The Smock series adapts traditional fabric manipulation techniques to create sculptural furniture and objects in a celebration of hand stitching. The collection of stools and vases are made from pleated layers of fabric, with thousands of stitches marking the time and labour in each piece. Smock stool seats are upholstered in wool or cashmere, with the bodies made from contrasting silk-cotton blends, each containing over 3000 hand stitches and stuffed with organic wool to create soft bulges and contours. The smocked panels ripple and swell like piped icing, evoking garments draped around a body — fluid and entirely unique to each piece. Sewn vases are inflated with a natural composite that hardens into solid, weighty forms, playing against the soft texture of fabric. 

Stitching has long been a quiet act of resilience, used as a tool for survival, repair, protest, and preservation. Through the stitch, generations have recorded memories and passed down knowledge. Amidst rampant mass production, these works are a deliberate return to slowness. They ask us to consider the stories held in thread and intergenerational making traditions. 

Photos by Benedict Brink