An exhibition of designs by the textile artist Kaffe Fassett and his collective will be on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey.
More than 70 textile designs, mostly quilts, will be on display at the opening of “Kaffe Fassett: The Power of pattern.”
D ennis Nothdruft, the museum’s head of exhibitions, worked with Newham College London to put on the show.
If there ever was a flower child, the center of this display from the California-born Fassett would be color, pattern and texture. He began his career as a painter and went on to work in knitwear design.
Since then, he has focused on 3D textile design, and is best known for his bright quilts, and for inspiring people to pick up their craft needles and fabric squares, and get to work.
He is an artist who makes people see the world in different ways. He encourages people to make stuff.
He drew inspiration from the state’s dramatic beaches, mountains and nature when he was a child. He has lived and worked in London since the early 1960s, and the studio where he and his colleagues work is called the Colour Lab.
The show is not a retrospective of the artist’s career but a full immerse into his world. It has been designed so that visitors can see the work of the other makers in his collective and his followers around the world.
The book that accompanies the show, “Kaffe Fassett: The Artist’s Eye”, was written by Nothdruft.
One of the most prolific and influential textile artists alive today is still alive and well. He says that Kaffe has encouraged people all over the world to make, and experience, color and pattern.
Zandra Rhodes, the founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum, says that there are always peoplequeuing around the block when one of his shows comes to town.
“Kaffe’s work is a living art, and he’s helping keep handcraft alive.” She said that since COVID-19, his life and work have become more powerful.
For the last 30 years, Kaffe has worked with a group of textile designers, including his husband and manager Brandon Mably, and Philip Jacobs, to develop collections of printed quilting fabrics.
The exhibition reveals the power of the printed textile and shows how pattern is the best way to express the magic of color.
The foyer of the museum will be filled with vibrant color and texture when the exhibition opens. A video of the artist discussing textile design with his partners will be shown in one room.
The main gallery will have a giant quilt painted on the floor which Rhodes described as a blast of color and pattern.
There will be a patchwork design on the floor and a room filled with creations by the people who work on the project.
A wall of needlepoint cushions by Mably and Fassett will be part of the clothing lines.
Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, Africa and Taiwan are some of the countries that have Quilters. The entire room is covered with images of the hand-painted designs.
The fabric used in the quilts on display in London will be shown in an exhibit. There will be a room filled with his early works.
