Studio - Enabling Space
Where Curiosity finds a Loom
The space where much of the work at Shuttles & Needles begins. Ideas are explored here through fibre, yarn, structure, colour, looms, conversation and making. Some become products, courses, publications or collaborations. Many simply deepen our understanding of weaving.
WHAT HAPPENS HERE
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Footwear and accessory material exploration -
Saree and textile development at the loom -
Upcycling and material reinterpretation through weaving
A question about colour becomes a series of samples.
A new yarn is woven repeatedly before returning to the spinning mill for refinement.
A weave structure encountered in a book finds its way onto a loom again.
A fibre blend is hand spun in several different ways to understand how it shows and behaves in yarn and cloth.
An article sparks an experiment. A conversation becomes a project. A project leads to a workshop.
Sometimes we follow an idea because it solves a problem.
Sometimes because it refuses to leave us alone.
LEARNING THROUGH MAKING
Workshops, courses, internships, orientations and occasional weave walks all take place at the studio.
People engage with weaving for different reasons. Some are interested in making. Others are drawn by creativity, culture, textiles, craft or simple curiosity.
What begins as an interest in one aspect of weaving often opens up entirely new ways of seeing it.
LOOM SYSTEMS AT THE STUDIO
The studio works with loom systems from Ashford Handicrafts (New Zealand), AVL Looms (USA), and SAORI (Japan).
These looms are used regularly across learning programs, design development, exploratory weaving, and ongoing studio projects.
Alongside the looms are tools for warping, fibre preparation, spinning and felting, as well as a working yarn and fibre bank that supports material exploration and sampling.
BEYOND THE CHARKHA
The studio also works extensively with modern spinning systems, fibre preparation, dyeing and yarn development.
From creating custom yarns and fibre blends to exploring alternate materials and material behaviour, spinning offers a wide range of possibilities for makers, designers and researchers alike.
Many of these explorations eventually find their way into weaving, product development, education and material research initiatives.
A LIVING COLLECTION
Books, journals, magazines, woven samples, project records, yarn studies and material explorations continue to accumulate at the studio.
Much of the collection comes from contemporary practitioners who continue to actively shape the field today. Their ideas sit alongside our own experiments, creating an ongoing dialogue between practice, discovery and reflection.
Visitors are welcome to browse, read, compare and follow their curiosity.
Before Yarn, There Was Felt
Felting is believed to be among the oldest textile-making techniques known to humanity. Using the natural surface properties of animal fibres like wool, it transforms loose fibre into fabric sheets and forms without spinning or weaving.
The studio explores wet felting, needle felting and nuno felting through workshops, design projects and material exploration.
AROUND THE LOOM
Ideas travel easily at the studio.
A discussion on yarn may drift into mathematics. A weave structure may lead to a conversation about music. Someone arrives with a project, another with a book recommendation, and a third with a question that sends everyone back to the loom.
Some conversations last an afternoon. Others become collaborations, workshops or entirely new lines of enquiry.
Coffee helps.
This keeps the humanity without becoming sentimental.
Always Becoming
The studio is never quite finished.
New samples appear. New questions emerge. Old ideas return in unexpected forms.
What began as a simple experiment often grows into something larger. What appears complete is frequently revisited with fresh eyes.
That continual movement keeps the studio alive and continues to shape the work of Shuttles & Needles.
Visit the Studio
Whether you are exploring weaving for the first time or have spent years at the loom, there are different ways to engage with the studio through workshops, programs, guided visits and collaborations.