May/June 2022

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From the editor

I penned my first editorial for Embroidery in January 2004 and this, dear reader will be my last. If I regarded writing that introduction as tough, I hadn’t anticipated the heartache of saying farewell nearly two decades later. Since then, I’ve had the great honour to preside over and shape 111 issues of this magazine as Editor, charting changes and developments (some good, some less so) within textiles. My life will continue to involve textiles and playing a part in this community. Embroidery magazine will always be close to my heart and so I take a small part of it with me as I begin a new chapter. And it’s been especially heartening to work on this issue, which is packed with talent.

Michael Brennand-Wood and Julie Arkell are two of the UK’s best known textile artists – we catch up with them as they reflect on their respective careers in cloth. Anne Kelly lets us take a peek inside her studio and shares some of her favourite things, and we meet Emily Jo Gibbs, who creates her work at the kitchen table, something we can all relate to.

Celia Pym’s take on mending is both conceptual and heartfelt; we talked to her in the run-up to the opening of Harewood’s craft biennial. And we introduce names who are making their mark: Will Cruikshank whose fascinating kinetic textile sculptures are a joy, and makers Fran Buxton and Alicja Kozlowska.

As well as news of events, books, courses and exhibitions (including reviews of Sheila Hicks and Britta Marakatt-Labba, which are both musts), it’s been wonderful to step inside Compton Verney’s collection and find out more about their sailors’ woolworks, which are a charming example of British folk art. I’d urge you to visit and see them for yourself.