Rachael O'Brien

I seek inspiration from historical places, people and stories; often drawing upon my own genealogy for ideas. I look for complementary and contemporary design sources and inspiration and juxtapose the two elements to create my designs for stitch.

 

I am a textile maker specialising in stitch and surface embellishment. I create digital designs, machine stitch and overlay these with exquisite hand embroidery and embellishment. I use traditional stitch techniques and apply them in a contemporary and eclectic manner.

 

By its nature, the hand stitching employed is a labour intensive and a time consuming process, and as such each piece is individual and bespoke. However because of the hand technique applied, the stitch work is of high quality and creates luxurious pieces of textiles.

 

The pieces are very textual in nature, their creation is as much about the touch as it is about the visual.

 

I rely on simple stitch elements, lines, geometric shapes, spaces, simple shapes and forms, repeating designs and form to build up to 2d and d3 textile pieces.

 

My textile pieces are created for interior settings whether for a home or public space.I combine automated and hand stitches which allows me to accelerate the making process; and enables me to add speed to my samples but still preserving traditional hand embroidery skills.

 

I look to use new and exciting alternative materials including metal gauze, eco-friendly bamboo fabrics, ceramic threads alongside more traditional silks, cottons ad crewel yarns.

 

Contact: rachaellob@gmail.com