Walford Mill Crafts, Knobcrook Road, off Stone Lane, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1NL
01202 841400 info@walfordmillcrafts.co.uk
Walford Mill Crafts, Knobcrook Road, off Stone Lane, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1NL01202 841400 info@walfordmillcrafts.co.uk
Open: Tue - Sat 10am - 5pm
Sun 11am - 4pm
Saturday 1st February 2020 - Saturday 29th February 2020
I have always loved textiles and learnt to sew, knit and crochet at an early age. I made my first piece of loom weaving at school when I was 14, a cot blanket. I still have it. I wanted to do A level weaving, but being at a grammar school, was not allowed to. I continued my weaving at college where I studied general textiles and became a primary school teacher.
In 1975 I discovered the Handweavers Studio in Walthamstow, London and for a couple of years I had a sort of apprenticeship whereby they taught me in return for me working in the gallery and shop. I used to sit in the window at a floor loom and weave, this is when I began to take commissions. For the first few years I made cloth and having done a City and Guilds dress design course, made up my cloth into simple garments, jackets, duffle coats, blouses that were quite fashionable in the 70s and early 80s.
I started to make rugs and had a few disasters in the early days when I didn’t plan / design well enough and undid whole pieces of work! A steep learning process. During the last 40 years I have woven a variety of rugs, blankets, wallhangings, throws and scarves, not to mention cushions. I have exhibited in London and most of the Home Counties. Living in Hampshire for 25 years I was a member of the Hampshire and Berkshire Guild of Craftsmen , and for a few years, the exhibitions coordinator.
During all this time I have taught weaving. Firstly in London, full days in Adult Education, then privately at home to fit in with children. Now living in Wiltshire, I teach a class of tapestry weavers once a week at home in Bradford on Avon, and once a month in Frome. They do beautiful work.
My work is hugely influenced by colour, and inspiration comes from my surroundings, whether walking along the river Avon in the morning, or the fabulous terracotta and stone towns of Italy, Spanish tiles, or wherever we are travelling. I try to teach my students to really look at nature, to interpret the colours that they see. In my own work, I 8use the layers of colour in the landscape to design my rugs. Sometimes, though , I just put colours together for the joy of colour.
I weave on a Swedish loom that I have had since 1982. It is hand and foot operated, no other power. The loom has 4 shafts and a weaving width of 150cm.
Chris is an artisan craftsman working primarily with wood. He uses materials from the natural world seeing beauty in things others might see as decaying. Influenced by the arts and crafts movement he uses fine joinery and organic materials and an artistic approach to his designs.
His first training was in Scotland as an unpaid apprentice working for carpenter and antique furniture restorer Les Johnson. Les was in his late 80s and was unfortunately losing his sight and ability to work, so Chris became his eyes, ears and hands. Chris eventually took over the business aged 19.
In the mid-90s Chris made the move to Dorset to be with family and carried on with restorative work in stately homes estates across Dorset.
In 2017 Chris took on a former rotary dairy and has lovingly renovated it into a beautiful studio/workshop. Chris is happy to take on commissions and is also planning to create an educational space.
Photo: Chris in his studio. Photography Asher Bassford
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