After a long time...

...looks like we're getting married! He knows he's about to marry a weaver and there's no escape from it...

I spent a week in Trentino-Alto Adige to relax a bit before the final rush - as usual I can't avoid textile and pattern references!


This last one is a tablecloth I adore - on the tables of the Forsterbrau in Meran - representing the Forst beer brand - three fir trees

I hope to be back soon...

Turin

How good it feels when you move out of your closet and see beauty surrounding you...
Turin is World Design Capital for 2008 and among the many events we decided to go and see the exhibition dedicated to the work of Roberto Sambonet just before its end.
Torino is a beautiful city and the exhibition was held in Palazzo Madama, right in the heart of the city.
I can’t say how much I appreciated this exhibition – Roberto Sambonet was a multifaceted artist and designer who worked on a multitude of projects, from poster and textile design to glass, porcelain and stainless steel.
I love his approach to drawing as an instrument to capture the structure of reality – the inspiration from nature – and the simplicity of his work.
Simple. Simple. Simple. but Stunning.

The amount of sketches on display made me think of all the pieces of paper where we usually jot down our ideas, where we try to capture the image of something yet to come…that moment when things just flow and seem to finally fit together…

...and the incredible strength of subtraction - porcelain plates designed for Bing & Grondahl inspired to the traditional Bla Malet
More photos here

heat

...a lovely parcel was in the post yesterday!
We are experiencing a terrible heatwave - the temperature itself wouldn't be awful, at 34°C - the problem is the high level of humidity - that literally knocks you down. I feel drowsy - no desire to approach the loom, actually no desire to approach anything at all! I just hope it will end soon...

Prints

In my quest for Fifties-inspired textiles I found Angie Lewin and her fabulous linocut prints - together with her textile designs, available from St.Jude's - they are contemporary but have a distinct retro feel that I love

These cushions remind me of some other lovey designs from Heather, at SkinnylaMinx, that you can find on Etsy

...my first reaction would be to go and put some golden yellow warp on the loom...

Me, the lurker

This is my next cushion - a piece of rather funny toile de jouy called "au loup!" in blue on cream with a piece I wove - simple plain weave with stripes in different shades of blue - some of the cotton in the warp was indigo dyed. I still don't know whether to add another piece of patterned fabric or not...

I've been thinking about blogging - and I realized that I have this tendency of always "lurking": I do enjoy reading blogs - especially those of creative people - but most of the times I am reluctant to leave a comment.
I don't know why, I could say because I'm shy, or because writing in English sometimes is not so spontaneous for me as it should be, it's something I need to work on. Sometimes I read long posts expressing serious thoughts and I wish I could do the same... there's a lot of introspection to be done just by reading a few pages on the web!

This is also what I like about weaving - once the loom is set you can wander away with your mind and think thoroughly about the smallest things...

more fabric please!

I completed the project with the second panel (...with all its "textile drafts" if I can call them so) - and it's time to change my threading on the loom, ready for the next warp. Actually "completed" is not the right word as I know perfectly well that I'll be mulling over the things I've done, thinking how to improve them or - as usually happens once you think "it's done!" - getting the best idea and get frustrated at the thought...why didn't I do it before?
At the moment I am completely fascinated by the world of Mid-century textiles - got my eyes on this book for reference - I particularly like colour combinations and "atomic" shapes of printed textiles.

There is an exhibition I'd love to see - from Atoms to Patterns - crystal structure designs from the 1951 Festival of Britain - at the Wellcome Collection in London. Again, it's about getting inspiration from the forms and shapes in nature - however hidden and minuscule they can be.

So I've got the feeling that my next samples will reflect this influence - isn't it exciting when you have plans for the next thousand warps? - my gosh I'd better stop sleeping!

...

Last weekend (last week too!) was a long one - including Bank Holiday - so after a 400 km return trip to attend a wedding we just got lazy and decided to take it easy...



I also made it with the 'fifties' fabric - I covered the seat of the chair but I still have to finish sanding it down -
I think it looks good, or at least improved: the original cover was a terrible mustard colour - the loom was nicely threaded so I decided to take advantage of it and experiment a bit more. The wall hanging is waiting for its brother in reversed colours - at the beginning I had no idea how to manage the spacing of the dots, then I decided for a pointed entry of Fibonacci sequence, which I love -