The Night Market will return in 2011!

Sadly due to earthquake damage at Our City O-Tautahi, The Night Market won't be going ahead this Christmas. Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in taking part or coming along to shop handmade for Christmas - it's lovely to know it will be missed, and it's very disappointing to have to cancel, but The Night Market will be back better than ever in 2011. And don't forget, you can always buy gorgeous handmade gifts on Felt! Watch this space for the launch of this year's Felt Christmas Gift Guides next week...

A Virtual Tour – Part 4

These images are courtesy of Black Swan Designs.


nicolaJade – nicolajade.felt.co.nz


Freedom Creative – freedom.felt.co.nz


Tumbleweed Press – tumbleweed.felt.co.nz


Dear Colleen – dearcolleen.felt.co.nz


Ana Aceves – aceves.felt.co.nz

A Virtual Tour - Part 3

Threadmark - threadmark.felt.co.nz


The Sewphist - thesewphist.felt.co.nz


Miss Millie, Monkey Maker - missmillie.felt.co.nz


In My Backyard - inmybackyard.felt.co.nz


Needle Food Hand Dyed Yarn - www.needlefood.co.nz

A Virtual Tour – Part 2

The Busy Finch – thebusyfinch.felt.co.nz


Songbird Designs – songbird.felt.co.nz


Rethreads – rethreads.felt.co.nz


Pixelbrid – pixelbrid.felt.co.nz


Relique Vintage Jewellery – relique.felt.co.nz

A Virtual Tour – Part 1

Wild Ones – wildones.felt.co.nz


Cloud Nine Creative – cloudnine.felt.co.nz


Rose In Thorns – roseinthorns.felt.co.nz


Cat Taylor Design – cattaylor.felt.co.nz


Black Swan Designs – blackswan.felt.co.nz

Meet the maker: Rethreads

What do you make?
Reconstructed clothing: all wool collars, arm and leg warmers, scoodies (hood with a scarf attatched) hooded jerseys and cardigans with zippers. I'm also frantically finishing off a pile of iron-on patches, a brand new product for rethreads. Looking forward to introducing them at A Craft Affair!

Why would you buy something handmade?
Because I value people and relationships much much much more than money.

Where else might we see your work?
Come and find me in my studio if you can! That is a challenge (even for me at times) as I am living a 'pop up' life right now, moving every few days or weeks, including Canada and Australia. So, the best place to see my work is my Felt shop.

How did you get into your craft?
I made a couple of things from patterns as a teenager, then, when I was 16 I turned an old pair of overalls into a great sling bag. I wish I still had it! Since then, I've always played around with stuff, from felt penning punk slogans onto specially cut and ripped t-shirts to hand dying old sheets which I converted into layered kimonos.

I've always worked with natural fibres. In Vancouver in the 1970s, my mother, who was allergic to polyesters and nylons, could only find good quality wool, linen and cottons in thrift stores. I used to trail along behind her while she kept up a running commentary of the quality of the fabric and the methods she used to identify imposters (like polyester masquerading as silk.)

Do you have formal training or qualifications in your craft?
I had two years of sewing classes in high school, which taught me to be accurate. In 1988–89 I did a full time Craft Design Certificate at the Southern Institute of Technology. Even back then, it was so well appointed with all the studio space, materials and tools a generalist crafter like me could wish for. I went for it, working into every evening and at the end of two years I knew without a doubt that I did not want to keep working with dyes and chemicals. I also did an industrial sewing course which taught me that it was valid to sew at speed without pins, something I had always felt slightly guilty about!

Is there a philosophy behind your work?
Well, obviously I am big on recycling. I hate the waste of the fashion industry and feel horrified when my stuff is referred to as "fashion". Of course, if there was no fashion there would be no 'rethreads' so it's an interesting love-hate relationship I have there. I hate fashion but I love buying your fashion mistakes and then selling them back to you in a way that makes you feel funky and colourful and gives me a nice profit. That's a secret, by the way.

