In 2018 I experienced a pretty life altering trip to India. When I returned home at the end of the year, I knew it was time to really dedicate myself to something, and the only way that I could articulate my dream was ‘to live a life surrounded by beautiful textiles’.
During my time in India I tried to find someone who would teach me to weave, but for several reasons, it was not to be on this trip. Though I did get to briefly sit at a loom one day, high up in the Himalayas, my pursuit of textiles on this trip was somewhat academic. I thoroughly researched the textile traditions, histories and contemporary practices and practitioners in the region. I immersed myself in the material culture, travelling extensively, viewing exquisite collections, meeting with weavers and other parties doing inspiring work within the extensive handcraft textile community. It was out of this research that Crosspolynations was founded, as a platform for recording these experiences and the questions and discussions they inspired.
Entirely enamoured by my experiences and the textiles I had encountered, I was overwhelmed by an insatiable desire to learn to weave. The path was, as these things tend to be, was somewhat circuitous. After getting swept up again in my old career for a while, and then attempting a couple of different approaches towards the craft, I found a small space in a shared studio in the city and moved in in the spring of 2019.
The space, ‘Hope Street Studios’ is a shared, industrious studio space in the urban heart of Cape Town. It is home to a community of incredibly inspiring young designer, maker, entrepreneurs with the most infectious creative hustle energy. It is here that the physical reality of Crosspolynations as a studio was born. This physical space and the inspiring community that welcomed and encouraged the foundation of our practice will forever hold the dearest of places in my memory and heart.
A special thanks to my dear friend Chelsea for capturing me in this most special space
