Back in 2019, my daughter, Alice, was expecting her first baby. She is a furniture designer and runs a workshop where she prototypes and makes up her designs. Realising that it would be difficult to juggle being a mother and working she started to plan ahead for the following year, 2020, including planning for one of the largest open studio events, Dorset Art Weeks, during which Alice invites the public to look behind the scenes. One of the pieces she planned to make for the event was a footstool. She asked me if I could suggest what kind of upholstery would be in keeping with her high end, handmade products. I suggested she made a stitched tapestry on canvas from wool, which could be left on a frame and worked on when time allowed, thus still fulfilling her creative urges whilst resting. With anything, including her furniture, to have a successful ending, planning from the start is crucial. We began by discussing the stool size and design. Without that we couldn't start to think about the cover. Alice sketched designs echoing her trademark style. I gave her some more ideas such as using local wool. Alice uses local timber and dries it herself in her wood shed. Local wool, teamed with local wood, would be complementary and would result in an artefact that provoked discussion; quite important for an open studio event. The idea of dyeing with local plants was mentioned as well. It was agreed I would prepare and spin yarn for the project and she would make the stool. I had my own agenda. I had been thinking about trying to get a piece of work into the AGWSD National Exhibition, and this seemed an ideal project.
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