Knitting and Stitching Shows have always been a good version of their type, and encourage creative as well as commercial ventures to thrive.
This is a review of last year’s K&S show at Alexandra Palace for the Surface Design Journal.In Review Knitting Stitching

Also in the Surface Design Journal is an article about Janet Ehelman’s knotted structures. She is inspired by the craft of knotting fishing nets and Lithuanian lace knitting and has evolved these into giant installations requiring high-tech materials and engineering. Shown above is the installation for the Amsterdam Light Festival, 2012-13. She has just been commissioned to make a new structure for the TED conference 2014. Her Ted talk from 2011 is worth a listen and she is now being taken seriously.