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©Sarah Ward
©Sarah Ward
©Sarah Ward
©Sarah Ward
©Sarah Ward

Sarah Ward

  • Lark and Bower
  • Weaver
  • Southend-On-Sea, United Kingdom
  • Master Artisan
Sarah Ward Weaver
Contact
English, Spanish
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+44 7814434566
©Sarah Ward

Weaving sustainably

  • • Sarah creates woven textile artworks
  • • Her specialities are off-loom weaving and handcrafted denim
  • • She finds the process of weaving cathartic

Sarah Ward was studying fashion design at college, when a teacher helped her realise that she enjoyed manipulating fabric more than making garments. She then studied textiles at university and became passionate about hand weaving. After working at a weaving studio and a jacquard mill making fabrics for interiors and fashion houses, she launched her own weaving studio where she handcrafts woven designs and teaches online workshops. The process of weaving is long and repetitive, and Sarah finds this calming and interesting. She has ongoing projects with off-loom weaving, artisanal denim creation and showcasing her traditional craft to children and adults. Not only does her work reconnect people with how their clothes are made, but she also puts a focus on sustainability. Sarah uses discarded natural yarn from industrial fabric mills, rescued before they end up in landfill.

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Sarah Ward
  • ©Sarah Ward
  • ©Sarah Ward
  • ©Sarah Ward
  • ©Sarah Ward
Photo: ©Sarah Ward
Selvedge denim

This is a length of selvedge denim, for which the warp was hand dyed with natural indigo, and hand woven on an old WeaveMaster loom. It is made using 100% industry waste cotton. It is photographed on the steps of St Olaves Parish hall in London, where it was woven during a residency at The Experimental Weave Lab.

Photo: ©Sarah Ward
Atlas, Faustine, Sigrun

A celebration of the ‘check’, these pieces have been woven off-loom around a wooden base, by hand, using needle and thread. The colour palettes are, respectively, green, black, yellow and white; forest green and lime; and lastly, indigo, rust, nude and lime. Each is framed using a highlight colour from the artwork, in hand stained oak veneer. The pieces are created using industry waste yarn of wool, cotton and linen.

Photo: ©Sarah Ward
PATRI

This is an artwork that was woven off-loom, by hand, using needle and thread. The warp is ecru modal and green tea fibre, and the weft is hemp. This piece was woven using a 3/3 twill, in celebration of the ancient twill structure. It is framed in white, and here photographed beside a vase of green foliage and some books about ikat textiles.

Photo: ©Sarah Ward
Pebble Weave

A small pebble has been used as the base for this tiny woven object. It was woven off-loom, by hand, with needle and thread using a 3/3 twill structure, and a white cotton and latex thread.

Photo: ©Sarah Ward
Henryk, Rajvinder and Olive

These three framed woven artworks were all woven off-loom, by hand using needle and thread. This group is a celebration of woven structure as an artwork in its own right, and of craftsmanship. The piece on the far left is a Prince-of-Wales check in black and light grey, the middle piece is woven using a 2/2 twill structure in white, and the piece on the right is an oversized houndstooth in black and white.

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