Photographs by Emma Byrnes
A collection of pics from a studio visit to Rosanna Ford's home studio - another in the studio pop-ins series.
You'll find more of my images and a great interview with Rosie about her textiles practice over at the Pop Craft Studio blog.
Em x
Photographs by Emma Byrnes
The other morning Pauline and I (plus our two mini sidekicks) visited Yoshie Burns at her home studio to talk food and textiles.
The moment she opened the door with her beautiful nine-month-old son strapped to her back I felt the gentle warmth of her home-making and her artistic practice. Yoshie has a mindfulness that is just delightful to be around. Her home is humble yet rich with meaningful works of art and knick-knacks generated by her illustrator/painter husband, her older son and of course with her own woven pieces.
Yoshie practices Saori weaving and the way it manifests is breathtakingly simple and pure. She weaves cloth that she then makes her own clothing from...these pieces are unique and to be honest they take my breath away. The idea that you can weave your own fabric to make into wearable pieces is obviously not new but the textures and the colours that Yosh conjures up make this idea seem like an innovation. She also weaves scarves that she sells in Japan and to any local folk who require some of her handwoven goodness.
Yoshie will be the guest chef at our March Pop Craft studio feast and so the menu was discussed in great detail. Her natural tendency towards Japanese cuisine will be exploited and once again the feast promises to delight the tastebuds. As her kitchen filled with enticing talk of edamame, shiso and yuzu all three of our little boys crawled under the kitchen table and Yosh baked us a batch of fresh scones, serving them up with fresh cream and jam.
I left Yoshie's place feeling calm and positive. Feeling that emotional high that can come from holding and looking at somebody's hand generated work. I have not turned my attention to much making since Alby was born but spending time with Yosh has reignited my interest. The gesture of opening her home up to us and allowing me to photograph her private domain is much appreciated. Thank you Yosh.
Have a look over at Pop Craft Studio where you can see more images and read a full interview with Yoshie. You can also see images from other studio visits Pauline and I have made just here.
If you would like to view a small collection of Yoshie's Saori weaving please come by our studio between 1 - 4pm on Saturday 28th March and Sunday 29th March. She will be demonstrating some of her techniques on the Sunday and exclusively for our feast guests on the Friday evening. Pop Craft Studio, 1/177 Beavers Road, Northcote 3070.
Em x
As a visual person it can be tempting to dream about owning all sorts of beautiful objects, wearing fabulous clothes and living in architecturally designed homes. But when I think of design and how we should apply it to our everyday lives in order to have a positive impact, the three words – more with less - make so much sense to me.
Less stuff….oh yes this is something I constantly dream of. In this modern world what a ridiculous bind we find ourselves in! Owning too much can be almost like a disease. With a family of five, things just accumulate. And it can be very stressful and take up a whole lot of headspace. Without juggling all of this stuff there would be more time for family, friends, health, spirituality, gardening, cooking, lovemaking, weaving, the list goes on....
Which is why it was an absolute pleasure visiting the home studio of weaver, baker, teacher - Carla Grbac.
Carla has recently moved into a shared home with her sister and the lack of things clogging up their rooms was just wondrous. Compared to the chaos in my own home it seemed to me that the two of them were living an almost monastic existence. The home is very modest...in fact it is an unremarkable regular suburban flat but with Carla's aesthetic tendencies the space takes on an ethereal feel...a simple vase of homegrown roses adds warmth to an otherwise stark bathroom scene...a handprinted work on paper adorns the wall of her serene bedroom...the kitchen bench is clear apart from the warm tart on a cooling rack waiting to be served...
On my way home I made a mental note to be mindful and satisfied with what I already have rather than what I might think that I want. To pare back, to be reverent, to make space for the things that matter.
Carla will be teaching a natural dyeing and kumihimo workshop at Pop Craft Studio on the last Saturday of March. I look forward to spending the day learning from her - being resourceful, celebrating nature, using my hands.
There is an interview with her on the Pop Craft blog -I love the parallels she finds between her weaving and baking practice.
Em x
Photos by Emma Byrnes
Photo by Emma Byrnes
Already Pop Craft Studio is proving to be a fantastic creative space; we have hosted some very successful Friday night feasts and the first round of textiles master classes has just been announced.
Since having my youngest son Alby 16 months ago, my hands-on creative practice has been lacking so I look forward to attending classes with our guest teachers and getting busy with some textiles projects.
As a founding member of the studio one of my main contributions to the start-up phase has been to develop the visual branding and website.
Considering I am such an advocate of slow contemporary textiles and love photographing anything relating to beautiful fibres the Pop Craft gig is a dream brief.
We launched the website this week - go take a look.
I will be regularly updating my personal collection of images of Pop Craft Studio. If you are keen to see the latest from me, visit here.
Em x
Brave New Eco headquarters at the Big Bang Studio complex.
Photograph by Emma Byrnes
Last year I was approached by Megan Norgate from Brave New Eco to help consolidate her sustainable interiors brand.
When she came to me Megan had already been running her inspiring business for several years but she was ready to get serious in the way she was marketing her talents and her expertise.