What are your favourite materials, tools and/or processes?
I am never happier when I am sorting through a big bag of donated clothing and fabric, or spending the morning at the $2 recycling warehouse filling my car with old clothes. In fact, I am convinced that this is one of my personal keys to well being, which makes it neccessary and also much much cheaper than therapy! In fact, my 'therapy' makes money! Isn't that grand!

I design with a pair of scissors, no measuring, no paper patterns, and I work fast. I have a blast. It works best when I am off to a party and feel I have nothing to wear. Most of my designs happened that way.



rethreads.felt.co.nz

Meet the maker: Pixelbrid

Photo courtesy of the Christchurch Press.

What do you make?
I make little artifacts that are real world representations of imaginary game worlds and the creatures that inhabit them. The pixelmice are escapees from a pixelart lab, translated into the material world by knitting one stitch per pixel of their digital selves. I use a bit of electricity to light up their noses, and sometimes they materialize as functional items like catnip mice and scrubbers.

Why would you buy something handmade?
Rather than handmade for the sake of it, I would buy because I fell in love with a particular item – like the perspex Pacman necklace I got at Craft 2.0 a couple of years back, or the Lego necklace where the colours of the blocks were so artfully matched. I love that through special curated craft events I have the opportunity to buy original, unique items straight from the maker.

Where else might we see your work?
I am selling some soft circuit flower kits on Felt, which are suitable for anyone who wants to try out sewing with conductive thread, and will be listing the other items in my range. I am currently working on a long overdue web presence, so watch this space.

How did you get into your craft?
I got into textile crafts growing up in rural towns, where nice ladies taught me knitting and spinning skills. I started to knit properly in 1986, because I really wanted a batwing sleeved colour block sweater dress. Noone would make me one, so I had to learn how to design and knit my biggest fashion statement of the 80s myself. After that all I wanted to do was study textile design.

The interest in soft circuits that I often incorporate into my work came from years of tinkering with electronics and robotics. Which in turn came from an obsession with cyberpunk fiction, Star Wars, and wanting light up rave gear. A few years ago I read about the work Leah Beuchley (the inventor of Lilypad Arduino sewable components) was doing at MIT with conductive thread, fabric and electronics parts, and saw a way I could merge my two seemingly disparate directions.

Do you have formal training or qualifications in your craft?
Yes, after high school I did a 1 year full time foundation course in art and fibre craft, which got me into the 3 year Craft Design (textiles) programme at Otago. It was amazing to have that time to concentrate on developing my design theories and work. I majored in constructed textiles – woven tapestry and knitting.

Is there a philosophy behind your work?
Sort of “form follows function” contradicted by “cute needs no explanation”. I usually put eyes and ears on functional items like wash cloths, as a nod to the Japanese animist idea of Kami, or the essence/spirit of things. I grew up watching a lot of cartoons, and I really wished my teapot would talk to me, and that radishes had a spirit, like the one in “Spirited Away”.

I will admit to being quite influenced by Takashi Murakami’s “Superflat” philosophy. I like how he sees the marketplace as a channel for getting artistic concepts out into the world, and the flattening of artistic hierarchies e.g. ‘high art’ vs ‘low art’.

My work is also affected by Tatsuo Miyajima’s “On three concepts” – Keep changing, Connect with all, Goes on forever. He is a Japanese conceptual artist who uses LCDs. Actually it was seeing his work in person that sparked the electronics focus for me.

What are your favourite materials, tools and/or processes?
Tools: Soldering iron, light up knitting needles and crochet hooks (for knitting in the dark), spinning wheel, iMac. Materials: First and foremost, NZ wool! - yarn and fleece. Then conductive thread, electronics components, Arduino lilypad. Processes: Knitting, spinning, electronics, mechatronics, pixel art, woven tapestry.

pixelbrid.felt.co.nz