We're excited to be hosting a window installation by local fiber artist Steffanie Goodman of Heirloom Culture!
Steffanie designs and makes unique wall hangings and accessories. Her company, Heirloom Culture, provides unique decor for the chic and artful collector.
Steffanie's work is beautiful and unique! We had an opportunity to ask Steffanie some questions about her work.
1. How would you describe your work?
My work is eclectic- contemporary and refined, yet organic and playful. I am always exploring new techniques, materials, styles and color combinations. My color story is often bright jewel tones with whites and gold, but I also work with neutral pallets. Those decisions are often based on my mood, design trends I find inspiring, or my clients' needs. I create unique wall hangings and women's accessories, and also do commercial art installations on occasion. I work primarily with natural fibers, and often incorporate repurposed or industrial materials like metal, leather or wood. For example, I create meaningful art for clients by repurposing sentimental materials and weaving them into the piece. I love exploring the qualities of fiber- it's texture, permeability and color, and the balance of soft and opaque, against the shine and durability of metals, or wood.
2. How/when did you get interested in weaving and how did you learn to weave?
Raised by a fine artist mother and garment industry father, I'd always had an appreciation for textiles, art, and fashion. While healing after a serious injury in 2015, I was introduced to Saori weaving by a family friend when I showed her a picture I'd seen on Instagram of an abstract woven cloth and asked if she knew how it was created. I found a Saori weaving studio in Berkeley, unfortunately no longer there, and started weaving on the weekends. From the moment I began weaving I was captivated- it awakened me to the connection with female artisans of antiquity, reconnected me to my spirit and my passion to create. Since that time at Lynn Harris's studio in Berkeley, I've taken a Tapestry weaving course with Tricia Goldberg (Berkeley), a floor loom weaving course at CCSF with Janice Sullivan, workshops with Meghan Shimek and Alicia Scardetta, workshops at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY, and apprenticed with Johanna Friedman, learning the steps for Jacquard weaving on her TC2 machine loom.
3. What types of materials do you work with?
Natural and synthetic yarns (wool, wool roving, cotton, linen, silk, metallics, rayon, Tencel, jute), leather, metal chain and metal bars, wood, and even plant matter! Am I leaving anything out? Well, when I create memory pieces for clients I will repurpose the materials they provide me and weave them> I've woven horse hair, fishnet stockings, maps of Cuba- you name it! I often hang my work on metal dowels or clear acrylic dowels. Sometimes I frame them.
4. Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?
I find inspiration in art (I stop into galleries and museums as often as I can, and read art blogs online), fashion (lots of window shopping and reading fashion blogs online), interior design (I love home decor!), nature (beach scapes and flower gardens are the best sources!) and through my travels.
5. Do you do other types of work with textiles?
I love exploring textiles and textile design. I have been repurposing clothing since I was a kid, cutting up and making anew, the things I was bored with, painting on my jeans, bedazzling things, making my own clothing when I was in college, DIY tie-dyed clothes in my bathtub, etc. I also do a bit of Shibori and natural dying, felting, some sewing, painting on fabric, embellishments, and am teaching myself block printing.
6. What projects are you currently working on?
I am currently working on weaving a few pieces for a home that will be featured in a design magazine, I am designing new pieces for my next installation at a boutique in Hayes Valley this summer, and I am felting silk scarves for commissions for Mother's Day gifts!
Stop by and check out Steffanie's work in our window! It's colorful and playful and just makes you smile!
Click here to see more of Steffanie's work.
Photos courtesy of Heirloom Culture.
