Laura Thomas

Woven Textile Designer and Artist

Laura Thomas, a recipient of an Arts Council of Wales ‘Setting Up in Business’ grant, is a woven textile designer and artist working from a studio in the centre of Cardiff.  Born and brought up in Pembrokeshire, Laura studied woven textiles in the University of Central England, The Royal College of Art, and then on to become one of the founding Fellows of The Ann Sutton Foundation, a weave design research centre in Sussex. 

 

Since completing her Fellowship, Laura has undertaken a wide variety of projects and commissions covering many different spheres.  These span from a wall hanging commission for the Crafts Study Centre, a collaborative arts project with poet Andrew Dilger, commercial home furnishing collections for the interiors industry and various research projects. 

 

The woven textiles that Laura designs and makes have long been about combining the two seemingly disparate ‘graphic’ and ‘organic.’   She takes great inspiration from the landscape of her home county of Pembrokeshire: its dramatic coastlines, hills and forests; and similarly she is hugely drawn to the world of visual communications: its slick, ordered and controlled aesthetics. 

 

Laura’s work is hand woven on a computer-driven, 24-shaft AVL loom that offers a weaving width of up to 1 metre wide.  She also make use of jacquard power weaving facilities at The Royal College of Art or Falmouth College of Arts as per individual project demands.

 

Laura’s textile artworks have several key facets characterizing them.  As a weaver, the technical construction of a cloth is always of paramount interest.  She has a practical curiosity in pushing the boundaries of woven textiles, challenging the notion that you always have to create flat 2d fabrics that obey the vertical and horizontal of the respective warp and weft yarns.  Structurally integral relief pleats, folds, loops and ruches can be found in much of Laura’s work. 

 

Subtle and intelligent use of colour is also a continuing theme: painterly gradations of hues and shades, or stripes and blocks of bold colours with selective contrasting highlights.  The emotional impact and suggestive power of colour to invoke moods and memories is exploited to compliment the inherent inviting tactile qualities of cloth.

 

Laura's yarn choices tend to favour the traditional natural fibres of silk, cotton linen and wool which are complimented by innovative or unusual materials such as horsehair, copper, steel, paper and nylon monofilament. 

 

Laura has recently developed a new body of work as a reult of a Cwyaith Cymru . Artworks Wales funded ‘Artist at Work’ residency at Hafod Grange Ltd in Port Talbot.

 

During this residency Laura developed a new technique whereby hand-woven fabric, hand-cut leather or cotton threads are encapsulated in clear polyester resin, which is then polished to a glass-like finish.  The resulting modular wall-based artworks have been exhibited at Context, Cardiff and at the Ruthin Craft Centre, North Wales.  

 

Utilising this exciting new technique, Laura was also awarded a prestigious commission to design and make the Menter a Busnes 2005 Awards that were presented in the main pavillion at the 2005 National Eisteddfod. 

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