After an in-depth investigation into her brand and how it ticked we found ourselves on the same page with the direction we wished Brave New Eco to take. We then launched into a logo redesign and loads of fun photo shoots that included weekends out of town in some gorgeous homes that Megan had blessed with her interiors magic wand.
Getting to know Megan's business from the inside out has been an absolute pleasure. With Brave New Eco she has created a unique business model that combines her love of interiors and style with a deep commitment to sustainability and community. She does not just pay lip service to the green message but instead probes deeply to ensure that her design projects stand the test of time, are as viable as they possibly can be from a green perspective and provide the client with a home that can serve them for many years into the future.
An enlightening interview with Megan was posted on the Milkwood Permaculture blog in early January - it is well worth a read as it explores the way in which she uses permaculture principles in her interior design business and outlines the path that led her to establish her inspiring business.
And don't forget to visit the new Brave New Eco website - designed by yours truly.
Em x
Anna from Sweet Polka. Photo by Emma Byrnes
Photographing the folio pieces of Anna from Sweet Polka yesterday was delightful.
Anna's work is minimal and often has an almost child-like quality to it - pared-back, hand-touched, hand-carved, slow, from the heart. Neither overworked nor dominating.
Without any effort at all we identified the visual language for her work and then spent the day letting the story be told in a contemporary yet not overly-styled manner.
Now that we have a bank of images I am looking forward to working with Anna over the coming months on launching a new website and then hatching an exciting textiles project together later in the year.
As well as a talent for design Anna is an excellent writer and has written a blog post about our day together.
Spending the afternoon at textile teacher/designer/maker David Pearce’s home is therapy for the soul.
I visit on an early spring afternoon and the light is soft and muted just like the beautiful blanket he is hand-knitting.
I’ve known David for 6 years now and I have always admired his gentle and considered manner - he never seems to rush anywhere or for anything. And this is the approach he takes with his textile work. In fact it can take him up to 15 hours to spin one 50 g ball of wool.
David is wearing an exquisite coat that he made from scratch - it took him 4 years to make but as far as he is concerned that is time well spent:
“Spinning and creating the yarn itself is a slow meditative process that I really enjoy. I like creating something with the intention of it having a full life rather than something that is disposable. Most of the work I do is fashion oriented - I create wearable garments. But I wouldn’t say I am a fashion designer because I often think that the detriment of the fashion industry is its disposability whereas I make clothing - something that I will potentially have for a lifetime. I also like repairing garments rather than just throwing them away. The slow processes are the ones that I really love like hand weaving and producing a length of fabric on the loom. This is a coat that I started off where I spun the yarn, wove the fabric and then cut and sewed it into a garment. Tailoring was another skill that I learnt along the way - which again is a slow process and one that I haven’t fully mastered yet but I am working on it.”
“It all started with my grandmother. When I was 18 my sister wanted to learn how to knit. So we went to my grandmothers and she tried to teach my sister how to knit but she didn’t get it. However I picked up the needles and just started knitting. My grandmother had taught me how to knit when I was eight years old and at the time I didn’t get very far but it was in my subconscious when I returned to it ten years later.
Because my sister didn’t really get the hang of it I became her personal knitter. So I made her a scarf or two and then moved onto gloves and beanies - things with really simple shaping and then went from there. Soon I was making entire garments.
I moved to Melbourne and applied for a textile design diploma at RMIT. There were particular things in the course that I had never tried before like weaving and tapestry that I loved. I was more drawn to the structural textiles rather than print, preferring to construct the fabric itself rather than decorating it. One of the main objectives of the course was to learn how to be more efficient and to use technology but I kind of went in the opposite direction particularly when it came to knitting. Machine knitting is completely different from hand-knitting. It is a much more industrial way of producing the fabric. You get a similar result from both approaches but hand knitting is relaxing whereas machine knitting can be very stressful - if you do something wrong it can take hours to fix and it just doesn’t have the same meditative quality. When I used the knitting machines I started straining my neck and did a lot of physical damage…so I suppose in my creative practice I have gone for a quality of life and process over production.”
David will be one of my studio mates at Popcraft Studio which we move into before the year is out. I ask him what he is looking forward to in the new space.
“The studio is exciting as it will allow me to explore my creative practice on a much deeper level. My bedroom space is quite limited as a making space and looms can be quite sad objects when they are sitting around unloved gathering dust! Once I have everything set up I’ll get so much inspiration and go off on tangents, discover new techniques and then who knows where that will lead me. I have many years of experience teaching and will definitely be passing on my extensive knowledge in the form of knitting and crotchet master classes. When teaching I love it when I capture someone’s imagination. There are a number of people who I have taught to knit or crochet and then I see them months or years later and find out that they kept going and have continued their learning. It is really great when you can inspire someone and set them off on a trajectory.”
Spending my studio days with David is something I look forward to...not only to be in his quiet company more often but also to glean a whole host of new skills for my textiles arsenal. And did I mention the part about getting to eat more of his homemade toasted banana bread?
Watch this space!
Extra note: Our studio collective is running a Pozible campaign to kickstart our textiles master classes, artist’s residencies and emerging textile artist programs. Go find out more and make a pledge if any of this tickles your fancy!
Em x