The Shed

The shed is a textile makerspace with Bristol's Bookbinder House, an old graphic print and bookbinding building. The client for the project was craft charity The Crafts Council. The space has a focus on working with your hands through yarn spinning, dyeing and hand weaving. The spaces offers an opportunity for maker's to leave their mark and add to the building's story. The shed aims to address the capitalist, industrialist textile industry by providing studio areas to go back in time where there was a emphasis on the handmade and individual craftsmanship. 

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Focusing on the site's history as a bookbinders I began experimenting with bookbinding and different types of stitch. It was the movement of these stitches, flowing in and out which led me to the weaving concept. I explored this concept further by looking into synonyms for the word weave. Overlaying these knitting diagrams over the plans allowed me to start introducing the weaving horizontally, and then vertically by adding weaving looms throughout the building which have no instruction or plan, and give opportunity for maker's to use initiative and fully express themselves. The large weaves that'll be completed over time, will have embodied value of those who made them and once finished will be auctioned off to raise money for local charities and back into the business. 

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The staircase was a significant element of my design which drew inspiration from the weaving as it uses two timber colours woven together and snakes fluidly through the building.

My installation design stems from the 9 muscles that connect the thumb to the rest of the hand and arm, the reason that we can work with our hands. This, linked with the soothing sound of craft, I took 9 clippings of sound waves of weaving looms and overlaid them into a pixelated 'punchcard' weaving pattern, and they formed the design for my installation. The installation is made from cast glass weaves that are suspended from the roof, in colours of orange and pink, the colours reflecting the sound of the building, the more concentrated the colour the more sound produced. I chose these colours are colours in the red spectrum are strongly associated through colour psychology with physical stimulation for working whilst providing comfort and reassurance.

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Materials and furniture I chose for the building were predominately natural in colour and texture, I aimed to focus on materials that were handmade or locally sourced where possible to involve Bristol craftspeople in the project. Where I couldn't sort handmade or local, I chose furniture that strongly reflected the weaving theme, tactility and the appearance of hand craft. The pared back material and furniture scheme really allows the expressive weaving and installation to add life to the space. Being a true reflection of those who made it.