In the final episode of season 1 of The Decorating Dissidence Podcast, Suzanna Petot talks to weaver and maker Sara Kelly. Decorating Dissidence has been working with Sara since the exhibition Weave It! 100 Years of the Women's Weaving Workshops in 2019. Their conversation ranges from transitioning from architecture to textiles, the impact of Sara's trip to Central America, Anni Albers and the Bauhaus, to her most recent project which combines the urban environment, woven textile processes and social interaction.
"It's interesting in terms of craft, I think we definitely learn through experience and we think through making, so you deepen your subject knowledge through your relationship with tools and the materials that you use, as well as the environment that you're in."
Bio:
Sara Kelly (@studiosarakelly) is a designer and weaver from the North-East of England. Her design history to date combines her passions for textiles and architecture. She has achieved a postgraduate degree in Textile Design from Chelsea College of Art and an undergraduate degree in Architecture from Newcastle University.
Her knowledge and understanding of the built environment mixed with her passion for conservation and traditional crafts has altered her path towards a career where textiles and sustainability are at the forefront. She now works as a weaver from her studio in South-East London working on private and personal commissions based on a foundation of narrative and contemporary design.
She strives to bring together elements of the built environment and textiles and believes the combined aspects of architecture include everything from the building itself to the art which lives within. Sara strives towards a more sustainable future within textiles, and is conscious in her designs to maintain this ethos. Each project showcases a refined relationship between materials, narrative and space, which has a personal, durable and beautiful place within its surroundings.
The full transcript for the episode can be accessed here.
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For more information about the project, visit decoratingdissidence.com
