{Origin 2009} Elli Evans Cross stitch work

I am so taken by Ellie’s delicates work, it reminds me very much of my mother’s stitching pieces, that my sister and myself used to wear so proudly, I wish I would have kept those beautiful dresses from when I was a child…

Ellie’s work combine traditional craft with digital printing, and explores…‘the curiosity I have about my heritage and identity, particularly the absence of my grandparents. Looking at the documents and artefacts relating to them, I embarked on a discovery of their complex lives, and how, coming from very different backgrounds (Poland and the Netherlands) they ended up settling in England.’

I always admire designers who try to preserve traditional skills and use them in a new more contemporary way, and by doing this pass on the knowledge of these crafts to future generations.