Servet van linnendamast met klimop c. 1904

This linen damask cloth with ivy design was made by Chris Lebeau. There is something so delicate about the work of textile design. The care, craft and control needed to create something so intricate and beautiful. What was Lebeau thinking as he imagined this piece, his hands carefully coaxing the design into being? The delicate floral lace dances across the weave of the cloth, the ivy motif echoing motifs used by William Morris, adding to the conversation between makers and designers over time. Painting, like weaving, is also an act of repetition and accrual, of layering and building up a surface. I love how the materiality of the cloth – its softness and drape – invite touch. It reminds me that art is not just about sight, but about feeling, about embodied experience. Each piece conversing with those that came before, each maker learning from and inspired by the last.