Summer Intersections

Nordsee (Germany, 2006) | Josef Hoflehner Photography

Lucy Simpson | 'Materials Led' Textiles | photo via Lucy Simpson

A new collaboration with Bibi Hanum and Dena Harris that explores the smart intersection

between traditional Uzbek ikats and contemporary fashion via HAND/EYE's Design Council

dosa at Santa Monica Museum of Art | photo courtesy of dosa

Sea Island Indigo | workshops in Charleston, South Carolina

Gamma Folk | 2014 Collection Three | photo courtesy of Gamma Folk

Summer is all about the intersection of good (handmade) things and experiences that go beyond the surface. Please enjoy a selection of a few favorite makers and current projects that are inspiring me during the depths of July.

Ethical Travel Accolades

Rila Monastery | Рилски манастир | July 2014 | photo by Abigail Doan

I just wanted to send a special thank you to editor and writer, Starre Vartan of Eco Chick and Eco Chick Escapes for featuring Lost in Fiber's Instagram feed in her best of Ethical/Global Travel write up. This is such a honor for me as Starre has been such a pioneer in the green design and organic lifestyle movement from the very beginning.

As I prepare my caravan to transition back to the U.S. soon, it is always interesting for me to observe how color, light, and texture reflect new territory and daily activities. This, for me, is the beauty of having a nomadic studio and family existence. Beauty and poignant details are everywhere, if you stop to look in the crevices of surfaces we often traverse so casually.

Lost in Fiber | Interview | Cara Marie Piazza

Cara Marie Piazza natural dye collaboration with Loup Charmant

This is the second installment in an ongoing series of interviews with Lost in Fiber materials contributors. In the case of Brooklyn-based natural dyer and textile designer, Cara Marie Piazza, I was curious to learn more about the range of objects that Cara artfully surrounds herself with, her innovative methods of foraging and exploring color, and the creative ways that she resourcefully navigates her world.

AD: Might you share five objects or artifacts that you currently have in your studio or home – particularly as forms that you feel resonate with your studio work and current investigations?

CM: Dried flowers and seed pods; the book Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol Lewitt; a Pyrite rock formation; wood blocks; and a Tuareg medallion from a recent trip to Marrakech.

Artist | Maker Profile: Betsy Bull

'Enclosure' by Betsy Bull

Sometimes the realm of Tumblr can yield amazing finds. It was with great pleasure that I recently discovered the work of fiber artist/designer/student, Betsy Bull, a few weeks ago via her inspirational and intuitive flow of images.

Laser-cut and machine knitted forms by Betsy Bull

Since then we have been in touch via e-mail, and I was really happy to discover Betsy's new website and chat a bit. I love the way that Betsy navigates between the realms of the analog and hand-made. I particularly love the marriage of laser-cut and machine-knitted forms.

'Constricted Shroud' by Betsy Bull

My work aims to invoke a sense of wonder through transformation – B.B.

'Constricted Shroud' (Bird's Eye View) by Betsy Bull

"As an artist, this aim is realized through exploration of material and process. Utilizing modern technology and traditional techniques I challenge material limits, always taking another step, further, further. These explorations culminate in work that navigates between the analog and the automated, hand and machine. " – B.B.

Betsy Bull's waffle weave project on a 'baby loom'

Machine-knitting sample by Betsy Bull

You can view more of Betsy's work here. 

Her studio process shots and recent travel photos on Instagram are quite wonderful as well. 

Lost in Fiber | Interview | Brece Honeycutt

Brece Honeycutt has the midas touch with colonial living, drawing, eco-prints,

natural fibers, slow handwork, and organic studio methods

(studio photographs by Abigail Doan | September 2013)

As Lost in Fiber transitions to the artifact stage (in terms of documenting and synthesizing materials gathered from various contributors' studios), I was curious to understand more about the inspirational objects that various makers surround themselves with and the creative ways they populate and become immersed in their unique studio environments.

Brece Honeycutt's rural studio offers a new twist on modern 'domesticity' and 'farming'

My visit with artist friend Brece Honeycutt last autumn left me wanting to know more about her day-to-day musings as well as her process-centric relationship with materials and tools – be they ancient, historic, or contemporary. I follow Brece's impeccably researched and thoughtfully written blog, On A Colonial Farm, but I wanted to also learn more about how she melds the past with the present in a way that reflects the spirit of a modern gathering.

A slow moment of light on fiber, tools, and webs in Brece's studio

AD: Might you share five objects or artifacts that you currently have in your studio or home – particularly as forms that you feel resonate with your studio work and current investigations?

BH: My great-grandmother's peddle sewing machine; old woven wire mesh fish traps; a complete box set of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books; a mended piece of rusted metal fencing (darned with wire); and a bowl of handwrought nails saved for me by my husband when he re-clad our house.

Building the Lost in Fiber Nest(s)

Sofia | June 2014 | photo by Abigail Doan

Summer is slowly seeping into my bones. It has been a rainy spring here in Sofia, so I have been working hard to keep my succulents on the terrace 'dry enough' and also 'upright' in all of the torrential evening rains.

During the next few months I will be reorganizing my home in Bulgaria and also preparing my nomadic caravan for the transition back to NYC this autumn. We will continue to travel as a family to Sofia and environs regularly, but the axis will shift back to the U.S. and my home turf of the Hudson Valley. We also have plans to continue growing our small cultural and educational foundation and expect to share some of the latest projects soon.

An exquisite stash in Brece Honeycutt's studio | photo by Abigail Doan

Throughout the summer I will continue to synthesize gathered materials for Lost in Fiber artefacts and also conduct interviews with artists and designers who have contributed to the project. The first interview with artist, Brece Honeycutt, will be online early next week. 

You can now also follow updates via Lost in Fiber on Facebook. I wish you all an inspired transition to the core of summer with safe (slow) journeying and some cool swims, too.