This book is a collection of designs inspired by world textiles. It is made with cut and folded papers slotted together. Even physically holding the book in my hands I often struggle to work out which colour shows through from which layer.
I am listing the titles and countries as the artist listed them. I have put the front+back of each page next to each other for ease of formatting.
There is no tape. There is no glue.
Amish "Bars" qulit (USA) | Salish ceremonial blanket (Canada)
Chucuito knitted cap (Peru) | indigo resist-dyed adire (Nigeria)
Mamluk woolen carpet (Egypt) | Huichol beaded bag (Mexico)
Ceplokkan batik (Indonesia) | silk and linen weaving (Greece)
blue and white embroidery (China) | Bessarabian rug (Poland)
Maori taaniko weaving (New Zealand) | San Blas Islands mola (Panama)
Manjaka woven cloth (Guinea-Bissau) | white knitting bedspread (England)
Otomi quechemitl (Mexico) | Fair Isle knitted sweater (Scotland)
Navajo flat-weave rug (USA) | Hawaiian ahinahina quilt (USA)
Caen table linen (France) | traditional knitted sweater (Iceland)
indigo dyed fabric (Japan) | Ezine Bergama rug (Turkey)
heritage embroidery (Armenia) | Soumak carpet bag (Daghestan)
Ikat woven sari (India) | silk embroidered cloth (Morocco)
Artist statement from the end of the book:
When I was very young, I fell in love with the concept of a book as a work of art. My sixth grade class went on a trip to the museum, where I was fascinated by a Chinese hand scroll. Inside a plexiglas box, the scroll was unrolled to reveal part of a landscape covered with red signature seals. A grown-up told us that these scrolls were not meant to be displayed, but only brought out on special occasions when a portion of the painting would be viewed. This seemed so different from art that hangs on walls and different from books which we experience privately. I liked the idea of a book that should be shared and art that could be touched and unfolded over time.
The design of this book began with traditional knitting and quilting patterns. Since the pages rely on those before and after, every decision affected the whole. Patterns began to emerge that suggested other sources; they resembled motifs from many cultures and various media.
The patterns that the pages create seem unique to human invention rather than abstracted from nature. They are icons of order, derived from the very structure of textiles - from the grid that is the warp and the woof.
