Knit Inspirations

The two main artists whose work with knit inspires and informs my current work are Lissy Hatfield and Jenny Sabin.

Lissy Hatfield

I came across her work at the Manchester School of Art Degree Show in 2018. Her work was inspired by undersea creatures. What appealed to me about it was not only its structural qualities, but also the way she had incorporated lighting in the display. I also loved the way she used hard materials to contrast with the soft structure of the knits and the shadows/reflections created.

Her use of monofilament and perspex is what I'm particularly interested in developing further as I explore the techniques covered in the Dubied workshops.

Jenny Sabin

The work of Jenny Sabin has been a thread running through the MA. I can't remember what directed me to her work, but I have been so impressed by the breadth of her work and her interdisciplinary approach to working. The area of her work I've been most interested in is her work with knit, especially the installation at MOMA PS1 in 2017 called 'Lumen'.

The scale and the organic structure created is awe-inspiring. She worked in collaboration with Shema Seiki to create the 'cells' and 'tubules' from her design which was inspired by the extracellular membrane present in our body tissues. If possible, I would like to find out how to use and design on the Shema Seiki machine at uni.

The tubular aspects of both these designers are what I would like to explore further in the course of the major project.