About the Work

I have always been more comfortable with a pair of scissors than a pencil or a paintbrush. Early creative memories were formed cutting out snowflakes to decorate winter windows and woven paper hearts for Valentine's Day. I earned a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree and started a graphic design career back in the day when surgical cutting skills were necessary for comps, illustrations, mechanical art and even lettering. The digital revolution replaced X-acto knives with keyboards, but I continued my interest in paper craft and paper engineering. 

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A Penland School of Crafts paper cutting workshop with Beatrice Coron led me to modular Tyvek paper constructions. These in turn inspired me to experiment with a more compelling, tactile and ecologically responsible medium - 100% Merino wool felt. I realized paper and felt share several qualities. They both offer smooth pliable surfaces, and edges that cut cleanly, with no finishing or hemming required. Felt also provides acoustic and insulating benefits. Naturally renewable wool muffles sound and even absorbs air-borne toxins.

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I transferred a tab and slot construction method to felt, replacing stitched seams with interlocking joints, and have been exploring this new textile genre ever since. It combines my graphic design sensibilities with an iconic fiber and an inventive construction technique to produce compelling dimensional patterns and textures.

The shapes of component elements are digitally designed and output, then cut by hand or by using custom dies and assembled. This age-old material is re-imagined through the fusion of my minimalist style and the application of standard paper engineering methods. The result is what I call textile joinery - fresh fiber design with an edge, that appeals to the eye as well as to the touch.