Lou Gardiner, textile artist

The festive season can involve a fair amount of travelling to and fro to see family and friends, and so it was that I found myself passing through London en route for Brighton. This helpfully presented the opportunity to go to the Anthropologie Gallery at 131-141 King’s Road to see the work of textile artist Lou Gardiner.

The Gallery occupies two shop windows to the far right of the store ‘Anthropologie’ and a room-sized area behind the window displays which allows for a generous display of work.

I heard a while ago about Lou Gardiner from a young friend of mine and had already seen online her sumptuous velvet cushions in royal colours, enriched with decorative embroidery which have appeared  at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Show in Manchester. Seeing the work in ‘real life’, was another experience altogether.

The pieces in this exhibition included velvet cushions and vast pouffes (that could provide seating for two at least!), complex embroidered  wall hangings, framed textile pieces, hugedecorative  silk scarves and a wonderful embroidered quilt, that would be at home on a bed, on a wall, or perhaps even thrown across the back of a film-star.You can see it hanging immediately behind the artist in the photograph below

Best of all, Lou Gardiner  herself was in residence, sat at her sewing machine (which I was pleased to see is the same as mine!) and she was willing to talk to us about her work and kindly gave me permission to take her photograph (seen below).

Many of the designs represented were based on natural forms: particularly striking were those based on corals, with lots of rich reds and pinks, involving  massed stitching and encrusted with beads. I loved them!  The current exhibition is on until the end of January 2016. Catch it if you can.

Special note: I am sad to say that Lou Gardiner died on 7 Sept 2023, aged 51

Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here

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This is ‘Daisy and Ivy, strong colourway’. Get it here